Publication Date: Friday, November 25, 2005
ReaderWire
ReaderWire
(November 25, 2005)
Racism not 'hidden'
Racism is a problem in Palo Alto as it is in every corner of this country and it isn't hidden, certainly not from those of us who habitually suffer insults large and small that make us feel like trespassers in our hometown -- and sometimes even in our own homes.
I am African-American. Not long ago while driving a few blocks from my house I was stopped by a policeman who asked me as he stared down at the Palo Alto address on my driver's license: "Are you still living at this address in East Palo Alto?"
Some weeks later a couple who had stopped to admire my dog as I walked him down the street I have lived on for more than a decade asked me if I was a professional dog walker. Then there was the time I rushed to answer the doorbell as I finished dressing for an evening at the theater only to have the solicitor ask me to summon the "lady of the house."
These deeply wounding experiences are a very real part of my every-day existence. The way the editors chose to phrase the question to their readers last month -- "Is racism a hidden problem in Palo Alto?" -- speaks volumes about how little they know about the lives of people of color in this community. That ignorance is reflected in this newspaper's less-than-probing coverage of matters such as the ongoing controversy over racial profiling by the Palo Alto Police Department.
Linda Mabry
Erstwild Court, Palo Alto
Multi-branch supporter
As the debate continues, too often contentiously, over the future of the Palo Alto libraries, I would like to offer my voice in support of continuing a multi-branch system.
Each branch has its own strengths and is available to anyone who chooses to use it -- they are not reserved for patrons who live nearby. A survey at the College Terrace Library earlier this year revealed that the majority of patrons did not live in College Terrace.
Children's Library is unlikely to appeal to adults with grown children, even if they live on Harriet Street. Our libraries belong to all of us and a distributed system gives us more choices.
In fact, the call to close the branches is more accurately a call to close the two smallest branches and retain the rest. These small branches do not provide full library services and are very cost-effective.
They accounted for 15 percent of patron visits last year and yet they cost only 8 percent of the total library budget to run (according to city documents). Reserving books online has become hugely popular and many of the small-branch library users take advantage of this to (cost-effectively) access titles from the larger branches.
We can certainly find more ways to efficiently build on the neighborhood-branch model as we move toward a long-range plan for our libraries.
Holly Welstein
Harvard Street, Palo Alto
Cops and council
Several locations have been proposed for a new police building, but the most obvious and economical plan has yet to be discussed.
When the new police building last appeared on the council's agenda, I proposed leaving the existing police building right where it is and getting the additional space needed by building an extension where the present council chambers are located.
Then rebuild the council chambers either over the Downtown Library or over the plaza in front of City Hall. Either location would give council the opportunity to design and improve the council chambers and perhaps include a decent-sized meeting room. It is cheaper to move the council chambers than build the secured facilities needed to house more than 90 police officers plus support staff.
I realize this is thinking outside the box and probably more than council could handle, because it greeted the idea with stunned silence and has not talked about it since. Let's hope the occupants of City Hall are not just interested in building the biggest and most expensive police headquarters possible and then make us pay for it.
Jean Wilcox
Sutherland Drive, Palo Alto
Money for Mongolia
At the final stop of his weeklong Asian tour last week, President Bush praised Mongolia for standing with the United States as "brothers in the cause of freedom."
As a reward, Mongolia receives $11 million of our tax dollars to improve its military forces, with more likely to come later. The contribution? A grand total of 160 Mongolian soldiers deployed in Iraq.
Insisting that this is not a small offer, our White House quickly clarifies that, per capita, only two other countries -- the United Kingdom and Denmark -- have sent more soldiers.
While I miss the good old days, not too long ago, when we had many more friends, I am happy that finally, for a change, our White House is telling the truth.
Simon Chiu
Talisman Court, Palo Alto
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