Letters: Residential customers in SJ should push for civic utility

"PG&E scaling up to provide power to new data centers is beyond comical. They can't even deliver reliable power to residential customers. My area of San Jose, including my own home, has experienced over a dozen power outages since 2022, the longest lasting eight and nine hours back-to-back during the 2022 heatwave. Before we rely on PG&E to supply power to these new data centers, city leaders should be asking the utility how committed they are to serving their residential customers. We are not willing to be short-changed. Residents can still band together to get our own public utility in the city of San Jose, one that is responsive to the needs of residents, not shareholders or big business. Nina SethSan Jose"

"I have been a supporter of Matt Mahan as mayor of San Jose: pragmatic policies and a sophisticated understanding of outreach. But with a long list of tech bros giving to his campaign, who can support his bid as governor? Do they care about homelessness? Affordability? Public safety? That Sergey Brin, of Epstein file fame and obscenely rich, should get involved with Mahan is weird. Why take money from this man? For all his touted bio as a scholarship recipient to Bellarmine and then Harvard, Matt Mahan has been sniffed out as a tech bro: in the circle. Let's look instead at candidates who support the lives of regular people. Jennifer ThompsonSan Jose"

PG&E plans to scale power for new data centers despite frequent residential outages in San Jose, including multiple outages since 2022 and extended outages during the 2022 heatwave. Residents demand that city leaders require evidence of PG&E’s commitment to serving residential customers before expanding data center power. Community organizing could enable a municipal utility responsive to residents rather than shareholders or big business. Political donations from wealthy tech figures raise concerns about candidate priorities on homelessness, affordability, and public safety. The twenty-year sentence for Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai represents a severe blow to press freedom after detention since 2020.

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