Publication Date: Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Letters
Letters
(October 06, 2004)
District dollars
Editor,
In the November election property owners in the Palo Alto Unified School District will be asked to increase their parcel tax from $293 to $521 per year. Measure I will extend your parcel tax for eight years, so you will pay a total of $4,168.
Over the next few years the school district will also receive several million dollars in additional property taxes from new developments.
The $425-million retirement community being built for Stanford on Sand Hill Road next to the Ronald McDonald House will bring the school district large new property-tax revenues. The Stanford Shopping Center, which was recently re-appraised, will generate an additional $1.4 million every year for the district.
This year our school district will educate 687 students who live outside the Palo Alto school district -- their parents don't pay the parcel tax. The school board has accepted 130 inter-district transfers and there are some 557 students in the Volunteer Transfer Program from San Mateo County.
Parents of school district children who rent apartments pay only a small portion of the parcel tax, since an apartment house is assessed as one parcel. Lastly, more than 2,000 senior citizens have been granted a parcel-tax exemption.
If you want to pay the increased parcel tax, vote for it. As a senior citizen I have the option of applying for an exemption.
Jean Wilcox
Sutherland Drive
Palo Alto
Library reality
Editor,
Regarding Bill D'Agostino's cover story, "Are Palo Alto's Libraries Becoming a Footnote?" (Weekly, Sept. 29): Congratulations to new Library Director Paula Simpson for surveying the community, analyzing the responses and articulating some clear choices for Palo Altans about our libraries. She's brought a lot of new energy to her six months on the job.
Simpson's message in a nutshell is that, "Palo Alto has five libraries and money enough for two and a half." Assuming this is true, it means we've made an implicit choice to maintain five so-so facilities instead of two really excellent ones.
Many of us cherish Palo Alto's history of neighborhood libraries, but it may be time to reevaluate. Before invoking our traditional knee-jerk response of "never close any libraries," it's worth the time to pay a visit to some of the newer, state-of-the-art facilities in Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Jose.
Seeing them will help us understand the choice we're making and enable us to move forward with a fully informed debate about the options Simpson has outlined.
Chris Kenrick
Tennyson Avenue
Palo Alto
Pro 'Silver Bullet'
Editor,
There is perhaps no greater irony than that of Palo Alto, birthplace of the world's most advanced technologies, failing to solve the relatively mundane engineering problem of transporting people safely and quickly to and from their homes.
If we have the technological savvy to sustain "Moore's Law" -- three decades running of exponential growth in chip capacity -- then let us now apply just a fraction of its power toward cleaning the air, ensuring our safety and saving the most irrevocable of our possessions: time.
The Cities21 Silver Bullet proposal contains the best thinking that is in us. Let us embrace its visionary challenge and prove yet again to the world exactly of what we are made.
James L. Galanis
McGee Avenue
Berkeley
Price for freedom
Editor,
Regarding the question: How do you feel about military recruiters on Palo Alto high school campuses (Weekly, Oct. 1)?
Why should "Palo Perfect" be any different than the thousands of high schools across this great nation of ours? The military is what keeps every one of us "free." If it weren't for the military, you would still be having a spot of tea in the afternoon while toasting to the Queen's health.
Do you honestly feel that Palo Alto students are above defending our great nation? You want your freedom, but would you rather someone else's child protect you while you sleep?
I graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1984 and was approached by several branches of the service while I was in high school. Yes, I was tempted to join, but I chose to stay local to pursue a career in law enforcement.
I have great respect and admiration for our troops. My brother also graduated from Palo Alto High School. He is currently serving with the 82nd Airborne. He spent a year in Iraq, was awarded a purple heart and is on standby to return into action in the Middle East.
Do I wish someone else were protecting my freedom? No. I respect his decision to enter into the Army the same way my family respected my decision to work in law enforcement.
So, to answer the question how do I feel about military recruiters on Palo Alto High School campuses, I say welcome them with open arms and respect those who choose to serve in our military.
Michael Calhoun
Las Vegas
Nevada
Letter rings true
Editor,
Audrey Doocy's letter (Sept. 22) struck a chord. Like Audrey, I volunteered to register all voters. The first time was at a Redwood City Safeway in mid-September. The table already there was manned by two men hired by the Republican Party to register voters, $20 per Republican, $1 per Democrat.
Clearly the pay is strong motivation to favor Republican registration. The public stopping at the table knew nothing of this; in fact, the "red herring" draw was a petition to install safety belts on school buses.
Since then I've talked with others doing this, in Menlo Park and Redwood City. Some are local and some are from out of state ("political mercenaries?"). Several were wary of answering my questions. Different tactics were used to attract people; one had an adorable chihuahua curled up on the table. That fellow also sported a "Vote for Nader" sign.
Obviously if one didn't register as a Republican, the next best tactic would be to subvert undecideds to Nader.
I was surprised, then impressed, with what Republican money can support. I'm one of thousands still volunteering. Yet I wonder if citizens in my community really know what's behind this particular registration mask.
It's tough to be an informed voter nowadays.
Laurel Bergman
Park Street
Redwood City
Defining 'hard work'
Editor,
What is hard work? Is hard work when you volunteer at the age of 23 to head off into the jungles of a war zone to fight for your country?
Or is it using your family's influence to put your own preservation first above your duty to democracy and freedom.
Is hard work speaking out against what you have seen first-hand is a misguided war?
Or is it criticizing those who have the courage of their convictions.
Is hard work dedicating your life to your country through serving 20 years in the Senate?
Or is it riding on your father's coattails into the oil business and politics.
Is hard work building good relations and developing allies by listening and employing diplomacy?
Or is it being arrogant and ignorant in interactions with others and speaking of "freedom fries" and rejecting "the notion that if you are Muslim you don't deserve to be free."
Maybe it is time for the current office holder to try a different line of work that is not so hard. Maybe it is time from someone who has spent a lifetime doing the hard work of serving his country to continue this service -- as president.
Kate Greswold
Alpine Road
Portola Valley
Startling revelations
Editor,
John Kerry revealed some really startling information in the debates that the commentators afterward ignored.
The first is that the United States is building 14 permanent bases in Iraq. No wonder the Iraqis see us as occupiers. Kerry would finish the job and get out, whereas it looks like Bush intends to dominate Iraq's great oil fields and the surrounding countries from there for years to come.
Occupations don't work. History is littered with painful examples, like the French in Algeria and the United States in Vietnam. In India, the British were opposed by Ghandi's followers with no weapons at all.
Kerry declared the most serious problem is nuclear proliferation. He revealed that the United States, although preaching abstinence to other countries, is planning new nuclear "bunker-busting" bombs. I suppose these are being built to get at someone like Osama bin Laden, who is well dug-in -- which means Bush intends to use them. Talk about opening Pandora's Box.
Did the American people sign up for this? By bringing these issues to light, Kerry shows himself to be the more sensible of the two candidates.
Gertrude Reagan
Moreno Avenue
Palo Alto
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