Letters to the Editor

Take a picture now

Editor,

Several months ago I wrote about the destruction of an old house in the 1100 block of Ramona and the fact that its replacement doesn't follow any of the city's neighborhood design guidelines (Letters, Aug. 30). I was surprised by the large number of people who commented on the letter and asked what could be done to ensure new homes fit the neighborhood. They pointed out the number of tear-downs taking place and the number of garages moving to the front of the houses in older neighborhoods elsewhere in Palo Alto.

My advice: The city has to take the Residential Design Guidelines seriously. Permits for those following the guidelines should be easy; those avoiding them should have more review. Unfortunately, just the reverse is the norm in our system. Yes, in Palo Also it's easier to get a permit to do a bad job than to do a good one--at least with respect to replacing tear-downs in a neighborhood.

The latest threatened homes are the two wonderful 1890s cottages on Webster Street across from Addison School. Both are for sale, potential tear-downs to be combined and replaced by one monster--with or without neighborhood guidelines. Since these homes are only designated Category 4 historic resources and lie outside of the Professorville District, neither the homes nor the neighborhood is protected. Take a picture now.

The missing sixth

Editor,

I loved your Oct. 20 cover showing the vibrant, talented cast of the wonderful TheatreWorks production of "Tapestry." The only problem was that it showed only five-sixths of the cast. Nicholas Smith, the missing sixth, is not only missing from the picture, he is not mentioned when you list the names of the cast in the article. Since you do state that there are six members of the troupe, I am disappointed that you didn't take the trouble to find out who was absent.

In Nick's "other life," he teaches at Keys School. He was camping with his class on an outdoor education trip when the cast photo was taken for the program and, I presume, for your newspaper. Please give credit to one more outstanding performer in this delightful production.

Review off target

Editor,

The last thing I expected of The Weekly was a negative review of TheatreWorks' "Tapestry" (Weekly, Oct. 27).

Like your reviewer, Scott Renshaw, "I don't think I'm the target audience for 'Tapestry,'" a presentation of Carole King's creations of the 1960s and '70s, because I spent many of those years raising a son and supporting him and myself. Unlike Renshaw, however, I, with the rest of the audience last Wednesday, smiled, tapped my feet, and rejoiced in the production, even though none of the songs is familiar to me.

The only negative point on which I agree with Renshaw is ". . . where the vocals are drowned out by the band." I tried vainly to communicate this to TheatreWorks' staff during the intermission. Then, the next day, I certainly succeeded in doing so.

I'm grateful that your paper had published the "Tapestry" cover and two-page story Oct. 20, the day before its opening, with its appropriate plaudits for Rashida Knox and photos of the other singers. All of them performed extremely well. The voices of the company blend superbly, and all appeared natural and at ease on stage.

I feel our area is especially blessed to have TheatreWorks right here in our own community.

A family's gratitude

Editor,

Words cannot express our family's gratitude and appreciation for Palo Alto's superb police and paramedic services, as well as the wonderful staff at Stanford Hospital, both in the Emergency Room and the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.

My husband went into sudden cardiac arrest Sept. 16, and in response to my 911 call, officers Paul Scheff and Dave Fong were at our door and began CPR in less than two minutes. Paramedics Patrick Morris, Gary Petretto and Charla Strong arrived a minute later, followed by firefighter paramedics Rich Wallace and Jennifer Landsberg.

Their immediate response, their high-tech equipment and most of all their skill and perseverance in the long resuscitation effort, saved my husband's life. He is now home and recuperating. We are indeed fortunate to be living in Palo Alto and have these services available to us.

Measuring success

Editor,

I don't understand Barbara Chu's objection to the Palo Alto Unified School District's outcomes (Letters, Nov. 1). Does she want to see students graduate who have "mastered factoring quadratic equations" yet who cannot "communicate mathematically?" What, then, is the value of factoring equations? Likewise, does she oppose teaching students to "think creatively?" Would she, prefer, for example, that they be taught to recite the names of U.S. presidents, because that's easier to measure?

Yes, success at factoring equations is far easier to measure than is success at communicating mathematically. But which of these outcomes has more value--both to individuals and to society? To discard worthwhile goals for our school system because they are difficult to measure is to undervalue the purpose of schooling and the complexity of its mission. I sincerely hope those who govern our schools do not equate outcomes of value with those that are easy to measure. If they do, the only real outcome will be artificial intelligence.

Protect the fund

Editor,

There was much controversy in this year's Palo Alto Unified School District board elections over expenditures made from the district's property fund. The money in this fund was obtained through the sale of district property. It is therefore extremely unwise to use this money for ongoing expenses. But, more importantly, the availability of a large property fund is crucial to the success of the bond issue which was passed earlier in the year.

