Publication Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Letters
Letters
(January 19, 2005)
Clean-up time
Editor,
The proposal to construct an industrial garbage/recycling processing plant in Byxbee Park has yet another wrinkle -- a purported eight-acre "compromise plan." Whether this plant sits on three, six, eight or 19 acres, it will still have major impacts on the rest of the park forever. Changing the acreage is not a compromise.
The auditor's report found that none of the acreage options would be cost-effective before 2021, and only the 6.2-acre option is clearly profitable after that. Adding rent for two more acres would reduce that profit.
One advocate for the garbage/recycling plant portrayed this as a "clash of values" -- recycling vs. baylands protection. Palo Alto's curbside-recycling program accounts for 92 percent of our annual recycling.
Public Works Director Glenn Roberts has repeatedly stated that the new single-stream curbside-recycling program can succeed without building a processing plant in our park. The Baylands Master Plan allows a small recycling drop-off center -- it's the Industrial Processing Plant that clashes with Palo Alto's visionary plan to protect and enhance our Baylands.
Some say, for sustainability, we need this industrial plant to take care of our own garbage. Palo Alto has partnered successfully with Sunnyvale and Mountain View to build the Sunnyvale Materials Recovery and Transfer Station and have taken two thirds of our garbage there since 1993.
All three cities have exceeded the state's 50 percent diversion requirement. True sustainability is to avoid creating waste and to sustain our parks.
Processing our garbage here is not taking care of it here. The truth is that an industrial plant in our park will still result in virtually all of our garbage going elsewhere -- to Kirby Canyon landfill in San Jose or to recyclers throughout the Bay Area and on to far-flung parts of the globe.
The Palo Alto Council will consider this matter on Feb. 14.
Emily M. Renzel
Coordinator, Baylands Conservation Committee
Forest Avenue
Palo Alto
Vehicular assault
Editor,
Strolling down University Avenue last weekend, I was struck by a grey pickup truck, California plate 6V71054, when it crossed the line. I was not physically hurt, since the truck was parked.
What struck me about the truck was the presence of more than 100 political bumper stickers plastered on all surfaces. "Bush Lied"; "evildoer"; "End the occupation"; "U.S. Out of Iraq"; "Stop U.S. Aid to Israel"; "Jail Bush"; etc.
The line this truck crossed was the line of public decency and respect for fellow citizens, due to the presence of one particular sticker that boldly read "F--- Bush" prominently displayed more than 20 times on all surfaces in full view of the passing public.
Who are you, CA 6V71054, that you think it is OK to park this obscenity on the streets of my city? I'm no prude, but I find the repeated prominent display of the "F" word in this downtown setting offensive.
I'd like to know what my neighbors think. Is it acceptable to engage in political self-expression of this sort? Should the right to free expression extend to this sort of display?
I don't think so.
Joel Henner
Walter Hays Drive
Palo Alto
Polygamy and homophobia
Editor,
Walter Wallis' letter (Jan. 5) recycled a variation on the argument that same-sex marriages will lead to the legalization of polygamy. Curiously, given the recent histories of both Muslims and Mormons, we can equally well argue that polygamy leads to homophobia.
I'd like to encourage Mr. Wallis to figure out what is wrong with this argument and apply what he learns to his own statements on this topic.
Instead of making up bogus arguments, people should just admit it when something makes them uncomfortable. If they would do that, at least we could spend our time talking about the issues we should be worrying about such as civil rights, Bush's torture camp, his senseless war and deficits that could very well bankrupt the country.
Bill Zaumen
Clara Drive
Palo Alto
Varian observation
Editor,
I read the "Neighborhoods" publication and was interested in the mention of my father, Russell Varian, and my uncle, Sigurd Varian.
In the Professorville section, it states that the "Varian brothers lived at 1044 Bryant St. before founding their medical systems company."
While technically correct, they did live there, but they were boys and later grew up in Halcyon near Arroyo Grande, California. They also were long dead before the company split into the one called Varian Medical Systems. The original company made microwave and vacuum tubes.
By the time they invented the klystron (in the 1930s), they had long been out of Palo Alto as residents. They moved to Halcyon not long after the 1906 earthquake.
Susan Varian Hammond
Bryant Street
Palo Alto
A 'Dynamite' film
Editor,
I find it very sad that Jeanne Aufmuth fails to appreciate the genius of "Napoleon Dynamite" (Weekly, Jan. 7).
As a young adult who has taken two years of video-production classes, I can recognize that this is one of the best movies of our time. This film stands out with its lack of sex, violence, drug use or profanity. It is also noticeably devoid of Hollywood-manufactured "hot" actors.
"Napoleon Dynamite" is an example of true art. The beauty of it does not rely on special effects, fast action, shock tactics or sex appeal. Unlike "Closer" (which Aufmuth seems to think is one of the best films of 2004), "Napoleon Dynamite" is not a depressing, melodramatic, sex-crazed chick flick the merit of which is based solely on Jude Law's extreme hotness.
Although I am young and can appreciate a truly hot actor, I feel that the brilliance of "Napoleon Dynamite" transcends this shallowness.
The film that Aufmuth is labeling a "satiric cult favorite" was heartily enjoyed by my entire family. I'm sorry to add one more letter to her "truckload of angry mail," but this is one truly outstanding movie that deserves acknowledgment.
Martha Bass
St. Francis Drive
Palo Alto
Education first
Editor,
It is hard to watch the evening news without hearing about a Bay Area school district trying to plug the holes of inadequate school funding and budget deficits.
The recent Rand study adds to the dire picture of California public education. Yet, returning to my Palo Alto elementary school after the two-week break (those teachers were a sight for sore eyes), I am once again reminded why I cherish our local schools.
Our teachers and staff are the best you can ask for -- creative, brilliant and professional. Despite the belt-tightening over the last two years, despite the politics, and despite the fact that they could make so much more in other professions, they have only one focus -- the successful education of our children.
Let's do all we can to insure a local source of funding for the instructional program. I urge the Palo Alto school board to get the parcel tax back on the ballot as soon as possible. Together we can work to put our children's education first.
Megan Swezey Fogarty
Bryant Street
Palo Alto
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