“We can’t let a good crisis go to waste.”
These words were spoken by Marie Bernard, Executive Director of Sunnyvale Community Services, on Thursday night, at a Town Hall Meeting in the Milpitas Library Auditorium (160 N. Main St.). The meeting was hosted by Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee, and had been called to discuss how H.R.1 (President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”) will impact Milpitas and surrounding cities.
Residents filled the room and also tuned in via Zoom. Supervisor Lee led a panel discussion on the budget cuts resulting from H.R.1 while also asking voters to support Measure A at the ballot box come November’s special election; the Measure is a five-year sales tax increase devised to help soften the impact of the cuts.
“These cuts,” Lee said in a statement prior to the event, “punched a hole in our safety net. We’re holding Town Halls to connect with the community about the impacts and the next steps.”
Community leaders primarily representing healthcare but also from other service sectors spoke emotionally during the panel discussion…
“Food banks like ours are intended to be the safety net to the safety net; we’re not supposed to be the first stop when someone needs food assistance,” said Rachel Monaco, Senior Manager, Policy & Advocacy at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, in the course of explaining how her organization’s services are being stretched to their limit.
Megan Wheelehan, Deputy Director of the County’s Behavioral Health Services, explained, “Our goal is really to help people find recovery, the treatment that they need when they need it, before outcomes get worse. And to eventually help them to go on to achieve their hopes and dreams. Without our services, folks will experience worse mental health [outcomes], end up in the psychiatric emergency room, and experience even higher rates of incarceration, institutionalization, and homelessness. And it’s already happening today.”
In a particularly emotional moment, Dr. Phuong Nguyen of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center laid out a heartfelt plea for support:
“I feel like our health system right now is standing at a cliff,” Nguyen said, “And we need something to pull us back, right away. Because if we do not have enough resources to take care of our patients, guess what? Our patients will have to wait longer. People are going to miss treatment. Lives will be lost. And that’s not why I went [into] medicine.”
“This is not about politics,” she added. “This is about people’s lives.”
Election Day for the statewide special election is on November 4, 2025.
