On Feb. 15, 20-year-old San Jose resident Joshua Sodapop Bocanegra was arrested in San Francisco and 20-year-old Gilroy resident Michael Carabajal was arrested in Gilroy, San Jose police Officer Tanya Hernandez said in a news release.

The suspects were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on murder charges.

Gunshots were reported around 4:20 a.m. on Dec. 17 in the area of Snow and Giusti drives. Hernandez said officers arrived to find evidence of a shooting but no victims.

A short time later, two men arrived at an area hospital suffering from at least one gunshot wound each, Hernandez said. One died of his injuries while the other survived. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office will release the identity of the man who died once it is confirmed and his next of kin is notified.

The death marked the city’s 33rd homicide of 2023.

Hernandez said detectives went on to identify Bocanegra and Carabajal as suspects in the case and obtained warrants for their arrest. Police did not release a motive for the shooting.

Anyone with information related to the case can contact Detective Sgt. Martinez at 3934@sanjoseca.gov, Detective Jize at 4324@sanjoseca.gov or both at 408-277-5283.

Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or www.siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.

Check back for updates.

The event will honor civil rights activists Willie Mims and Frances Green, County Supervisor Federal Glover, Shaman Wright, founder of Bridge Builders of the New Generation, as well as the late Regigie Moore, first Black Antioch councilman, and the late Dietra King, a business leader and founder of Hearts Realty and Dad’s BBQ.

Antioch was predominately White until the mid-1990s and now is the second most racially diverse city in the Bay Area, with 2 % of its residents Black. With a majority Black council, it also is home to the Bay Area’s largest concentration of Black Americans with advanced degrees, according to Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe, who is Black but was raised by Hispanic parents.

The event will celebrate the Black community’s culture and those who blazed a trail for Antioch’s burgeoning Black community, according to a news release from the mayor’s office

The Delta Bay Community Church is at 1020 E. Tregallas Road. The event is open to the public.

Instead, Castro is facing a felony child endangerment charge, which requires no malice or willful intent.

“He’s not charged with any intentional homicide, and he’s not accused of not loving his baby,” Deputy District Attorney Maria Gershenovich said in her closing argument. “What he is accused of is that after he was entrusted by CPS and others to take care of Phoenix, this 3-month-old infant … (he) kept her in a home that was so toxic and dangerous it actually killed her.”

After listening to three days of prosecution witnesses, including a toxicologist who found fentanyl and methamphetamine in the baby’s blood and police detectives who found the same drugs in Castro’s San Jose apartment, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Paul Bernal ruled there was “sufficient cause to believe he’s guilty of that crime.” He also denied a defense request to release Castro from jail while he awaits trial. An arraignment is scheduled for March 11. If convicted of child endangerment and other enhancements, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

The arrest and prosecution of Castro comes amid a surge in fentanyl deaths across the Bay Area, including five infants since 2020. Dr. Mehdi Koolaee, the Santa Clara County coroner who conducted the autopsy on the infant, testified that he had never before seen fentanyl or methamphetamine in a baby.

Unanswered is how baby Phoenix ingested the fentanyl. During the preliminary hearing, neither Koolaee nor the prosecutor explained her manner of death, only that the crime lab had found fentanyl on various discolored parts of her little pink onesie, including on the snaps.

San Jose Police Det. Mike Harrington testified Thursday that Castro tested negative for drugs on the day of baby Phoenix’s death. But in a video of police interrogating Castro, he admitted that he knew how to game the system to pass drug tests for social workers while he had custody of the baby. Sometime he would stop using days before a scheduled test or use undetectable amounts.

The baby’s May 13, 2023, death, and the coroner’s ruling that she died of a fentanyl overdose, led not only to Castro’s arrest but to intense scrutiny of the Santa Clara County’s Department of Family and Children’s Services. An investigation by the Bay Area News Group late last year found that the child welfare agency sent Phoenix home despite the parents’ history of drug addiction and warnings from a social worker that the home environment could be life threatening. Phoenix’s two older siblings, now 3 and 5, were taken away by the child welfare agency a year earlier because of severe neglect — and the parents had done little to get them back.

