SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

Immigration and growth

THE article ''Crowded future'' (Perspective, May 7), based on an interview with author Mark Baldassare, is the latest in a line of predictions and warnings about the effects of our state's explosive growth.

Responsible studies over the past decade have forecast that California's population will double to 62 million by the year 2040. Problems attendant to this surge are already occurring: Agriculture is being pushed out of the Central Valley, our ecosystems are being destroyed by development and pollution, our school systems and our infrastructure are overwhelmed. Baldassare adds that we may also face ''racial and ethnic conflict, gridlock (and) lawlessness on a nightmarish scale.''

Since most figures show that 30 percent or more of California's population growth will result from legal immigration, I wonder why Baldassare did not have the temerity to defy political correctness and recommend the reduction of immigration numbers.

It seems so clear that immigration reform is needed if, rather than treating symptoms, we hope to deal with a major cause of the problems discussed in ''Crowded Future.'' The United States Commission on Immigration Reform found that it is in the national interest to reduce immigration quotas. The president has failed to act on this finding. Environmental organizations, worried about destructive population pressures on our ecosystems, favor a stable or reduced population.

The fallout from population growth affects every citizen. I am reminded of a disquieting report in the May 4, 1992 issue of Newsweek entitled ''Another lost generation -- California schools are overflowing and broke.'' It spoke of the wave of ''mostly poor, mostly non-English speaking immigrants'' and stated that ''California would have to build a new 600-student school every day for five years just to maintain its sorry status quo.''

How is this fair to citizens who have a right to expect a quality public education for themselves and their children?

About California's growth, Marc Reisner, the author of ''Cadillac Desert,'' was quoted as saying, ''62 million people! That's scary. That's too many -- I won't be one of them, I'll tell you that.'' I say, rather than let it happen and then run away, let's act now.

Woody Nedom
Los Gatos

Read Norwood Nedom's Second Letter to the Mercury News:
"Get courageous on immigration"

Read Jan Tucker's response to Mr. Nedom's Letters

Read the Executive Director of the California Public Defender's Association's Email Reponse.