Dear mayor and councilpersons, This is all your fault! And the fault of all the local towns who are granting more land grabs to the local Tech Robber Barons. Shame on you!!! I have 2 degrees from Stanford. I taught for 8 years in San Jose in the 70's and was able to rent a cottage in College Terrace in PA. Until Prop 13. I then moved to the east coast for a PhD, and have recently returned to the area. My letter to the Mercury is below. It was much longer originally, but I had to cut it. I was going to add: "For all of you parents who love little Jared's second grade teacher, you can kiss her goodbye because Alice doesn't live here any more." Do any of you have a better explanation for the 30% increase???? Kathleen *Just say no to Google, Facebook and the rest* Re: “Dramatic spike in homelessness” (Page A1, May 17): Why is the homeless population up 31 percent or more in Santa Clara County and surrounding counties since 2017? Big Tech! Our cities keep approving expansions for these bloated robber barons because they “create jobs.” Shame on these mayors and city councils! If you build it, they will come: tens of thousands more young techies, who want nice housing, schools, room for their vehicles, etc. Just say no to Google, Facebook and the rest. The more they build, the more landlords everywhere in the area are rapidly demolishing their affordable rentals that house teachers, nurses, contractors, laborers, cooks and gardeners, and other workers we rely upon, just to make way for “nice” houses and condos for techies. Who do you think lives in those RVs? Go ask them: It’s contractors, gardeners, health care workers, grad students, etc. And where do the Big Tech companies think they’ll get their landscapers, cooks? There won’t be any. *— Kathleen McNellis, Redwood City* *650-362-3743* *433 Upton St.* Received on Mon Jun 03 2019 - 13:05:46 PDT