On Thursday, Castro’s defense lawyer, Mishya Singh, showed the judge photos Castro had taken of his infant daughter happy in her bouncy seat and videos of his tickling her tummy. Castro, 38, sat in a brown jail suit and shackles and wiped away tears as he watched.

“CPS took two of his other kids away, but CPS chose to give Mr. Castro another chance to take care of Phoenix,” Singh said. “And what Mr. Castro did is that he rose to the challenge the best way he could although he had his own addiction to deal with. He loved that baby.”

Phoenix’s mother had been sent to jail on outstanding warrants after the baby’s birth and was living in a drug and mental health rehab facility when the infant died. Emily De La Cerda was out on a day pass when she and her mother visited the apartment and found Castro panicking and the baby limp. According to a detective’s testimony, Castro told police that he had survived a drug overdose years earlier, and more recently he had revived De La Cerda from one with the use of Narcan. De La Cerda died four months after her daughter, in the same apartment, also of a fentanyl overdose.

That the father is being charged in her death, his defense lawyer said, is “unfair, not on a moral ground, look at the evidence.”

In court a day earlier, Singh had suggested that baby Phoenix didn’t die of fentanyl poisoning but that her father likely accidentally smothered her as they slept on the couch the night before — a contention refuted by the coroner, who said the baby showed no signs of suffocation.

On Thursday, however, Singh posited that if the baby did, indeed, die of a drug overdose, her mother may be to blame. Two days before Phoenix’s death, Castro took the infant to the rehab facility for a four-hour visit with her mother while he ran errands. In several text messages presented in court, De La Cerda complained to Castro that she was having troubling calming the baby that evening.

“You’re aware that fentanyl, if someone is agitated, it can calm them down?” Singh asked Harrington, who was on the witness stand.

“Yes,” testified Harrington, one of the lead detectives on the case.

“If a baby is crying, giving a baby a little fentanyl (will) calm them down?” she asked.

Gershenovich, the prosecutor, objected before the officer could answer and later told the judge there was no evidence suggesting the mother drugged the baby or had access to drugs there.

Gershenovich on Thursday also recalled to the stand the coroner who conducted the autopsy on the baby. During testimony a day earlier, he had said the baby had been dead between 24 to 36 hours, but on Thursday he said pinpointing a time of death is often “unreliable,” and it could have been closer to 10-12 hours.

Singh, the defense lawyer, also reserved blame for the county’s child welfare agency for not better informing Castro that drug residue on a tabletop, couch or his hands could harm the baby. CPS could have insisted on a deep cleaning in the house, she said.

“The person hurting the most is sitting right there,” Singh said, pointing to her client. “He would never endanger that baby willfully.”

But the prosecutor put the blame squarely on Castro.

“He was the only person caring for her,” Gershenovich told the judge. “He had a duty of care, and unfortunately he failed her.”

The Sunnyvale woman celebrated her 26th, or 104th, birthday Thursday at her Murphy Avenue home where she has been living since 1947.

Birthday parties are usually an intimate affair, with close family members and friends gathering for a barbecue at the Santa Clara home of Hidalgo’s eldest daughter, Marlene Kanawyer. This year, however, the Sunnyvale community decided to show their appreciation for one of the city’s oldest residents by parading by her house.

Emerging from the steps with her walker, a blue feather boa and a “Happy Birthday” headband, Hidalgo greeted an adoring crowd of neighbors, friends, first responders and city leaders.

The celebration included serenading Hidalgo with hearty choruses of the “Happy Birthday” song and gifting her bouquets of flowers and Certificates of Recognition from the California State Assembly and City of Sunnyvale congratulating her on the achievement.

“It was so sweet,” said Gloria Montes, Hidalgo’s daughter, who takes care of her mother. “She was so excited. This is the most lively she’s been in two to three months.”

Hidalgo’s close family and friends aren’t surprised by the community’s warm reception or the fact that she’s made it this far. The centenarian is known in Sunnyvale for having an active lifestyle and generous heart for helping others.