Legal restrictions limit spending of money from the bond issue to capital construction. Thus, while the district will be able to build new classroom space, wired and ready for the 21st century, it will be unable to furnish these rooms or obtain any of tomorrow's high-tech equipment without a large property fund. Prudent managers of the district should be taking every possible step to increase the assets of the property fund at this time in order to assure that the bond issue leads to new, well-equipped facilities and not empty shells.

Free college help

Editor,

In response to Kevin Moore's article (Weekly, Oct. 11) and Glenn Singleton's commentary (Weekly, Oct. 18), I feel I must reassure Palo Alto parents that both Gunn and Palo Alto high schools can and do provide first-rate college counseling services to our students at school, free of charge.

I am the volunteer coordinator at Paly's College Center and a Paly parent. I have 67 parent volunteers who work two hours each week to support the College Center and assist students. We host meetings at school each fall for any interested students with college admissions officers from approximately 90 colleges throughout the United States. We have a very experienced college counselor, Jean Dawes, who is available daily from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. to meet with individual students and/or parents.

We host class parent meetings, student advisories and college nights (California Public College Night was Oct. 12; our College Fair, with representatives from 120 private colleges, was Nov. 6). We have two computers available for student use, with college scholarship search programs. We also have college catalogs, videos, viewbooks, SAT testing material, applications to UCs and CSUs and the Common Application and college reference guides. We host informational sessions with all junior students each spring to enable them to begin the college search.

Mr. Singleton is correct in stating that Palo Alto parents may overlook the multitudes of outstanding institutions and focus instead on "name" colleges. Students need to be made aware of all the alternatives they have, and we feel we are accomplishing that. Unfortunately, some parents feel that the more a service costs the better it must be; or conversely, if it's free it must not be worth much. Palo Alto parents and students are exceedingly fortunate to have outstanding resources available to us at school at no cost: teacher advisers, college counselors, the College Center. We are here to assist you, but you need to make the first move.

It may be that there is no "perfect college," but experience teaches that there are many near-perfect alternatives that will provide a quality education and wonderful college experience. We invite you all to visit the Paly College Center on school days from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. and see the resources we offer our students.

Abandoned on an island

Editor,

I live in a home I own on Olive Avenue. I am affected on a daily and nightly basis by the commercial zoning of the old Maximart structure, currently occupied by Fry's and, I believe, Varian. When I purchased this house in 1987, the City Council had ruled, just a few years prior, that the land that the old Maximart building occupied would revert to residential zoning in 15 years. I spent considerable time, money and labor remodeling the house.

I attended and participated in the weekend meetings that asked for neighborhood input as to the usage of the Maximart land. The prevailing sentiments of the people who are actually residents of the immediate area, as opposed to those who see the commercial zoning as more money in the city coffers, were obvious.

In addition to owning a home on Olive Avenue, I had a business located at 440 Olive Ave. I did custom woodworking and store fixtures, as Micki Schneider and Gary Fazzino can attest. The dear City Council zoned us out 18 months ago. But of course, my business did not provide the caliber of revenues that Fry's does. Can any of the Council members be open minded enough to see a double standard?

I urge the City Council to vote to make the old Maximart land residential. The residents on Olive Avenue should not be sentenced to live on an abandoned island surrounded by commercial zoning.

Postcards, please

Editor,

Our third-grade class in Hartselle, Ala., would like to make the study of the United States more exciting by asking people in other parts of the country to send us postcards from their states. Would you please help us "discover America" by sending me a card to share with my class? Thanks.

No clear-cutting

Editor,

Regarding the Around Town column (Weekly, Sept. 6): The "Headwaters Forest Rally" is now history, but for the sake of accuracy it should be noted that the report was misleading.

There has never been "clear-cutting" in Headwaters Forest, nor was there any planned prior to the rally. The company that owns Headwaters had planned to do selective harvesting of trees that were dead or dying and were limited to removing a maximum of 10 percent of trees per acre.

Selective harvesting is very different from clear-cutting, which is the removal of all trees in a given area.

The new paradigm

Editor,

This letter is a follow-up to the Oct. 4 commentaries by Debbie Mytels and Enid Pearson, the Oct. 11 letter from Bob Moss and the Oct. 25 cover story titled "Measure R: An issue of traffic or trust?"

Initiatives, usually crafted in haste from a limited viewpoint when public dissatisfaction boils over, are very poor for making policy. Voters face a harsh choice: "yes," overlooking the flaws, or "no" as evident support for the status quo.

We mistrust the old, top-down, command model of leadership. It is an anachronism in a world of complex and quickly changing issues, widely diverse interests, horizontal organization, networking and individual responsibility for process. The old way is fundamentally incompetent for today's complex problems. The old-style leader is expected to be ultimate expert, second-guessing the constituency and balancing the pressures of special interests who have time, money and focus to capture the process.

