ReaderWire ReaderWire (March 18, 2005)

Color-coded killers

Landlords killing Palo Alto retail areas (Weekly, March 9)? No, no.

Instead, think color-coded parking zones. Now -- drive to Stanford Shopping Center where we can shop 'til we drop without moving our cars.
Barbara Cleveland
Kipling Street, Palo Alto

The bad seed

So what is with the number-one-in-the-country Stanford women getting a number-two seed in the NCAA tournament (Weekly, March 16)?

Didn't realize they counted the ballots in Florida.
Janice Hough
Bryant Street, Palo Alto

European downtown?

One of the things I've always wished for the northern downtown (as opposed to the southern downtown around California Avenue) is that University Avenue would be closed to cars -- become a pedestrian zone, as is common in so many European cities, large and small.

Now that we have the new parking structures in place, this seems even more doable (and would further encourage their use).

I'm sure a lot of retailers would balk, but it seems to me that it would encourage a lot more street-level walk-by traffic.
Chris Kantarjiev
Portola Avenue, Palo Alto

Market concerns

Until East Palo Alto directly addresses the reason that Littleman's and subsequent supermarkets, including the Whiskey Gulch Safeway, closed, they will have a hard time getting a new store.

The primary reason was activist approval of boycotts, shoplifting and product damage to previous stores. People were loading carts with hundreds of dollars worth of frozen foods, checking out and then saying "that's too much" and walking out, leaving the food to spoil.

This same issue closed the Army Street Sears and a South Market San Jose Safeway during that stupid time. In every case, consumer convenience suffered because only a fool (or Co-op) would take such abuse.

East Palo Alto needs to assure prospective companies that such destructive activity will not be given a pass, and that extortionate demands will result in felony convictions.
Walter E. Wallis
Waverley Street, Palo Alto

Red Pepper goes dark

What happened to the Red Pepper restaurant on El Camino Way? My wife and I had this weekly Thursday ritual of attending the Palo Alto Research Center lectures (feed the mind) and finishing off the day with Mexican food at the Pepper (feed the body).

From one week to the next, the place went dark. Currently, it is empty and forlorn.

After 40 good solid years they just cease operation? First Signatore at the Stanford Shopping Center, now the Pepper.

Seems our world is getting a little less special by the moment. Lo falto Red Pepper.
Paul Max Payton
Beach Park Boulevard, Foster City

Misleading budget

The Bush administration has submitted a budget that is patently false and misleading. It does not include the costs for the Iraq war, it does not include the cost of his Social Security "reform," and it cuts rather than expands programs such as Medicare and education.

Yet they had room to provide more tax benefits for the wealthy and corporations. If I worked my budget this way I'd be in the street (or in jail) in no time.
Dale Reynolds
Campana Drive, Palo Alto

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