“I want to say it’s surprising, but it isn’t,” said long-time neighbor and friend Victoria Schindler. “She was a go-doer. She was always terribly active.”

The daughter of Spanish immigrants, Hidalgo was born in Antioch and moved to Sunnyvale at age 5. During the Great Depression, her father became ill and left 13-year-old Hidalgo to financially support the family. She dropped out of school to live with her aunt in Monterey and work in the fish canneries. She returned to Sunnyvale a few years later to work for Libby’s Cannery, once one of the world’s largest.

Hidalgo married her husband, Greg Hidalgo, in 1938. During World War II, she worked at Westinghouse as a machinist while Greg served overseas. In 1947, the Hidalgos and their five children moved into their Murphy Avenue home, right next door to Schindler’s family.

“Even though she had five kids, she always had time for me, the good, the bad and the ugly,” Schindler said. “She knew how to handle everything. She was a worker, always.”

Greg, who had lost his legs during the war, and Mary joined the American Legion Auxiliary in 1946. He died in 1962 just as Mary retired from work. Hidalgo continued to volunteer for the organization and logged 20,000 volunteer hours during her 16 years of service at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto.

“There were a lot of veterans that had come back. They didn’t have enough doctors or nurses to nurse the veterans, so we volunteered to help,” Hidalgo said Thursday during an interview at her home before the parade.

Hidalgo also committed herself to 35 years of volunteering as a docent for the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum, first at the old museum in Murphy Park, then at its current location near the Sunnyvale Community Center. She could be seen the first Tuesday of every month, guiding visitors and answering questions about the city’s history. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, then 100-year-old Hidalgo retired from her volunteer position.

Her retirement years also consisted of spending time with her family, including taking a trip to Spain to visit the hometown of her parents. Kanawyer said she cherishes the time she spends with Hidalgo. After all, not everyone can say they have a 104-year-old mother.

“So many of my friends lost their mothers at an early age,” Kanawyer said. “They just always say, ‘God, you’re so fortunate to still have your mother with you.’ “

Samuel Holquin, who is also known as Samuel Holguin, was sentenced to three months in prison and three months supervised release. A court order signed by Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Chen says that Holquin has until April 8 to report to the Bureau of Prisons and start his sentence.

Holquin was charged in late 2022 with witness retaliation against Joseph Hardisty, a former member of the Richmond Hells Angels who testified for the government after several members allegedly assaulted him after he announced he was leaving the club.

Holquin allegedly texted menacing things to Hardisty and told another person, “I might as well drive out there and get all three of them (expletive) pieces of (expletive),” apparently referring to Hardisty and two other witnesses. Of his conversation with Hardisty, he allegedly wrote in a text message, “I had to let (Hardisty) know that I found him and know everything about him and his family,” according to a prosecution sentencing memo.

Defense attorneys representing Holquin said in court filings that he has learned his lesson. They also pushed back against prosecutors labeling Holquin a Hells Angels “associate,” writing that he was friends with a few members but not affiliated with the motorcycle club in any way.

“Mr. Holguin has learned a lesson from this conviction – the only time in his life he has been convicted of a crime. The lesson is that his focus must be on his family and on complying with the law,” his lawyers wrote. “During the pendency of this case, Mr. Holguin has demonstrated how thoroughly he has learned that lesson, performing flawlessly on supervision while serving as an in-home caretaker for his ailing father and grandmother.”

Hardisty’s testimony has resulted in four murder convictions over the death of a Hells Angels member named Joel Silva, and probably contributed to several others accepting plea deals.

Hardisty, a former friend of Silva, testified that the Hells Angels plotted to murder Silva due to his increasingly erratic behavior, culminating with him allegedly threatening a high-ranking club member during a motorcycle rally in New England. Silva was shot in the back of his head in the Hells Angels’ Fresno clubhouse and cremated illegally at a nearby funeral home, according to Hardisty’s testimony.

Chen also ordered Holquin to perform 40 hours of community service, stay away from Hardisty and not wear Hells Angels garb or associate with club members.

