Widening doesn’t work, but here’s what does

A recent opinion piece in this paper stated that “Highway 1 widening ... continues to be fought by people whose motives ... are unclear.”

Here’s why I am opposed to widening Highway 1. It doesn’t relieve congestion and is a huge waste of money. Don’t take my word for it. The research is clear. If widening relieved congestion, cities such as LA and Houston would be congestion free.

Some treatments do work. Tolls, and congestion pricing can offer relief. Other projects offer options to sitting in traffic. Buses in a dedicated lane can pass cars sitting in gridlock (not the shared bus lane we are building). Safe, separated bikeways can speed some people to their destinations. Fixed guideway (rail, PRT) transit does not experience traffic jams.

Let’s spend our money on projects that work.

— Debbie Bulger, Santa Cruz

Wealth inequality and Trump’s rich friends

Garrett Phillip (Letters, Feb. 7) overlooks an obvious contributor to wealth inequality: Tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, which Trump wants to renew and expand. Also, if the writer is so concerned with “collusion between the federal government and the deep state oligarchs (corporations),” how does it strike him that Trump surrounds himself with some of the richest people on Earth? For instance, could Trump’s driving out the old head of the FAA have something to do with the FAA’s citing Musk’s SpaceX for safety violations, and grounding Musk’s rockets after their recent spectacular explosion?

With friends like Trump, we don’t need enemies.

— Brad Trusso, Santa Cruz

Why would someone think SC is not accepting?

Thairie Ritchie: It boggles my imagination that anyone would do such a horrible thing in Santa Cruz. And to do so because Santa Cruz is perceived to need to be more accepting. Of all the places in the world Santa Cruz prides itself on being one of the most accepting places there are.

The question is why would someone think otherwise? Black lives have always mattered as all lives have including the birds and the bees and the rest of us mammals.

— Chelsea Wagner, Soquel

Was there an ICE deportation in SC County?

When a mutual friend of my decades-long handyman informed me his truck with tools was at his apartment but he hadn’t been seen for days, I was confounded and worried. Though far-fetched, we conjectured that his recent dismay about a serious health condition had caused him to panic and return home.

Hard-working and bighearted, he had always assisted his family, though being undocumented meant he couldn’t be with them to share life’s celebrations and sorrows. When his granddaughter was born — his joy overshadowed by her immediate need for brain surgery — he took on paying off a $30,000 medical debt!

A week after his Jan. 29 disappearance — my friend heard from him. Using a borrowed phone, he revealed having been arrested by ICE at his Live Oak home, held six days in a Tijuana detention camp and was being bused to Mexico City.

I wondered if this was the first deportation in our community or if deportations were happening community-wide under the radar? I suspect the latter, and we must act ASAP!

— Sheila Carrillo, Santa Cruz

Letter on Panetta and bill defamed JVP’s motives

A writer’s defense (Letters, Jan 24) of Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s support of a Republican bill that would give Trump the authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization he claims supports terrorists is a good example of why that legislation is so dangerous.

In his letter, the writer made the outrageously defamatory accusation that Jewish Voice of Peace (JVP) is a “violent organization” that wants to “destroy Israel” and seeks to “identify and exclude the majority of Jewish students … from participating in campus life.” As a member of the JVP Academic Advisory Council, I can state that such accusations are categorically false. JVP is a Jewish peace group committed to nonviolence and to supporting equal rights for Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs.

It is already illegal to support terrorist groups. By being one of only 15 Democrats to cross the aisle, thereby enabling the bill to pass, Panetta is giving Trump the authority to suppress peace, racial justice, civil liberties and environmental groups simply by claiming, without evidence, that they do.

— Stephen Zunes, Santa Cruz