Publication Date: Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Letters
Letters
(June 09, 2004)
Corporate graffiti
Editor,
As if to herald the debut of its underwhelming "Baby Bullet" commuter train service, Caltrain management has just presented us a startling spectacle: whole trains entirely wrapped in garish corporate advertising.
The plastic-mesh coating that bears the advertising graphics completely covers the train's exterior, blocking even the windows and obscuring the view for passengers inside.
Caltrain's directors, in the minutes for their meeting of March 4, state that this advertising program is a one-year pilot project with Viacom Outdoor Group, Inc., involving three trains. An absolute maximum advertising revenue of $360,000 is envisaged for that year.
Eventual expansion of this project will await financial results and, presumably, feedback from the community.
With this program, Caltrain's management has achieved what local youth gangs could only dream to accomplish: They have completely covered whole trains in corporate graffiti.
Those who wish to express their dissatisfaction with this sanctioned vandalism should contact the Caltrain board at boardsecretary@caltrain.com, Viacom Outdoor Group, Inc., at wally.kelly@viacomoutdoor.com and Target Department Stores, the first advertising client, at www.target.com.
Bob Carney
Emerson Street
Palo Alto
Protecting our children
Editor,
A good friend called to commiserate on the practice of hazing at her son's high school. Seniors ambushing incoming freshmen and ritualizing the act with permanent markers left an indelible reminder of neglect and adult culpability.
When confronted, the vice principal's response was incongruously dismissive and upbeat, especially considering the circumstances. It went something like this: "We did speak with the seniors about this, it's really out of our control at this point. After all, this is common practice all over the country, on college campuses and the military."
My point exactly.
I call this the trickle-down effect. Please enlighten me here. At what point are the adults expected to take responsibility? How can we fully expect our youth to develop strong ethical foundations when the adults in positions authority condone, even dismiss, the very behaviors perpetuating aggression in our institutions? Given the casual reply of the school administrator, who truly is at fault here?
A writer at the New Yorker referred to the young men and women caught up in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal as children needing our help. Finally an adult stepped forward with an impassioned plea and commitment to the truth. Every soldier risking their lives for a seemingly endless war they did not choose deserves nothing less than our support.
Given the complex, disorienting circumstances of war, especially guerilla warfare, we might feel compelled to ask ourselves -- how would we respond? Deployed to a completely unfamiliar country and culture so utterly disparate from their own and facing multiple losses at such a young age, can we, for one moment, put ourselves in their shoes and imagine the ensuing, overwhelming feelings surrounding these young men and women?
Perhaps omission is the culprit here. Our youth look to us, the elders, for guidance, supervision and purpose. Someone, at some point, let them down. I propose a long hard look to the view at the top. Don't expect honest answers. That's simply not plausible given the "I can't recalls" and the general amnesia our leaders seem to be stricken with.
I don't condone prisoner abuse. It's a terrible symptom of war and neglect. Scapegoating deeply concerns me. I am afraid sifting through endless hours of testimony and congregational hearings, however pertinent, will not bring us any closer to the larger truth. This is a case of not seeing the forest through the trees. The gap is rapidly closing on differences of opinions related to the politics of this administration. The finger is pointing in one direction, and that is directly to the top at our leaders running this country.
Remember our children, our soldiers. I look forward to acknowledging every one of them who might cross my path, touching the soil of their country, healing their personal and collective wounds, in which we all share. A few kind words, a receptive ear and a compassionate heart are called for, along with the voice of an honest, thoughtful adult who genuinely cares about their experiences -- with war and serving our country.
Christy Perry
Barron Park
Palo Alto
Silenced sirens
Editor,
I was shocked to hear from Palo Alto Fire Chief Ruben Grijalva that Palo Alto no longer has functioning alarm sirens (the civil defense ones have been deactivated).
In a discussion with the community about the lack of notification that occurred in the mountain lion incident (May 17), many ways of notifying the public were considered. E-mail can take hours to be delivered and telephone notification won't work if the line is tied up.
An emergency message "crawl" at the bottom of the city's cable channel is unlikely to be seen by the people who need the information.
Both the police department and the fire department had the capability of using their mobile public-address systems to alert the neighborhood, yet the resources went unused.