Measure B fails to
prioritize academics

Measure B is a $195 million bond (pretty word for tax) to paint, repair and update Antioch schools. Two prior bonds (taxes) were passed to do the same thing.

Students in Antioch schools are scoring poorly on state testing. For Example: Black Diamond Middle School Math: 8% proficiency. This means 92% of the students are below grade level. Only two students in a classroom of 25 can do math at grade level on average. Reading: 18% proficiency Less than five students in a classroom of 25 can read at grade level. Other schools in the Antioch School District aren’t much better. This is a travesty.

Our school district has a superintendent, principals and curriculum coordinators with master’s degrees, and they can’t figure out how to help our students succeed. The Antioch school administrators and school board should make academics a priority, not aesthetics.

Our children deserve a better education. Vote no on Measure B.

Lynette Solorio
Antioch

Unions favor Miley
for county supervisor

Your February 13 editorial discussing the District 4 Supervisorial race emphasized the role candidate Jennifer Esteen has played in public employee unions.

You neglected to mention that both public employee unions to which she belongs have endorsed her opponent, Nate Miley.

Dale Silva
Fairview

A right to speak,
but no call to listen

Re: “Man spews anti-Jewish hate at meeting” (Page B1, Feb. 22).

I join in the outrage over the hate speech delivered at a recent Walnut Creek City Council meeting.

Here is one solution to put such vile remarks in their place: Immediately upon hearing any hate speech in the council chamber, the council members quietly walk out, returning only when the speaker is done. Those in the audience should do so too.

There may be a constitutional right to free speech at City Hall, but there is no constitutional right to be heard.

Mark Peters
Walnut Creek

Kennedy would chart
new course for nation

I’m a mom of three young children in the East Bay. I’d like to introduce to my fellow residents our independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Many American families, like my own, are feeling increasingly distressed economically due to inflation and lack of job security. Kennedy recognizes that the average American’s quality of life has not improved since the 1960s. A massive military machine and rampant corruption have contributed significantly to the decline of the middle class. His proposed economic policies are centered around ensuring that hard-working individuals can lead a decent life. Kennedy plans to, among other things, make housing more affordable by backing 3% home mortgages with tax-free bonds, support small businesses by redirecting regulatory scrutiny onto large corporations, and expand free child care to millions of families.

I call on everyone to support Kennedy, as his presidency will reform and revitalize our nation.

Scarlett Fang
Danville

Deny hate speech
a council audience

Re: “Man spews anti-Jewish hate at meeting” (Page B1, Feb. 22).

The First Amendment guarantees all Americans the right to speak freely, even at the Walnut Creek City Council meetings.

There is nothing (to my knowledge) in the U.S. Constitution that forces the council members to listen to a Nazi moron’s diatribe.

Esteemed members, when he begins his ranting, leave the room for a couple of minutes. He’ll have his 120 seconds of notoriety and you will have a couple of minutes of peace and reflection. You will have also made a massive statement of your disgust for him and his ilk.

Robin Hall
Walnut Creek

Church’s attributes are
needed in neighborhood

Re: “2 private Catholic schools will shutter amid Diocese of Oakland’s bankruptcy” (Page A1, Feb. 24 ).

I sadly read the Feb. 24 article regarding the closure of my alma mater, St. Anthony’s School in Oakland, due to the diocesan bankruptcy. It maintains that “officials at the diocese attributed the closure to more than just financial constraints.” Rather, dwindling enrollment was due to “rising homelessness, unemployment and human trafficking in the surrounding San Antonio neighborhood.”

It seems to me this is where the hope and resources presented by the church and its institutions should be the most visible and accessible.

James Erickson
Brentwood

Alabama embryo ruling
wastes resources

The United States, including Alabama, once counted a Black person as three-fifths of a human. How much of a human will the eggs be? Maybe Alabama will make sperm a partial person whether it fertilizes an egg or not. A woman who miscarries can be charged with involuntary manslaughter. A technician who forgets to turn on the refrigerator housing embryos is a murderer. If the utility company turns off the power, they will be an accessory to murder.

Alabama must find a better way to use its resources than looking into wombs.

