Letters Letters (April 21, 2004)

Lose the lights

Editor,

As a resident of the neighborhood bordering Palo Alto High School, I am strongly opposed to the installation of permanent lighting on the Paly football field.

At present, all football games at Paly are scheduled at the latest by 3:15 p.m., so we feel no impact after rush-hour traffic time, when the games are also over.

If lights are installed, games will be held in the evenings, meaning we will have noise from traffic after the rush hour period in addition to the noise of crowds, band, etc., during the game. Football games last two hours and night games, and related activities, will probably go until 10 p.m. and attract about 3,000 spectators.

Once lights are installed, of course, the Paly football field may be used for other evening outdoor events for other groups -- e.g. other teams and track meets; Gunn High School football games (since Gunn doesn't have a lighted field); and possibly other events unrelated to the school. So, it probably won't be just six Friday evening Paly football games per year.

We have already seen a tremendous increase in the amount of traffic going by our house in recent years. There is really no need for us to be subjected to this additional disturbance of the peace.

Perhaps this money being offered the athletic department can be used instead for the aquatic center at Paly that is soliciting donations. Shaila Sadrozinski Churchill Avenue Palo Alto
Downtown dilemma

Editor,

Please forgive my confusion about the City Council's decision to remove Downtown North's barriers and the opponents' celebratory beer-bust. After all, the opponents' objections were: Project costs; reduced emergency response times; exclusion from the process; barriers are illegal and impact on adjacent streets.

So, in what must be the most politically expedient decision in recent council history, those self- anointed "traffic experts" did the following: Installed costly roundabouts that nearly doubled the trial's original cost; chose roundabouts over flexible bollards to increase response times and ignored the fact that all residents were informed of and invited to the dozen or so meetings over three years, while opponents were mostly those who couldn't be bothered.

It's as if non-voters wanted to reverse our last presidential election and were taken seriously. Left a barrier in place and ignored their success in other neighborhoods. Disregarded data showing that traffic was reduced by 18 percent in the only adjoining neighborhood and was increased only marginally on surrounding thoroughfares.

The celebrants must've been boozing it up because those weren't the real issues after all, but "being inconvenienced" won't get much sympathy.

City procedures were meticulously adhered to, trial goals were met and a participatory majority approved. However, seniors, kids and cyclists (especially with roundabouts) are again at risk.

The most dangerous intersection in town (Everett Avenue and Middlefield Road) saw accidents reduced from 12 to zero in a comparable period.

Do you think this council will respond when accidents will surely reoccur? Don't count on it, but at least we know who's responsible. Irv Brenner Byron Street Palo Alto
Traffic irony

Editor,

I was struck by the irony of Karen Ewart's daughter driving two blocks to school while Karen complains about traffic along Churchill Avenue (Weekly, April 16). If this family wants to contribute to the problem, that's the way to do it.

Ewart and others refer to "cut-through" traffic (on Churchill and many other streets throughout the area) as if this is criminal activity. Do they believe that drivers are not permitted to use "their" street?

I am sure this family and others were aware, before they bought their houses, that Churchill is one of the few streets that crosses the train tracks, so it will by nature have a high traffic volume. This is not illegal, immoral or otherwise wrong.

Many people have regretted installing speed bumps because of the dangers they pose to bicyclists and the increased noise of vehicles braking, then speeding up, sometimes scraping the top of the bumps.

There are plenty of better ways to improve the traffic situation.

Restriping the bike lane is one, and continuing to encourage patrols is another. Letting your teenager drive two blocks to school is not. Christine Martens Erica Way Portola Valley
Fear and doubt indeed

Editor,

A Guest Opinion by resident Peter Allen (Weekly, April 14) claims that Comcast has begun a "deceitful" campaign of "fear, uncertainty and doubt" (a common term used by technical salesmen when they are trying to introduce a new product that might not compete successfully with the competition and they need "wiggle room" to explain their inability to sell against the well-established competitions products).

In the May 1, 2002, edition of the Weekly, a person by the name of Peter Allen was quoted in an article about the FTTH trial: "that phone service provided through the fiber-optic system remained on during a storm last fall that knocked out copper-based phone service for the rest of the city."

Looking on the FCC Website for outages in Palo Alto for that date, no FCC-mandated outage report could be found. Unfortunately, the Weekly's reporter did not seem to ask the question how this Peter Allen came to know that the whole central office was off-line, and the FCC did not?

At a recent UAC meeting, a person by the name of Peter Allen claimed that during a storm that all of the phones in his neighborhood were knocked out, but the FTTH system was "rock solid." Again, this Peter Allen did not mention how he came to know that all of the phones in his neighborhood were out.

On the following Weblog: www.wbsmith.com/FTTH/2001_10_01_archive.html, there is an entry by a Peter Allen claiming to have sustained a 10-day outage at his home due to a hardware problem at the "HeadEnd" (Fiber equivalent of a central officer). There is no additional information about any trial participants being inconvenienced -- even though he seemed to know how many people were inconvenienced when making (unsubstantiated) claims about the telephone system failures.

If there really is any "fear, uncertainty and doubt" being dished up here, we need to expect a goodly amount of it to be of local origin. We should all remember: "bad news travels fast -- and that good news almost never catches up." Wayne Martin Bryant Street Palo Alto
Time to go

Editor,

It's becoming ever clearer that our soldiers, contractors and administrators are not wanted by the Iraqis. At the same time, both President Bush and Senator Kerry talk about pouring more troops into Iraq.

We must face reality and leave. With Saddam captured, we can say, "mission accomplished." We should also add, "sorry for all the destruction and killing," offer our financial support for rebuilding Iraq, and leave.

Forget about bringing in the UN or the so-called international community. The longer we stay the worse things will get. Yoram Gat Princeton Street Palo Alto

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