Letters Letters (February 18, 2004)

Nuclear powerplant?

Editor,

You ask? Of course, Palo Alto needs to have its own electric-generation powerplant.

What better way is there to keep privately owned providers in line? Only it should be a nuclear plant rather than a gas-fired one.

It needn't be one of those one-of-a-kind humongous multi-megawatt affairs. It can be a small-scale, standard, tried-and-true design, such as must be in use on nuclear submarines and in other countries' power plants.

As far a site is concerned, put it in the City Hall garage -- there must be lots of room there now -- directly under council chambers, and rest assured it will be well maintained. Michael Goldeen Tasso Street Palo Alto
Green powerplant?

Editor,

Palo Alto should consider green alternatives to a natural gas-fired electrical power plant. Landfill gas is largely methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it can produce electricity at a cost as low as 4 to 7 cents per kilowatt hour.

Rather than building a big power plant (efficiency about 35 percent), we should consider cogeneration plants that use the heat that would otherwise be wasted, achieving an efficiency around 80 percent.

Paradoxically, the "waste" heat can also be used to drive air conditioning systems for cooling buildings. The Cardinal Cogen (cogeneration) plant on the Stanford campus produces 49 megawatts of power, plus heating and cooling for the campus, and was built in 1987 for $72 million.

Perhaps Palo Alto could do the same for the Stanford Research Park or its own facilities. Arthur M. Keller, Ph.D. Corina Way Palo Alto
Assault on rights

Editor,

Those of us residing in the political bubble of the Bay Area sometimes forget just how extreme the current government's posture towards basic rights has become.

According to reports in the Washington Post, it is expected that the president will soon announce his support for a federal Constitutional Amendment requiring discrimination against same-sex couples and their families.

Amending the Constitution to require discrimination would be unprecedented. By writing discrimination into the Constitution for the first time, an anti-gay Amendment would contradict the principle of equal protection for all and undermine the integrity of our Constitution.

Because they are not allowed access to the civil benefits of marriage, same-sex couples are currently excluded from more than a thousand legal protections and benefits of marriage provided by state and federal laws. Denying a domestic partner benefits because he or she is the "wrong" gender amounts to a violation of the Equal Protection clause and contradicts the principles on which this nation was founded.

As an evolving social institution, marriage should not be codified in the Constitution. Restricting the definition of marriage in the Constitution would undermine the democratic process and would bind future generations to the current perceptions of one limited segment of society, and would undermine the separation of Church and State.

I personally believe that the civil institution of marriage, whether for gays or straights, should be recast as "civil union" or something similar, in order to make clear that the government is not interested in defining the religious institution of marriage.

But regardless of how this issue is eventually resolved, a Constitutional Amendment is uncalled for, and this Constitutional Amendment is a vicious, radical assault on our nation's values. R. Michael Harman Cambridge Avenue Palo Alto
Assault on rights

Editor,

In his remarks (Weekly, Feb 11) on my Guest Opinion about the traffic-diversion barriers in Downtown-North, John Guislin has either misunderstood what I was saying or has taken my comments out of context and chosen to misrepresent them.

My point about congestion on the arterials was that it relates primarily to regional traffic management. Allowing commuter traffic to cut-through unimpeded on Everett and Hawthorne will provide some short-term relief for Lytton, but with ever-increasing commuter traffic it won't be long before those local streets become jammed-up to their (quite limited) capacity.

Then all we have succeeded in doing is jamming up both the neighborhood and the arterials.

Traffic relief on the arterials over the longer term requires regional planning, such as putting light rail over the old Dumbarton Bridge and preventing excessive development. Making those points is neither callous nor elitist.

There is also a disconnect between Mr. Guislin's implication of large traffic increases on the arterials and the data from the city's survey. In traffic counts carried out before and after the diversion barriers were put in place (February/March 2003 and September/October 2003) traffic on the most impacted block of Middlefield (Mr. Guslin's street), went up by less than 5 percent; on Alma it actually dropped by about a third.

In the other discourse on my Guest Opinion, Nancy Adler builds her arguments on false premises: she conveniently misquotes me by dropping the word "Stanford" from my observation regarding the primary cause of our traffic problems -- namely, that Downtown North streets provide the most convenient connection from 101 to Stanford and I-280 via the Sand Hill and Willow/University corridors.

Come to think of it, I should have originally added emphasis to the Stanford factor and noted that the problem is compounded by traffic streaming over the new Dumbarton Bridge to and from Stanford and beyond, along the same corridor. Ms. Adler says look at a map -- indeed, please do. Walter Sedriks Waverley Street Palo Alto
Underrating Dean

Editor,

The media currently seems bent on profiling Howard Dean as a one-issue and one-event candidate.

But while Dean has consistently spoken out against the Iraq war, and while he did make a speech to rally the troops in Iowa, his candidacy is about so much more than that.

Howard Dean was the first Democrat to say that President Bush was wrong on many counts. Wrong about irresponsible tax cuts, huge deficits and the so-called "No Child Left Behind program," just for starters.

In Vermont, Governor Dean's ability to get results, including balancing the budget, while improving children's health care, education and the environment, meant that he was reelected five times.

Californians have been waiting a long time to have their vote actually matter in the primaries. Now on March 2, we have that chance. It would be a shame to waste it by simply rubber-stamping the frontrunner. Janice Hough Bryant Street Palo Alto
Atkins diet heart threat

Editor,

So, the jig is up. The Atkins high-protein diet craze that has been sweeping the nation has shown its ugly underbelly, and it's heart disease (as well as a host of other chronic diseases linked with consumption of fatty meat and dairy products).

A consumer advocacy group released a medical examiner's report showing that the infamous Dr. Atkins suffered from obesity and heart disease.

Apparently, the dozen expert panels that reviewed thousands of diet and health studies over the past three decades were not crazy after all. Every one of them concluded that Americans should replace meat and dairy products in their diet with vegetables, fresh fruits and whole grains.

None reached the opposite conclusion.

As consumers, we need to be constantly vigilant for diet gurus who would exploit our obsession with physical appearance to promote their profit-driven agendas. The price we pay, beyond an inflated food bill, is life-long chronic afflictions and a curtailed life span.

Let's hope that this lesson does not come too late for victims of the Atkins diet. Ken Braiser Northampton Drive Palo Alto
Teachers and free work

Editor,

How nuts is this idea? Teachers already work quite a few unpaid days each year -- weekends and vacations -- planning lessons and correcting written assignments. They spend their own money for copying services, since not all schools (including Palo Alto High School, which has one machine to be shared by all, on behalf of 2,000 students) have adequate facilities on campus for the teachers to use.

Most middle and high school teachers I know spend a significant amount of money of their own on classroom materials; they offer their personal libraries for the students to use at school.

Let's remember telephone time and costs for those who live outside the local calling area. Palo Alto parents expect a lot of feedback. Teachers spend hours every week responding to calls to discuss the students' progress (or lack of same).

If drastic economizing is necessary, start by eliminating cars and car allowances for administrators. Students can pick up trash on the grounds instead of sitting in the library during detention. Parents can consider donating used computers to faculty. Jordan Middle School provides computers for the teachers. Paly teachers must provide their own.

At middle school level and above, each academic subject teacher is responsible for instructing about 120-135 students per day. Let's not insult these hardworking and generous souls by expecting them to work for free. See if the custodians want to work for free -- in some cases, they are paid more than the teachers.

Every teacher could make more money doing something else. Teachers' salaries are not commensurate with the amount of education required to qualify. Be grateful for those who will do the job, and do pay them for every day they work. Susan Collins Bryant Street Palo Alto

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