Norman Weiss
Orinda

]]> 10368689 2024-02-29T16:30:33+00:00 2024-02-29T11:28:04+00:00 https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/02/29/san-jose-slashes-price-tag-of-planned-largest-ever-rv-safe-parking-site/ Fri, 01 Mar 2024 00:23:59 +0000 https://www.mercurynews.com/?p=10370420 The price tag for San Jose’s largest-ever planned safe parking site for homeless people living in RVs has been slashed in half, city officials announced Thursday.

During a news conference at the future site, an empty lot in the city’s Berryessa neighborhood, Mayor Matt Mahan touted his push to bring down costs by redesigning the project, which is still set to host around 85 vehicles. The city now expects to spend about $7.5 million completing the site, down from the more than $15 million officials had initially estimated.

Officials said the main difference in the redesign is less office space for staff who will operate the lot, about a mile from the Berryessa BART station at 1300 Berryessa Road. However, RV residents will still receive supportive services and have on-site bathrooms and laundry.

On Thursday, Mahan, who’s widely expected to sail to reelection next week, framed the savings as part of his broader effort to bring homeless people off the streets faster and more cost-effectively. To solve street homelessness, he has focused on expanding “quick-build” cabin shelters and safe parking sites rather than permanent affordable housing, which in the Bay Area can cost as much as $1 million per door.

“We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” he said.

Launching the 6.3-acre site, set to open this fall despite safety concerns from some neighbors, may cost less than building new affordable housing, but operating it may not be cheap in the long run. When the city approved the site last year, officials estimated expenses would exceed $24 million over five years.

And if the city follows through on plans to add hundreds more safe parking spots and other “interim” shelter units, total operational expenses could soon exceed $70 million a year, about twice the current cost.

Mahan said he hopes to find more money in the city budget to support his shelter plans. He maintains the costs are worth it, given the human suffering on the streets and the strain homelessness puts on emergency services, law enforcement and city parks, creeks and public spaces.

San Jose has an estimated 6,200 homeless residents, about 70% of whom live outdoors or in vehicles.

“Our fire department is responding to a couple dozen fires a day in our encampments,” Mahan said. “The environmental degradation, and ultimately even just the clean water issues, are really significant and are forcing cities across the state to be more pragmatic about getting people to safe and managed sites.”

“There’s a high likelihood that people will be stranded if they try to drive up here from the Bay Area,” said Craig Shoemaker, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento, on Thursday afternoon. “It’s too late to even try. It’s a very dangerous, life-threatening situation that will be developing.”

At local stores in Lake Tahoe, people bought tire chains, snow blowers, shovels, flashlights, candles, battery-powered lanterns and telescoping roof rakes for pulling down accumulated snow on homes.

“Today most of the locals are saying, “There is something big going on,” and yesterday they were saying, “Are we really going to get 10 feet of snow?” said Brittney McClain, manager of Ace Hardware in South Lake Tahoe.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the Northern and Central Sierra continuing through 10 a.m. Saturday, the first such warning since Feb. 27 last year.

Meanwhile, the Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee issued a backcountry avalanche watch in effect from 7 a.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Sunday for the Central Sierra, including the Lake Tahoe area, warning of “extremely dangerous” avalanche conditions.

Because of high winds and declining visibility, ski resorts were expected to close or severely limit operations this weekend.

Sierra-at-Tahoe closed Thursday and announced it also would be shuttered on Friday “to preserve the safety of our guests and employees.” Heavenly closed Thursday afternoon, and other resorts, such as Kirkwood and Palisades, had only a few chair lifts running Thursday, with most closed due to high winds.

Last winter, a series of massive atmospheric river storms dumped dozens of feet of snow on the Sierra Nevada, ending a three-year drought. The Sierra snowpack, which provides about 30% of California’s water supply, was at its deepest level in 40 years. Reservoirs around the state filled, and ski resorts stayed open well into the spring.

