Publication Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Letters
Letters
(June 16, 2004)
'Diamond' gratitude
Editor,
Thank you for "Diamond Days," Norbert von der Groeben and Cross Missakian's fine photo essay about Little League (Weekly, June 9).
Our community owes a debt of gratitude to leaders back in the 1950s who, when land was still affordable, had the foresight to grab those four precious acres to create Palo Alto Little League Park; to members of the Sandborn family for their quiet support and free dog treats at the concession stand; and most of all to the legions of coaches, Little League board members and volunteers who dedicate countless hours, season after season, so that kids and their families can enjoy the wonderful game of baseball.
Chris Kenrick
Tennyson Avenue
Palo Alto
Palo Alto analysis
Editor,
Councilmember Freeman has requested an analysis of Palo Alto's staffing structure.
With approximately 900 employees on the general-fund payroll (not including utility department employees), we have 15 employees per 1,000 residents. Other towns operate with half as many.
Mountain View has approximately 8.3 regular or non-utility general-fund employees per 1,000. The City of Santa Clara has 7.8 general-fund employees per 1,000.
Having twice as many employees is a red flag for managers and merits a factual investigation, supported by hard data, not general claims that Palo Alto offers better services. Clearly, other cities are much more efficient.
Despite a huge general staff, we also have nearly twice as many utility department employees as we had 20 years ago for basically the same size population. The result is that we are taxed on our utility bills for traffic signals, streetlights and cleaning streets as "utilities" that other cities pay from their general revenues.
Palo Alto has decrepit police facilities and we let the medical foundation property go to development when we should be buying parkland. We haven't built an automobile train underpass in decades, upgraded libraries or fixed storm drains (without more taxes), even though we have enjoyed a lavish per-capita income for years.
Congratulations to Hillary Freeman for asking the tough questions city managers should have answered long ago.
Richard Alexander
Santa Rita Avenue
Palo Alto
Limitless depravity?
Editor,
Good Lord, are there no limits to the depravity of Palo Altans? Will we next be feeding wine to mountain lions and shooting art patrons?
Thomas Daniell
Elsinore Drive
Palo Alto
Inaccurate header
Editor,
The header to my recent letter "Navy Responsible?" (ReaderWire, June 4) was the work of the Weekly. Discerning readers would note that I did not mention any branch of the military.
To assure Eugene J. Micek (ReaderWire, June 11), please let me say that I agree with your opinion that the "main factor for polluting the environment" is overpopulation. I trust that you have made the choice to not have children as have I.
I am familiar with the history that Mr. Micek cites. I know that NASA "controls" Moffett. I support a strong military defense. But a connection between the air show and military preparedness? A bit of a stretch.
For entertainment, I hope that we might all progress beyond the thrills of egregious displays of military power. Go out and enjoy nature along the shore. The true creatures of the air, the birds, are there.
And to the Weekly: Thank you for providing a venue for your readers to express opinions. But please do not distort such views. It raises questions about the accuracy of your news reports.
Martha W. Bond
McKellar Lane
Palo Alto
Cup-worthy Campbell
Editor,
Near the conclusion of the Henry M. Gunn High School commencement last Wednesday evening (June 9), Scott Laurence presented the Principal's Cup to the young man and woman voted the most outstanding graduates from the class of 2004.
Doug Campbell was a recipient of this Principal's Cup, the most prestigious of Gunn awards.
Four years ago in June of 2000, Doug was presented with the Stanford Cup, having been voted the outstanding eighth grade boy at JLS Middle School.
Doug Campbell is the first student to receive both the Stanford Cup and the Gunn Principal's Cup.
Having attended every Gunn graduation, I know of how special this Gunn award is, and therefore was pleased to see Doug given this honor, a pleasure matched only by that which comes from having known Doug Campbell through his years in middle and high school.
Mel Froli
East Meadow Drive
Palo Alto
Bravo to Gunn grads
Editor,
Congratulations to the graduating classes of 2004. Palo Alto students have long impressed by transitioning from high school to college bravely, and going on to become independent, successful individuals.
I would like to specifically applaud Gunn High School's marvelous theater department. Spearheaded by the ultra-talented Jim Shelby, Gunn theater has consistently pooled together an inspirational company of charismatic and courageous actors.
Many of Gunn's finest performers graduated on June 9. Although it is unfortunate we will no longer be able to see these young men and women on stage at Gunn, I'm certain they will all go on to fantastic things in the world of creative arts.
The graduating senior class of Gunn thespians is a diverse group heading off to schools as nearby as Los Altos and as far as Manhattan. A special thanks to them for entertaining us over the past four years, and I for one look forward to the many more years of artistic endeavors they have to offer -- whether on Broadway, in film or simply in the lives of people they meet and share stories with.
Bravo.
Daniel Rand
Park Boulevard
Palo Alto
Reagan amnesia?
Editor,
The entire nation seems to be suffering from a prolonged bout of amnesia. The media is flooded with grandiose eulogies on the mythical life of Ronald Reagan.
Forgotten are the serious charges of delaying the release of U.S. hostages in Iran to weaken President Carters's chances of re-election. Forgotten are the false statements Reagan made to Congress denying the sale of arms to Iran to fund the brutal thugs known as the "freedom fighting" contras -- an impeachable offence far more serious than Watergate.
Forgotten are the thousands of poor civilians, including women and children who were brutally murdered in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua in the 1980s by death squads funded and trained by Reagan's CIA. Forgotten is the costly Star Wars program, robbing the U.S. treasury of billions of dollars.
Ignored was the AIDs epidemic that resulted in millions of needless deaths. Forgotten are the thousands of mentally sick who were prematurely discharged from hospitals and dumped unceremoniously on the streets.
It is sad that our present crop of misguided leaders are following the example of their predecessors, such as Ronald Reagan, and imposing U.S. domination on weaker nations to steal coveted resources.
Tejinder Uberoi
Louisa Court
Palo Alto
The business of art
Editor,
I would like to thank Bill D'Agostino for his piece on the art/fountain brouhaha in Palo Alto, a city I learned to love and respect.
But I don't believe there is a conflict between the artist, on one side, and the developer, the business mogul, and the former mayor, on the other. I believe there is a conflict between public interest and private interest.
It also appears that the city's Public Works Department played some sort of trick on the Public Art Commission, bypassing it and managing to not install the sculpture by the due date (I understand it should have been installed before May 10).
The real story that remains to be written is this one: By what authority does the Public Works Department delay the installation of public art? And couldn't they at least come up with a better excuse than the "hard time to find a contractor" one? I'd really love to read what Palo Altans think about having their Public Works Department make public-art decisions.
The sculpture is a reality resulting from a decision made by the legitimate public body, the Public Art Commission; the plaza is a hypothesis apparently cherished by the Public Works Commission. If the two can co-exist in the future, as Roxy Rapp suggested, then let the proposed new landscape be conceived and built around the sculpture and not the sculpture be "inserted" in it.
The landscape for which the sculpture was conceived is already there. Let it be installed immediately, that is if Palo Alto respects at all its reputation for being an enlightened contemporary community, not some 19th century town where the owners of the largest herds equate public interest with their own business interests.
Leda Beck
Woodside Road
Redwood City
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