|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
San Mateo makes the right move ditching ICE
On April 11, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to pass an ordinance that will stop all cooperation with ICE in our county. The San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights (SMCCIR) was instrumental in bringing about this important ordinance.
I work with Pacifica Social Justice and we are proudly part of this Coalition. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors showed its support for the immigrant community by passing this ordinance. Basically the ordinance prevents any county agencies from using county funds to assist ICE in any way that involves immigration law, including transfers, arrests, communication and access to non-public property.
The ordinance continues the county sheriff’s policy from 2021 and makes it part of law. Forty people on Zoom and 16 people in person spoke in favor of the ordinance. Many shared their own stories of the impact of deportation on their lives. No one spoke against it.
Unfortunately, Supervisor Ray Mueller is petitioning for an amendment to exclude some convictions from this new law. This will unnecessarily weaken the new law. His rationale is based on misinformation and fear mongering. He is exploiting people who have survived tragedies to criminalize and penalize everyone.
San Mateo County would join many municipalities across the state and country that are committed to being a welcoming place for all — one where immigrant families can stay together and residents can access services without fear of discrimination or deportation.
Julie Starobin
Pacifica
Amid talk of quiet zones, Caltrain train horns are always blaring
The missing information in The Almanac is that there are almost 100 trains a day, blaring horns. In rush hours, there are times when horns are heard constantly, with only a few minutes of silence between them. Multiply the number of trains by 16 blares in this short span to get an idea of constant loud noise.
Mickey Bright Griffin
Alma Street, Menlo Park
Mueller proposed an amendment to County Sanctuary Ordinance for individuals convicted of Murder, Rape, or Child Molestation. His amendment lost in 1-4 vote. ABC ran a news story on the vote. You can watch it here:
https://abc7news.com/san-mateo-county-board-of-supervisors-immigration-ordinance-immigrant-crime-bay-area-asylum-seekers/13213284/
Some Caltrain engineers, maybe most of them, seem out of control with their horn use when southbound out of Menlo Park. The train is right there, its lights and its presence glaringly obvious, and yet the guy is leaning on the horn.
Freight train engineers give four blasts, as the protocol calls for. So do northbound Caltrain engineers. But not those going south. The bullet trains are even worse.
It’s an abomination. It’s an outrage. The woman who gave a Donald Trump motorcade a piece of her mind using one of her fingers is coming to mind now and again while waiting at the lowered pedestrian gate at the Ravenswood crossing.
so, the way I read this is that the San Mateo County Coalition for Immigrant Rights supports rapists, murderers and child molesters. Even if you are accused of those crimes, the SMCCIR would rather have you here in this country (and preferrably, I’m sure, living next door to SMCCIR members) than deported back to the country from which you illegally immigrated to the US. You’ve got to be kidding!!