As you may know, thousands of students every year in california struggle with their  academic funds for higher education. I myself have had the privilege of attending expensive private schools my whole life, and I will never take that for granted. I graduate high school in the spring and the pandemic has affected my immediate family, and plans for college. I wanted to show you appreciation for the beautiful proposal of free tuition for full time students at community college.

 I think this was such a smart decision, this gives students who are not quite prepared financially, physically, and mentally a great option for their next goal in life. This plan has helped thousands of students make steps in the right direction to become successful and confident. This is beginning to change the stigma surrounding community college. In my school a local community college is not talked about, we like to aim high, which is obviously not a bad thing, but knowing my finances and just the state in which the country is in at the moment, it's nice to know that at least my future is somewhat taken care of. Families all throughout california will be more confident and appreciative of the opportunity to send their children to college. With your help california students are one step closer to being as successful as they can be. Thank you for taking the time to read this and making a change in american education.

Sincerely,

Maya Aaron

My name is Sydney Chan. I reside in San Jose and I’m currently a senior at Mountain View Academy. I have worked on various community projects throughout the summer and into the school year. Some of those projects include a Black Lives Matter march through the city of Mountain View, a COVID-19 grocery drive for those affected by the pandemic, and a school supplies drive for a sister school up in Napa County who was affected by the wildfires. 

As one of your constituents, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for all the hard work you and your staff have done during these tumultuous times. As I have signed petitions, I have received letters from your staff thanking me for my efforts. I also attended the town hall meeting regarding COVID-19 in early November. Your efforts are always most appreciated and I thank you for always listening to your constituents and for always putting us first. 

As you continue working in Congress I want to remind you that you are first and foremost representatives. As your constituents we will hold you accountable and we wish nothing but transparency. Please continue to listen to us and we will continue to encourage you. Thank you so much for your hard work and I wish nothing but the best for you.

Sincerely,

Sydney Chan

The first order of business was fire prevention week which included addressing the wildfires/ the air quality and addressing that most of the fires that are started in Milpitas spark from the kitchen.  During this time the Mayor talked about the pandemic and how the first responders are responding with new protocols. There was a proclamation for Filipino-American history month and the frontliners (nurses specifically) who are working against this pandemic. 

On the public forum, each attendee was given a minute to express their concerns and issues and each of those issues was written down by the councilmembers and was later responded to by the councilmembers and the mayor himself. Some of these issues included taking down the old hotels and building new homes and most of the concerns circled around homelessness and how to give them easier access to food, showers, and permanent housing. Many of the concerns around homelessness were around the lack of access to mobile medical help, laundry, and food services. There was also a lot of discourse for the housing of the homelessness and there was this back and forth between residents between disapproving and approving of the new housing. There were also many residents who were disappointed at the lack of communication from the mayor and the city council about their plans to take on this homeless project. Many residents addressed the lack of communication with not just the homeless project but with the correctional facility sewage and the landfill with the new expansions for both. With that, there were also many concerns about the schools specifically elementary and middle schools because there are quite a few in Milpitas. Milpitas has and area of 13.52 miles and much of that space is for residents and schools and the council has not been clear with their plans and are not communicating with the community. 

I found it interesting that the council really stuck to the “agenda” that was put out and that they kept repeating “we hear you, please email us” and one person said, “you keep saying you hear us but you aren’t doing anything”. Then there was a transition where the mayor said that they cannot address it right now because of legalities and those things are not on the agenda. After that whole spiel, there was a brief discussion and vote about litigation and it transitioned to those affiliated with the resources of Milpitas which included water, electricity, fossil fuels, and solar-powered items and more specifically the budget for these things as well as the citizens budget. There are many ways that the city is trying to conserve energy and save money as well and is trying to go green and in this section of the meeting they were interviewing different organizations about solutions for resource alternatives that will be better for the community. 

The final issue on the agenda was addressing the new homelessness project and how that will affect the community. There was a brief explanation of the plan five years ago and then an in-depth explanation for a plan that will be implanted for the next five years with different strategies for not only Milpitas but for Santa Clara county as a whole. The 3 core strategies for this plan include: Address the root causes of homelessness through system and policy change, expand homelessness prevention and housing programs to meet the need, and improve quality of life for unsheltered individuals and create healthy neighborhoods for all. 

There is only one issue to complain about in California. The education funds put by the state and Palo Alto city leaders should be increased to cater for adequate facilities (Darling-Hammond, et.al, 2016). The Corona pandemic period has enlightened the city on the need to equip schools with modern technology learning facilities. Students have to study from home because of the second wave of the virus affecting the country.  

My first gratitude is because of how the security officials of California handle natural hazard cases occurring in the city. While we cannot prevent natural hazards from happening, we can prepare to handle them and minimize their impact (Smith, 2015). The government handles the cases well and has increased preparedness by creating more safety homes in case of any other occurrence. Citizens now live with confidence that their safety is guaranteed, and information of any possible hazard is availed in time.

The second issue I would like to appreciate the government is how the coronavirus pandemic has been handled in California specifically Palo Alto city. The government has provided sanitizers and facemasks to the families and individuals living below the poverty line (Qeadan, et.al, 2020). The action was full of compassion towards the people who elected leaders to serve them. For a moment, the people of California felt that their elections were valid because their concerns and needs were put first before other things. The government put all measures possible to ensure that people of Palo Alto city were healthy and free of the virus.