Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children's Services Social Work Supervisor Susannah Moore speaks during the Board of Supervisors meeting in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. Social workers and supervisors from the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children’s Services spoke out at the Board of Supervisors meeting about child welfare practices focusing on keeping families together that played a role in the fentanyl overdose death of 3-month-old baby Phoenix Castro. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
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County leadership must
be examined after death
Re: “Social workers say county practices led to infant’s OD death” (Page A1, Dec. 6).
It seems that county counsel, as well as the leadership of the Santa Clara County’s child welfare agency, failed to provide the support social workers need to protect children who need their help.
In my time as a former member of a county board, it distressed me to see department heads rely on county counsel as de facto decision-makers because the department heads didn’t want to take on the tough challenges.
The department heads should be held accountable, but they weren’t alone in making bad decisions.
I hope the Board of Supervisors can take a deep look at the relationship between county counsel and the department heads.
Evelyn Vigil
San Jose
Bay Area homeless
need permanent fix
I’m exhausted from reading articles about homelessness around the Bay Area. Mckinsey & Company stated around 38,000 people are homeless in the Bay Area. The homeless worsen the economy, especially in the big cities like San Francisco where tourism is impacted significantly.
During the recent visit from China’s President Xi Jinping, San Francisco cleaned its streets of the homeless, and it made many residents temporarily happy to see the streets clean. Residents all over the Bay Area have been asking for this, so the government needs to step up its efforts now before the problem exponentially grows.
Universal basic income for only the homeless would be a solution, but it would increase our already high taxes. Gov. Gavin Newsom needs to accelerate the affordable housing projects that are planned and focus on spending more on the education system where the roots of the problems start.
Austin Woo
San Jose
Local governments
ignore local problems
Re: “Council passes a cease-fire resolution” (Page B4, Nov. 29).
I find it very perplexing that the Oakland City Council, the Richmond City Council and the Oakland Teachers Union find precious time in their schedules and agendas to draft and pass resolutions for international conflicts. Each faces greater local challenges.
Richmond has been impacted by decades of environmental blight, negative health, crime and economic divestment. In Oakland, violent crimes, robberies and commercial burglaries have increased. Oakland now accounts for nearly half of the entire homeless population in Alameda County, with more than 5,000 people living on the streets and in shelters. Trash, graffiti and neighborhood blight are everywhere. The city has lost three professional sports teams and is facing a $360 million deficit. Oakland schools face declining enrollment, teacher shortages and achievement gaps.
There is plenty of work to do in their own backyards. They should focus and work first on what they were elected to do.
Diego Certa
Campbell