ReaderWire ReaderWire (July 22, 2005)

Extend Cookbook deadline

Closing the Cookbook without a chance shows Ellis Partners' arrogant disregard for our community. Surely a quiet, locally owned restaurant deserves to exist in this area. If Ellis Partners and the new tenants could give owner James Kim a few months to find a place to move into, then we could continue patronizing his restaurant. The new tenants are not moving an existing store but are opening a new one. They could wait a few months. The Town and Country shopping center is a local shopping center, unlike Stanford Shopping Center. Without the good will of the community, stores there would perish. Imagine if we local people were to boycott the new shop. On the other hand, a boycott of the entire center would hurt many innocent shop owners, not an admirable approach to get leverage on the management of the center. I hope that the new tenants will give James a few months, ensuring them the good will of the community. Allen Podell Harker Ave., Palo Alto Cookbook and ethics?

As frequent patrons of the Cookbook Restaurant, we were shocked to read in the Palo Alto Weekly that its lease is being terminated with only one month's notice. While legal, the ethics of doing this to a small business owner leaves us with negative feelings about Town & Country. While it would be unfair to boycott other Town & Country businesses due to the ethics of this, we will be patronizing them less frequently, both because we won't be coming to Cookbook and we now have negative feelings about Town & Country. We are mailing some of the other businesses in Town & Country that we have frequently patronized after eating at Cookbook. And in converstions with friends, Town & Country has now become a local case for discussing the decline in business ethics--something even a free marketer like Alan Greenspan has expressed concern about. Ted and Betty Linden Tasso Street, Palo Alto Running an airport?

Your editorial, "Does Palo Alto want to run its own airport?" published on Wednesday, July 20, 2005, correctly acknowledges the essential nature of the airport as a community service and the prospects for economic viability. However, it follows an unsubstantiated red herring relative to the threat that the city of Palo Alto would have to run the airport on its own. With more than a decade to prepare, there is every reason to believe that either the county will decide to continue to run the airport or that a responsible third party will step in to do so. The idea that Moffet represents a reliable alternative to our own airport is also flawed. Local residents will have little ability to control the destiny of Moffett. It will only be a viable civilian field if it becomes a major airport with commercial operations flying large aircraft. This is unlikely to happen and, if it did, it would be a poor substitute for the general aviation capability of Palo Alto. Additionally, the city would have no guarantee that the airport would continue to operate. The pressure to use the land for other development looms large. Given the above points, it is critical that Palo Alto follow through on the commitment made by the City Council to find the best solution for continued operation of the airport at its current location. John Felleman Palo Alto, CA Airport's bright future

The Weekly's excellent editorial on the Palo Alto Airport outlines the important issues that need to be addressed regarding the future of the airport. This airport is a gem and a wonderful long-term asset for the community. If Santa Clara County opts out of running the airport we should, and can, find professionals to run the airport and the city will not have to assume that role. There is no doubt that the airport can be operated on a profitable basis. The challenge will be to make a seamless transition, in terms of day-to-day operations and future federal grants, from the current county lease to a new operator. That transition will also need to respect the rights of the current sub tenants. The is no interference between the departure or arrivals into Palo Alto Airport and those into and out of San Jose airport and San Francisco airport. We have a superb air traffic control system, including the FAA tower at Palo Alto, that coordinates these activities in a safe and seamless manner. And the 'severely limited expansion possibilities' cited in the editorial are a blessing, not a problem. We do not want Palo Alto Airport to become a regional reliever for scheduled airlines any more than we want Middlefield Road, a residential arterial road that also has severely limited expansion possibilities, to become a four-lane highway. I and others will work closely with the city manager and staff to make sure that all of this is developed into a detailed plan that both the public and the ouncil can review on a timely basis. Whatever happens should and will include a lot of public notice and discussion. No one wants another surprise like the possible loss of $1.3 million of Federal funds nor does anyone want significant expansion at the airport. Peter Carpenter Larch Drive, Atherton Be fair to temp workers

There are no benefits for part-time employees of the City of Palo Alto, euphemistically called "temporary employees," many of whom have been employed for years. I think this situation should be corrected by the council, with benefits provided to these employees. In addition, the full-time employees' benefits should be reviewed by a blue-ribbon commission of experienced Palo Alto residents and the results of such review presented to the City Council for possible action if such benefits are determined to be unfair or not in keeping with fair and proper business practices (by example: medical coverage entitlements). Alice Schaffer Smith Los Palos Circle, Palo Alto End cycle of revenge, hatred

The searing images of human carnage of London's July 7 bombings was eerily similar to our own Sept. 11, 2001, national tragedy. The horrific images of mass murder inflicted on an unsuspecting populace invoked a cascade of emotions from raw outrage to a profound sense of helplessness. Sadly, if we continue to ignore the root causes of terrorism we can expect more of the same. All the technical wizardry and military might cannot protect us from misguided groups of people driven to commit acts of terrorism. Why do these people hate us? Surely, the answer is obvious. We invaded their countries, killed thousands of their people, incarcerated and tortured others, destroyed their cities and defiled their holy scriptures. Many rejoiced when we launched our high-tech "shock and awe" war on the Iraqi and Afghan people. Tragically, we never heard their cries of despair. We dismissed the enormous loss of civilian casualties as "collateral damage" -- the inevitable consequences of war. Until we can raise our human consciousness to mourn the loss of human life, be it Iraqi, British, American or indeed any member of the human race, with the same level of outrage, we will continue to be mired in a cycle of revenge and hatred. Jagjit Singh Louisa Court, Palo Alto

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