ReaderWire ReaderWire (March 11, 2005)

'Son' deserves credit

Jay Thorwaldson's poignant recitation of the tribulations of coping with an errant son (Weekly, March 2) was an exceptionally thought-provoking achievement.

Jay deserves immense credit.
Ed Arnold
Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto

Residential distress

The character of your Palo Alto residential neighborhood is at risk. Proposed zoning changes will zone every standard-sized (or larger) single-family lot for two dwelling units. No waiver, no special review, no conditional permit will be required. This change will apply to all R-1 sub-districts.

Seventy-seven percent of the single-family lots in Palo Alto are standard-sized and could qualify for two dwellings. This makes a mockery of the R-1 zone.

Your immediate neighborhood could become predominantly two-houses-per-lot -- the number of households could almost double. The biggest impact will be on R-1_6,000 neighborhoods, which contain 80 percent of the city's single-family lots. In these neighborhoods, where houses can be built just 12 feet apart, additional households will create significant negative impacts of noise (vehicle alarms, stereos, barking dogs, morning honking for carpool pickup, starting/revving vehicles, etc.), traffic, street parking, reduced open space and crowding (trash bins, library usage, lines at your local grocery store, more people and their possessions crowded into the same space).

In addition, the proposed zoning allows the parking space for the second dwelling to be in the front yard. Many people consider this blight -- it definitely is not in character with R-1 zoning.

If we, the residents, do not speak out, these changes are extremely likely to be approved by the City Council. I urge you to write to City Council, 250 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301, or e-mail city.council@cityofpaloalto.org. It usually takes significant "public outcry" to get the attention of our City Council, so tell your neighbors and Palo Alto friends, family and acquaintances.

Nag them until they actually do something. Circulate a petition, speak at the council session. Create an outcry. The council will vote on this on Monday, March 14.
Carlin Otto
Whitclem Court, Palo Alto

In the Weekly's March 4 article regarding residents who met with the mayor and city manager at an informal coffee, the city manager reportedly joked, "as long as it's not my salary" when asked about capping employees' salaries.

Perhaps a more appropriate answer would be to inform the resident that city employees represented by SEIU 715 did in fact agree to a zero-percent cost-of-living adjustment and a three-day furlough that effectively reduced their salaries by one percent for fiscal year 2004-05.

Meanwhile, the city manager topped his salary with a 10 percent ($20,000 a year) raise and gave city management staff a 3 percent raise.

Maybe his statement wasn't meant to be a joke after all.
Brian Wilson
Alma Street, Palo Alto

Veteran views

President Bush is leaving our children and grandchildren billions of dollars in debt, for their lifetimes, which I won't have to pay. In my opinion, for the good of the country his "re-call" can't be soon enough.

He'll probably never see or read this letter, but there is a message in it: I am a veteran of World War II and the Korean War and a retired aeronautical engineer.

In my opinion, Bush has used poor intelligence to justify putting us in this dirty war to finish the job his father failed in the Gulf War -- defeating Saddam Hussein. And against military experts who would not have pursued this action.

How many bodybags must pass through Dover Air Force Base, where I did some training in World War II, before we can extricate our troops out of Iraq? All of the young men who have been lost will never experience the life that I have, through 85.

The heartbroken families.

To my knowledge, Bush has never attended a memorial service for any fallen soldier in this war. He must sleep well at night.

I am a registered Republican who voted for John Kerry in November.
R.E. Shepard
Maclane Street, Palo Alto

E-mail a friend a link to this story.