I can't understand why the City Council wouldn't demand for higher density (and change parking requirements), given our housing crisis and this location's proximity to Google ("City approves razing Rock Street apartments," Dec. 14). Asking for higher density wouldn't hurt developer profits, but would make the displacement of existing residents less repugnant.

Kicking out existing poorer MV residents to build even fewer homes for richer future residents. Sad — there exists a more innovative solution than this.

Christopher Chiang

Space Park Way

Take action

In the past, humans have had a tendency to focus on ourselves, but here in the Silicon Valley, we need to make a change and remember the roots we came from to protect our environment. I have had the amazing opportunity to complete a stewardship program with an organization based here in the Silicon Valley called Grassroots Ecology. Grassroots Ecology is a nonprofit involved in habitat restoration. They utilize the power of passionate volunteers to create healthy lands across Silicon Valley. The main focus is to restore native plants to open spaces while educating the volunteers on our ecosystems.

Furthermore, Silicon Valley provides a habitat for thousands of plant and animal species, but at the same time there are over 3 million people living here as well. Because of this, there are some challenges: increased flood and fire risk, degraded and fragmented habitat, contaminants in our soil and waterways, and the proliferation of invasive species at the expense of biodiversity.

I support Grassroots Ecology because I strongly believe that humans have a responsibility to take care of the environment we have inhabited. In the past, not everyone has understood this, but if us humans destroy the environment and habitats of the environment that were here before us, we are destroying the homes of thousands of helpless plant and animal species. I believe that you should support this cause, because although Grassroots Ecology has a good number of volunteers every year, just imagine the changes and improvements we could make if the people of Mountain View could rise together and protect our home, the home we share with thousands of species.

Rachel Clark, Mountain View High School sophomore

Los Altos

Language matters

Your article entitled "Dozing Tesla driver arrested for suspected DUI" (Dec. 7) paints a radically different picture than the facts described in your article. As you report, three CHP vehicles were required to surround the Tesla in order to get the car to stop, as police were unable to attract the driver's attention with patrol car lights and sirens. You report that the driver was "unresponsive" during these attempts, and that "it took them awhile to wake him up." You further report that the driver failed a field sobriety test and was arrested. The last three paragraphs of your story highlight the superlative social qualifications of the driver: Los Altos residency, planning commissioner, co-founder of a luxury hotel chain, and principal of a real estate investment firm.

This is an individual who endangered the lives of others by getting behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated and then passing out while the car was on the road. "Dozing" feels like a qualification reserved for the stories about the protected strata of our society, namely those wealthy enough to pass out drunk in their Tesla Model S cars.

I wonder how the language in your story might have changed had the driver been black, brown, or an immigrant?

And I wonder how this individual will fare in our court systems relative to similar offenses committed by those driving older-model Hondas?

Language matters and I am angered by the misleading and skewed attributions in this article.

Lisa Rogan

Begen Avenue

Bike car seating

I think it's awesome Caltrain is electrifying and buying more cars to increase planned capacity, but I hope Caltrain considers improving the rail car design beforehand to have seating within view of bikes.

I never sit out of view of my bike when on Caltrain because it is so easy to steal a bike from the train. Many of my fellow commuters feel the same and so the result of the current rail car design will be congestion within the train from people standing by their bikes, which I believe they are entitled to do. Either that or people will start locking their bikes, which will slow everything down when it comes to getting on and off. I would be one of those people standing near my bike.

Sarah Edwards

San Mateo