Chief Grijalva said the old sirens were no longer audible in parts of town. He claimed that new sirens would be "the size of a car" and more than 500 of them would need to be installed.
Surely there are alternatives to the system he's referring to. For example, there are also mobile alarm sirens available that could be brought to the incident.
Given the difficulty of notifying the public through the current means, an alarm siren would alert residents to seek the emergency information from one of the sources.
While both Police Chief Lynne Johnson and Chief Grijalva took the blame for their lack of using at least bullhorns and P.A. systems, the significant threat to the community that resulted is unacceptable.
Seth Yatovitz
High Street
Palo Alto
Where the 'buck' stops
Editor,
In the May 28 issue of the Weekly, it is reported that Stanford is not doing as well as it ought vis-a-vis female faculty members; it does report, however, that the university has made improvements in pay and rank.
The university is to be congratulated for being forthright in this important area.
In a similar vein, the Weekly reported on a Minority Alumni Conference held at Stanford from April 30 to May 2 of this year. A Board of Trustees Task Force on Minority Alumni Relations issued a report at the conference in which the following statement is made:
"Alumni have expressed concern about the small number of minorities in senior administrative positions, on the Board of Trustees, and in other senior governance positions and have urged the university to increase its efforts to achieve greater diversity at the highest levels of the university's decision making."
As a former member of the staff at Stanford, I heartily concur and believe the president and provost will address this concern promptly.
One of the underlying purposes of such conferences is to build alumni support, in this case from alumni of color. It should be an institutional embarrassment that people of color are rare in leadership and line positions throughout the university's development office.
This is where the "buck" stops.
Henry Organ
Euclid Avenue
Menlo Park
Concert complaint
Editor,
The music concert at Foothills Park on Friday, June 11, is inappropriate, unsafe and possibly illegal.
It is remote with no public transportation. Up to 1,000 people could attend -- think loud. Parking is very limited. Off-pavement parking damages the terrain. Alcohol is allowed. This large party could use all rangers (overtime?) as well as police and fire from normal duties.
Crowds, parking, smoking, dogs on leash, overnight campers and underage drinking are concerns. Their fire station is not open. The park is dry and on high fire alert. Fire or police response times are long. After partying four hours or all day, driving Page Mill Road will be dangerous.
Is it illegal? It is a nature preserve. It protects the animals and plants from destruction and disturbances -- especially over use and misuse. In 1959, the Palo Alto residents voted to purchase and operate it as a nature preserve. A large noisy concert is neither a proper nor legal use.
This park has always been restricted to Palo Alto residents and accompanied guests. In 1991, an attempt to "open" the park to nonresidents was defeated by a 6 to 3 vote after an intense citywide debate.
These restrictions were tightened. For June 11, our nature preserve will be open to nonresidents -- up to 1,000 -- for the entire day. Who has this authority?
If you attend, you are selfish and not an environmentalist nor a nature lover. We killed a visiting mountain lion; let's respect their natural home in our preserve.
Doug Cox
El Dorado Avenue
Palo Alto
Proud of PTA
Editor,
For numerous reasons I strongly support our PTA Council's stand against banning same-sex marriage. Think of it this way: Would we speak out if a ban were proposed on interracial marriage? Would that affect the well-being of our children?
Do I want all children to have the same rights and privileges as mine do, in particular those associated with parents who are free to marry? What if one of my sons discovers he is gay? What rights do I want him to have when he grows up?
People who do not have children in secondary school may not realize the extent to which, every day, our children experience overt expressions of homophobia, mainly in the form of casual derogatory remarks.
This is hurtful to their sensitivities and, especially if they are gay, damaging to their sense of self. So it is incumbent upon us as a school community to make overt expressions of support for gay and lesbian people -- students, teachers and parents.
The PTA resolution is one such expression. It is a powerful statement against the discrimination currently occurring.
This week I learned that it is the historic mission of PTAs to advocate for the rights of children in the public-policy realm (it's a shame that poor school funding makes us divert our time to fundraising).
In 1904 our PTA forebears made resolutions advocating better marriage, divorce and child-labor laws. We've come a long way in a hundred years and we still have work to do.
Nancy Neff
Emerson Street
Palo Alto
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