As a result, Tahoe locals, even newly arrived residents, have a lot of recent practice on how to prepare for blizzard conditions, McClain said. In some neighborhoods, people plan to dig out fire hydrants to stop them from being buried too deep in snow. In other areas, residents were tossing salt pellets on their roofs or plugging in electric roof cables to prevent huge amounts of snow and ice from building up.

Last March, the roof collapsed at the Raley’s supermarket in South Lake Tahoe under the weight of snow and ice.

“When you have too much snow on your roof, your doors and windows don’t open correctly. Eventually you can start having beams break down, and the roofs can collapse,” McClain said. “We had a huge mass of ice, 15 feet long and about 2 feet around, that formed on the roof of our house last winter. It was in front of our windows. If it had fallen, it could have broken through.”

On Thursday afternoon, Tricia Popky, a Carmel Valley nurse who has a cabin near Donner Lake, was in central Truckee buying winter gloves, firewood and kindling and a new firewood rack for the cabin. “I’m just going to be hunkering down,” Popky said. “I’m going to cook some soup. I’m so excited because I got my wood-burning stove working.”

The latest storm, a powerful cold front that is carrying an unusual amount of moisture, originated over the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

The National Weather Service said it will only bring 1 or 2 inches of rain to most Bay Area communities. But the storm is forecast to dump 5 to 10 feet of snow in the Sierra above 5,000 feet and 1 to 4 feet of snow at about 3,000 feet. In some high-elevation spots, 12 feet is possible by Sunday.

“If what we’re seeing from the models ends up happening, this is a truly remarkable storm system,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab near Donner Summit. “It’s one that we very rarely have had before. It could set a highest snowfall on a single day for us.”

Since modern records began in 1970, the most snow the snow lab, which sits at about 6,900 feet, has ever received in one day was 53 inches, on Feb. 3, 1989.

An early inkling of the meteorological mayhem came Thursday morning when Interstate 80, the main highway over the Sierra, was closed eastbound for more than three hours after a big rig overturned near Donner Lake interchange, blocking both lanes of traffic, just as the snow was beginning to fall. The driver suffered minor injuries.

“It was pretty nasty for a while,” said John O’Connell, a Caltrans spokesman. “He was going too fast.”

Cars sat for miles all morning in stopped traffic or attempted to navigate backroads to get around it.

San Jose truck driver Erik Lopez, making a run from Stockton to Reno, was putting chains on his 18-wheeler near Kingvale on I-80 Thursday amid increasingly heavy snowfall after getting stuck in the lengthy jam. At the top of his mind was making sure he would return home to his family.

“There’s no fear in my heart,” said Lopez, 34. “But there’s safety in my heart.”

Farther east, Truckee resident Brent Martin was pulling into his garage after a sketchy trip from Sacramento in his pickup truck, traveling via backroads because of the I-80 crash. He planned to keep off highways until the storm has passed but was not expecting snow-related problems at home.

The blizzard would be “nothing compared to last year,” he predicted. “I’d shovel four feet off my deck twice a day last year.”

Martin urged non-residents to stay away this weekend.

“Tell everyone not to come up — all the Teslas and the Priuses, stay down in the Bay Area,” said Martin, 32. “That’s what causes a lot of the problems. Teslas are the new minivans — we hate ’em up here.”

The disruption Thursday wasn’t just limited to Tahoe and Donner Summit. Yosemite National Park officials said the park would be closed Friday and will not open until at least Sunday afternoon.

While a headache for motorists and first responders, the storm was a godsend to water managers. On Thursday, the statewide Sierra snowpack was 80% of its historical average, up from 28% on Jan. 1 after a wet February.

“When all is said and done, it is likely the Sierra snowpack will be significantly above average just about everywhere in as little as a week,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.

“This storm will certainly bolster the Sierra snow pack, but it is going to cause a lot of disruption.”

Elect Sally Lieber as
District 5 supervisor

As a long-time Santa Clara County resident and community advocate, I wholeheartedly endorse Sally Lieber for District 5 representative to the county Board of Supervisors. I have known Sally since her early days of serving on the Mountain View City Council. She has also been mayor of Mountain View and a state Assembly member. Sally currently serves on the state Board of Equalization.

