The Willow Glen Resident

Letters

Pleasant voice will be missed in the Glen

"Hello, this is Vera from HOPE..." Many residents of Willow Glen will miss this greeting after having heard Vera Cardoza's pleasant voice regularly for more than 27 years.

Vera, my grandmother, made her last official calls to the residents of Willow Glen on Tuesday, May 5, as she reminded us to put our things out for the HOPE Rehabilitation Services truck. HOPE Rehabilitation Services is a nonprofit organization serving the developmentally disabled.

She started working with HOPE after her husband, Joseph, passed away. They had been married for almost 38 years, and their children, Marilyn and Mel, were grown. To keep from being lonely, she worked for HOPE out of her home, and especially liked working in the evenings.

Vera, who is 88 years young, retired from HOPE because of technological advances in telephone soliciting. HOPE has made the decision to use the "more efficient" computer-generated "predictive dialers" in their offices in Santa Clara. Vera made the decision to retire because she did not want to drive across town to work.

Still very active in the community, Vera has served as president of both the UPPEC and SPRSI Portuguese organizations and remains active in her church. She keeps herself busy with china-painting, sewing, making fudge and boysenberry jam, preparing food for the homeless once a month and attending graduations and birthday parties for her eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Vera has enjoyed calling on the residents of the Willow Glen area. She says that the people on her route are the friendliest and most courteous group of people around. She even encouraged her granddaughter to move to Willow Glen because of the "nice people" that she experienced on the phone on a daily basis.

Good luck to you in your future endeavors, Vera!

Katrina M. Rice
Creek Drive

Gonzales cartoon was highly insensitive

I enjoy reading The Resident as it provides me with local neighborhood news and issues. I find it to be a friendly, feel-good newspaper for those of us who live in the Willow Glen and surrounding areas.

Yet I was disturbed by the editorial cartoon depicting mayoral candidate Ron Gonzales as a "vendido bird." I can accept criticizing Mr. Gonzales for only living in San Jose for the past five years as legitimate political criticism, but to add "vendido" to that criticism adds a new unwarranted dimension.

In the Chicano community, labeling someone a "vendido" is a serious and damaging assault. Your cartoon is highly insensitive, disturbing and has, in my opinion, racist overtones and is not appreciated.

Lawrence Gallegos
Atlanta Avenue

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