February 25, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Letters

Editor,

To the friends, readers and the staff of the Palo Alto Weekly:

I am so grateful to have had the privilege to get to know all of you. I am so thankful to have received your many contributions; which have helped me to have enough money to move to Dallas, close to my daughter and grandchildren.

Although I will miss California and the wonderful people I have met in Palo Alto. Also, a special thanks to the Palo Alto Weekly.

I am 80 years old and I have met special people. Your community is really special. I have met many fine people, young and old.

The students are very helpful, as well as their parents, who have been very helpful.

Again, thank you and I will never forget you. Elaine Gondring Dallas, Texas
Supporting schools

Editor,

Recently, the Weekly has had several articles about the budget crisis in the Palo Alto school district. Members of the community, whether parents of school-aged children or not, may be wondering what they can do to help offset this crisis.

The All Schools Fund and the Palo Alto Foundation for Education (the two fundraising groups that will merge in September) have several ways community members can support Palo Alto schools. Some are even free.

The easiest, cost-free way to help Palo Alto schools is to join Escrip, at www.escrip.com, and Schoolpop, at www.schoolpop.com. These two organizations contribute a small percentage of your regular credit-card or club-card purchases back to Palo Alto schools, if you select the All Schools Fund.

You only need to register at these sites (registration is free) and then do your usual shopping at local merchants. All money received from Escrip and Schoolpop will be used to help defray Palo Alto schools' $4 million budget deficit.

In addition, the Web sites, www.allschoolsfund.org and www.pafe.org, invite direct donations. Cash, check or credit-card donations are all welcomed, as are gifts of stock or automobiles.

The Web sites describe ASF's just-completed campaign (raising money for staffing and programs at school sites) and PAFE's current campaign (to fund grants to teachers for innovative classroom projects and a special campaign for Paly and Gunn science programs).

Everyone in Palo Alto has a stake in supporting the excellence of our schools. In these difficult times, we hope the entire community will unite to help preserve the excellence in education that generations of Palo Alto residents have enjoyed. Working together, the organizations have pledged to raise at least $1.5 million next year to help defray the crippling effects of the schools' budget shortfalls.

Please join Escrip and Schoolpop, make a donation today, and help our schools continue to thrive.

Donations toward the $1.5 million ASF/PAFE pledge to defray the $4 million Palo Alto budget crisis should be designated to the "Budget Crisis Fund" and can be made online at www.allschoolsfund.org or sent to All Schools Fund, 555 Bryant St., #602, Palo Alto, CA 94301; or to PAFE at Dept. 33329, P.O. Box 39000 San Francisco, CA 94139-3329. You may also participate in PAFE's online auction, March 10 to 24 (see www.pafe.org for details). Louise Valente and Matt Passell, Co-Chairs, All Schools Fund Anne Avis and Cindy Ziebelman, Co-Presidents, Palo Alto Foundation for Education
Smart spending?

Editor,

In Ro Davis' recent Guest Opinion (Feb. 11), "Palo Alto teachers want to be full partners in solving crisis," he tells us that teachers will be facing a de facto pay cut of at least 10 percent from 2003-2005. He further tells of the already low salaries our teachers are paid, how they often use their own funds to supplement school supplies and often live month-to-month in this high-cost area.

I think there is something wrong here.

It seems I cannot open an issue of the Weekly without reading about some project the city is considering -- usually with a huge price tag. In the Feb. 11 issue there was an article on bringing fiber optics to residences and small businesses in Palo Alto -- at a cost of $35 million-plus.

This will supposedly save me $11.30 a month on my digital cable "platinum" bill. In the Jan. 28 issue of the Weekly there is an article about the city's two new parking garages being half empty. Further, it says the city spent $25 million to build these half-empty garages.

With our schools facing $4 million in cuts next year, is this a wise way to spend money?

I would rather keep the cable service I have now and spend a little more time finding a parking place if it would mean that our teachers would be paid a decent salary and be able to live comfortably in this community. Cheryl Nafzgar Saint Claire Drive Palo Alto
Barrier accuracy

Editor,

For months we have heard from roadblock proponents that the high rate of cut-through traffic in Downtown North was a primary reason for installation of the barriers.

But how high was it? The original Dowling study, on the city's Web site, gives two rates, 27 percent and 60 percent, for two different segments of the boundary, at morning rush hour. But somehow in the retelling the context of these numbers has been lost, as has the less dramatic 27 percent.

The 60 percent has crept up to 70 percent or, as in a recent Guest Opinion in the Weekly, 75 percent.

What is the real number? You can calculate it yourself from figures in the staff's "Evaluation Results" report on the Web site. According to the report, the daily number of entrances and exits went from 23,900 before the barriers to 13,700 afterwards, due to the elimination of cut-through traffic.

Note that this traffic is double-counted in these numbers. If all cut-through traffic is gone, the cut-through rate is 5,100/18,800, or 27 percent. If 90 percent of it is gone, as the report estimates, the rate is 31 percent.

Could this really be the "highest rate ever recorded in Palo Alto," as we so often hear? Try the following thought experiment.

You are in a different neighborhood, Downtown South, going down Channing, Addison or Homer avenues. What percentage of cars are just driving right through?

I'm guessing numbers much higher than 31 percent, and I'll bet you are, too. Hal Prince Middlefield Rd Palo Alto
Imagine a world...

Editor,

Imagine a world where people live in peace and harmony, a world where war is archaic, where non-violence is an organizing principle, a world where human dignity is respected and diversity is honored.

Imagine a world where government truly is of the people, for the people and by the people, a world where human values, not corporate profit, dictate public policy.

Imagine a world where respect for our delicate ecosystem is accepted as common sense, a world where our food is organically grown, where the water, the air and the soil are clean.

Imagine a world where health care and education are human rights, a world where people have the freedom to pursue their highest aspirations, a world where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the birthright of every person.

This world is within our grasp. If we are able to dream it, we can create it. We can make this better world our reality. Dennis Mitrzyk Maclane Street Palo Alto
The sound of silence

Editor,

In today's celebrity-obsessed culture, most people love to tell about their "brushes with greatness."

Whether it's being in a lunch line at Stanford with Tiger Woods, or sitting on a barstool next to Julia Roberts, or your sister's boyfriend taking a class with Jodie Foster, such stories are part of the fabric of our lives.

But given this relatively harmless phenomenon, why aren't men rushing to tell stories about being with President Bush in the Alabama National Guard?

Sharing a beer, telling jokes during a meeting, chatting during exercises -- these are the kind of reminiscences you share over and over with your friends and family. Not to mention that they would now get you your 15 minutes of fame.

Sometimes the loudest sound is the sound of silence. Janice Hough Bryant Street Palo Alto
Dean's message

Editor,

Governor Dean's "end of active campaigning" speech gave a very positive message to his progressive supporters. He says he will use his entire organization to transform the Democratic Party. In other words, it's a bad party, but after our transformation it'll be a good party, like the Green Party.

Dean left clear instructions for his followers saying that he won't join a third party. In other words, don't you join the Green Party just because the Democrats rejected my progressive message.

The Democratic Party will be transformed when it and its candidates stop taking huge contributions, not because of Dean's progressive supporters.

The Green Party is here now and it doesn't take big contributions.

A word to progressives: A political party isn't like your family. You don't have to stay with it when it goes bad. Arlen Comfort Lorelei Lane Menlo Park

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