Sally is honest, ethical, fair, collaborative, communicative and transparent in her decision-making and actions.

Sally has been the thoughtful champion for a variety of issues. When elected, Sally will be a pair of pragmatic boots on the ground. Sally has neither been bullied by nor beholden to self-serving special-interest groups, individuals or industries and will continue to champion important issues for those represented in District 5 and the county. Please vote for Sally Lieber for the Board of Supervisors, District 5.

Elinor Stetson
Sunnyvale

Casey is strongest
S.J. council candidate

George Casey is the best candidate for all of District 10.

He was the best candidate two years ago, when the other council members appointed someone else to temporarily serve our district, and he’s the best by far now. His life has been spent attaining the skills that will serve all of us in this position. He grew up in a couple of homes in two separate parts of the district, attained a high-quality education, including a law degree, master’s in urban planning and a master’s in real estate. He has used that knowledge and his negotiating skills to serve all of us for several years on the Planning Commission. He truly understands how the city functions and will use his negotiating skills to protect our neighborhoods while supporting Mayor Matt Mahan’s agenda to address crime, homelessness, and blight.

It’s time for us to select a strong council member.

Rich Crowley
San Jose

Tara Sreekrishnan for
Assembly District 26

Climate change is the issue of our times. We must elect leaders to the Legislature to reduce emissions and limit overall temperature increases.

Tara Sreekrishnan supports and champions the need for California to draw down carbon and move to a renewables economy. Her priorities include transitioning to solar, wind, EV adoption, sustainability and green buildings. Of particular note has been her effort to highlight the emissions from the Santa Clara Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant, and to move the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to dramatically increase oversight of the plant’s emissions reductions with a goal toward eventual closure.

Tara, a strong millennial voice and advocate for the environment, will work with the Legislature to champion change and push for climate solutions. Her proven record of leadership with grassroots environmental groups and youth is needed in the state Assembly.

Please join me in voting for Tara.

Carrie Levin
Sunnyvale

Return Zoe Lofgren’s
expertise to Congress

I am proud to serve with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, the chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation and one of the most respected members of Congress. She is an expert on immigration law, science policy and a former chair of the House Ethics Committee.

I’m disgusted by Charlene Nijmeh’s campaign that is centered on disinformation — including the recent distribution of flyers with pictures of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries with the candidate, clearly meant to mislead voters. Both Pelosi and Jeffries endorse Zoe Lofgren.

Disinformation destroys democracy. Voters must stand with truth and vote to reelect Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

Rep. Anna Eshoo

Menlo Park

Liccardo will get things
done in Congress

Sam Liccardo’s recent eight years as a get-things-done mayor of San José showcased how effective he would be in Congress. Liccardo’s successful leadership of the nation’s then-10th largest city ⏤ from homeless mitigation to the high cost of living ⏤ was a doctoral treatise on how a major metropolitan area can prosper in difficult times. He explains online how he will do it again as a new member of the House.

Some may view District 16 as a Palo Alto and North County preserve. It is not. District 16 has evolved with exciting potential. With changes to California’s district maps following the 2020 census, District 16 is an engine of accomplishment and challenge from metropolitan San José to high-tech in Santa Clara County. Sam Liccardo has a track record of successfully dealing with the multifaceted demands of 2024 unmatched by any other candidate in this election.

John Heagerty
San Jose

Simitian best prepared
for seat in House

Re: “Crowded field raises more than $4M in bid to replace Rep. Eshoo” (Page A1, Feb. 16).

The article on the run for Anna Eshoo’s open congressional seat is a good comparison of candidate positions on important issues, including climate change.

Because of its urgency, climate change is the most important issue in this race for U.S. Congress. Please vote for Joe Simitian.

Rob Hogue
Menlo Park

House needs Lofgren
on agricultural policy

If we want the Salinas Valley to continue as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” we’d better elect to Congress a politician who supports agriculture.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren is a staunch advocate for the agricultural industry. She has experience, vision and a track record of support for AgTech.

She has already secured emergency relief for growers impacted by the 2023 storms and helped get $2.8 billion in support for farmers impacted by natural disasters, along with emergency USDA loans.