The new leader is process manager and facilitator, ensuring that all stakeholders are involved and empowered, providing resources and tools, keeping the process on track, ceremonially approving the result.

The new paradigm depends on a regularized citizen involvement process model, based on two key principles.

First, involve all stakeholders as collaborative partners. At the very start, identify and enlist representatives or surrogates for all stakeholders, including government officials and agencies. Empower with information and understanding of the process principles and methods.

This runs against human nature and seems like embracing the enemy. We must overcome the natural urge to close ranks, develop a position of power and avoid exposing weakness. That sets up the opponent as a destructive force and denies us access to the declared opponent's knowledge and resources. It creates a fundamental instability that is a chronic drain of energy. If the principle of stakeholder involvement is violated, it is still possible to railroad a decision, but it may be sabotaged later by dissatisfied stakeholders who were excluded, lost the battle or came late.

The second principle is a needs-based approach to the issue and its solution. Consider no specific actions until stakeholder consensus is built, sequentially, on:

A definition of the issue,

The scope of elements that must be included for a complete decision,

The needs of all stakeholders: quantified, neutral toward subsequent proposals,

Applicable limits and constraints,

The standards and methods to be used in evaluating proposals, and

A method to ensure that the range of proposals will encompass the optimum.

Any short-circuiting of the steps above is over-simplification of an inherently complex problem, which will leave out important factors and ensure failure.

This principle counters the strong human tendency to lunge at the first plausible-looking answer. However, if it is violated, the result is at best a flawed and incomplete solution, at worst a bitter struggle among polarized positions. In either case creativity is blocked.

This approach builds a robust solution. A general and universal process road map and a complete set of methods and tools are mature and ready, used for organizing large teams on highly complex projects. They are based on deep universal principles of how systems develop and work, which are not a matter of mere opinion or ideology. Let's use these principles to heal our dysfunctional governance apparatus by adopting a regularized process for citizen involvement in planning and decision-making in Palo Alto.

Restripe Page Mill Road

Editor,

I am writing about an appalling traffic situation which continues to present a danger to the public, a serious inconvenience and time loss, as well as being a contributing factor to air pollution in this community. I am speaking of the poor traffic flow eastbound down Page Mill Road from 280 during the morning commute. This problem is caused in part by ineffective use of the roadway due to poor striping, which does not provide right-turn-only lanes where they could easily fit into the existing roadway, allowing those commuters wishing to leave Page Mill Road a prompt opportunity to do so. What is particularly appalling is that the Palo Alto Police Department routinely establishes traps to ticket commuters safely making right turns south onto Foothill Expressway from Page Mill Road, even though entering the shoulder before the existing striping safely and conveniently permits such movement.

The situation was particularly shocking on Oct. 18, exacerbated by a defective traffic signal at Peter Coutts Drive. While the city of Palo Alto provided no police to direct traffic through that intersection despite the obvious need for such direction, the city did have plenty of police to give tickets to commuters safely making their way to their jobs in the city of Palo Alto and thus providing revenue to your city. I note that it took more than 30 minutes to make it from 280 (which was backed up for miles because of the Page Mill Road problem) to the Palo Alto Square area. In addition to the needless delay, there was an accident on the 280 off-ramp caused by the backup aggravated by the ineffective use of Palo Alto police resources. The air pollution caused by hundreds of vehicles needlessly idling for over half an hour is also of great concern.

I might add that I normally don't come to work during this rush hour, and do not use Foothill Expressway during my commute. So I am not a disgruntled citizen who is complaining about a ticket received. Rather, I am a disgruntled citizen complaining about the inattentiveness of the city of Palo Alto and the complete lack of concern for the time, convenience or expense to those people currently finding employment in your city and providing the city with significant revenue as a result. I am also surprised that a city that supposedly prides itself with its concern for its residents' health and well-being is apparently unconcerned with the added pollution caused by these problems.

While I understand an effort is underway to synchronize the Page Mill Road traffic lights, I am suggesting the city of Palo Alto, together with any other appropriate agencies, further improve the traffic situation by taking at least the following simple and relatively inexpensive steps:

Pay attention to traffic signal defects and provide solutions to problems as they occur in order to improve traffic flow.

Restripe Page Mill Road eastbound to add a right-turn-only lane on the paved shoulder before Foothill Expressway. This can be signed for use during the morning commute times only.

Restripe Page Mill Road eastbound to add a right-turn-only lane on the paved shoulder before Deer Creek Road. This can be signed for use during the morning commute times only.

Restripe Page Mill Road eastbound at Hanover and at Hansen in order to provide longer right-turn-only lanes.

Your working to solve traffic problems, rather than merely using them to provide your police the opportunity to needlessly ticket safe and courteous commuters, would go a long way to improve the image of your city and its officials.

Back up to the Table of Contents Page