Addressing the agricultural labor crisis, she authored the Farm Workforce Modernization Act — the first agriculture labor reform legislation to pass the House since 1986. It helps grant 1.5 million farmworkers legal status, protects them and gives flexibility to employers.

She has led bipartisan efforts in crop science, precision agriculture and other research projects. She wants to reform specialty crop insurance.

Want District 18’s agricultural industry to flourish? Vote Zoe Lofgren.

Jim White
Salinas

It would have been nice from Duclair’s perspective, though, had players had also been able to wear special night-themed warmup jerseys – an exercise he wants to see return after the league banned the practice last offseason.

“Obviously like a night like tonight or any night that we celebrate should be celebrated properly,” Duclair said. “I think having those specialty jerseys — for whatever event it is — I think it’s awesome. The boys embrace it, and it sucks that we can’t wear it.”

A small number of NHL players, including former Sharks goalie James Reimer, chose for various reasons not to wear special Pride-themed warmup jerseys last season on the nights their teams held Pride celebrations.

Reimer said the jerseys went against his religious convictions, and some Russian-born players believed they might experience repercussions back home if they showed support for the LGBTQ+ community.

The NHL, feeling those few instances had become an unwelcome distraction, decided last offseason that teams will not be allowed to wear any themed pregame jerseys, including on Hockey Fights Cancer and Military Appreciation nights.

In October, the NHL sent a memo to all teams clarifying what they could and could not do as part of their respective in-arena theme celebrations. That included a ban on the use of specialty stick tape, such as rainbow-colored tape for Pride nights, an edict that was later rescinded.

Still, wearing theme-night jerseys for pregame warmups remains outlawed, and Duclair would like the NHL Players’ Association to have discussions with league officials about ways to change the rule.

“That’s definitely a topic that they need to bring up, for sure,” Duclair said, adding later, “I would say the biggest changes will happen during the summertime and it should be and definitely will be a topic of conversation this summer. Hopefully, that can change for next year.”

The Sharks, as part of their Black History Month celebrations, wore special pregame jerseys for at least the last three years.

Last season, the jerseys’ shoulder patches showcased the NHL’s official Celebration of Black History Month logo, as the nameplates and numbers were designed by San Jose artist Dion Rollerson. The jerseys were later auctioned off, with net proceeds benefiting the African American Community Service Agency.

This Thursday, as part of our Celebration of Black History p/b @Zoom, every fan in attendance will receive a poster featuring Givani Smith, Anthony Duclair and Justin Bailey that they helped design!

: https://t.co/SkmDsIo5wt pic.twitter.com/RqmIXsxsfB

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) February 26, 2024

Duclair said other NHL players would also like to see themed-night jerseys make a return. Last summer, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid said the NHL’s ban was “disappointing to see.”

“I’m not the only one,” Duclair said. “Even like breast cancer awareness and indigenous nights, we‘ve got so many cultures in this league and so many guys that support different initiatives. Everything’s a little personal to them, just like for myself, Givani (Smith), and Justin (Bailey), this is a personal night for us.

“We want to represent and at the same time, we want to support other guys that support other initiatives. We want to come together and be one and a night like tonight where we can wear the jerseys would be beneficial for that.”

Thursday, the Sharks are giving away posters featuring the Sharks’ three Black players – Duclair and fellow forwards Bailey and Smith, and their autographs – with a handful of background images, including ones of trailblazers Willie O’Ree and Grier.

O’Ree became the league’s first Black player in 1958, and Grier, who played 1,060 games over a 14-year NHL career, became the league’s first Black GM when he was hired by the Sharks in 2022.

Duclair hopes Grier’s leadership of a hockey operations department can help open the doors for other groups.

“It’s good to have representation in that position for minorities, not just Black people,” Duclair said. “This doesn’t necessarily have to be through hockey. It can be in management, it could be social media or journalists. It could be connected to sports and other ways, and I think that’s definitely going to shed light on visibility in that sense, and definitely going to inspire young kids to hopefully be in that position one day.”