Looking to light rail

Editor,

Heavy rail should not be used in urban transportation and, in the case of the Peninsula, should be replaced by BART. Light rail BART is more appropriate in the Bay Area for reasons of cost, safety and service.

Safety is the first reason to be considered. Modal separation is essential to providing a safe transportation infrastructure. Light rail is the easiest of mass transportation systems to separate from pedestrians and automobiles. Another factor in safety is the lighter mass (ie weight) of the light rail vehicles. A lesser mass is easier to control and thus safer.

Cost might be the second consideration. Light rail can be buried and elevated more cheaply than other forms of mass transport. The energy needed to start and stop the lighter mass is less; thus decreasing energy costs. The efficiency of the light rail system is greater than buses. The rolling and air-form friction is much less than for buses and automobiles per passenger mile, thus requiring less energy--and less cost--to operate. The electricity can be produced in local co-heat-generation plants using efficient LNG-fired turbines. Liquified natural gas is a clean and plentiful source of chemical energy.

Economic benefits to areas served by BART are obvious. Many billions have been invested over the East Bay hills because of that transportation system. A cohesive transportation system for the Bay Area is very attractive to national, and international, businesses relocating and expanding.

Service can be provided cheaply and reliably with a light rail system. For example, the western region out of Paddington, London has four tracks as far as Reading, nearly 50 miles to the west of London. This allows local trains to switch to a high-speed track after covering a few stations. Reading to London/Paddington service was 49 miles in 45 minutes at 15-minute intervals from 6 a.m. to midnight. The London Underground BakerLoo line serves at 45 mph with a 45-second distance between trains. Light rail BART could install the same system here in the Bay Area. The diverse and inefficient systems at present cannot consider such improvements to service due to space considerations and cost.

Industry and business at the center of the electronics industry here in the Bay Area must have a safe, cost-effective, efficient, and convenient infrastructure to encourage and reinforce the present industry dominance.

Walton McMillan Bryant Street Palo Alto

Lytton Senior Communicators

Editor,

We wish to apologize for our negligence in responding to your July 7 article by Vicky Anning on the use of the Internet by seniors. It's been a busy summer.

Those of us at Lytton Gardens who have been involved in putting together a free Internet program for seniors, complete with e-mail, have been so thankful for all the publicity and help our "Lytton Senior Communicators" have gotten. However, we think that credit should be given where it is due and some inaccuracies corrected. The whole slant of Vicky's article was somewhat misleading.

For the record, Lytton Gardens' first exposure to WebTV began a couple of years ago on a very small scale (six residents) and grew to our present situation involving more than 100 residents and 54 first-time graduates at the June 29 ceremony that ended our first 12-week learning program. The Lytton Gardens free Internet program for seniors is among the first and largest in the country. The pilot project was made possible by WebTV for which we are extremely grateful.

Among the early learners were Nora Mason, Albine Bech, Julie Ozer, Ruth Hyman and Maurine Henehan. At that time, Ruth received teaching assistance from WebTV. The other four seniors were self-taught by a manual. This very limited approach was amended in late 1998 to provide the Internet for all Lytton residents. This democratic method was backed by the Lytton Gardens Resident Association. Internet for all.

Working at first with WebTV's Richard Adler, Vice President Gary Low and a small group of interested residents of Lytton I, II, III and IV made plans to enlarge the program. Over the early months, Michael Robinson, director of human resources at Lytton Gardens, and the Residents Association organized, planned and provided the television sets for Internet stations, the necessary chairs and tables, training space, telephone lines, conference rooms and auditorium for meetings held four times a week. The very necessary keyboards were contributed by WebTV who hooked up the system, and later by Sony. We send thanks to them.

We set as our goal bringing and enticing seniors out of their lonely rooms and into contact with neighbors, friends, grandchildren and worldwide family so as to form a new community.

The steering committee for the Lytton Senior Communicators was chaired by Michael Robinson and assisted by resident head teacher Larry Hunter, who is very experienced in computers and the Internet. As a matter of fact, two of the local programs referred to in your newspaper--Little House and the East Palo Alto Senior Center--have classes that Larry has volunteered to lead for several years. Your article referred to Web sites for seniors, but failed to mention "LyttonAud@Webtv.Net," one of the biggest in California.

In the spring of 1999, we at Lytton Gardens learned from Linda Hibbs about the Alliance for Aging Independently (AAI). One of the members, David Lansdale--a researcher in gerontology--was interested in joining the Lytton Project.

Our steering committee, under Michael Robinson's administrative direction and with David Lansdale from the Alliance for Aging Independently as our teacher, organized a 12-week course on the use of the Internet by Lytton seniors. The program was additionally made possible through the hard work of many volunteers, such as Debbie Flaherty, Alan Hamel, Mary Bowersox and a number of Stanford students.

The program would not have gotten off the ground were it not for the hundreds of volunteer hours worked by our Lytton resident teachers and facilitators, including Albine Bech, Maurine Henehan, Nora Mason, Ruth Hyman, Larry Hunter, and students Oleg Macheret and Faina Auerbach, Jerry Chu and Myra Chang and Jo Sturrup. It was so exciting to see seniors teaching seniors and having a ball. Each Tuesday all of us met in the auditorium for a lecture by David Lansdale, who would introduce a new Internet lesson and show how the Internet worked on the residents' 61-inch color TV complete with a camera and keyboard. The program ended on June 29 with a graduation that was a wonderful success.

The purpose of this reply to Vicky Anning's article is to correct some inaccuracies and to give special thanks and credit to the many who were not recognized. For example, Lytton Gardens was not given credit as being the most significant of its kind in California.

All facilitators, funds, staff and group teachers were from Lytton Gardens; this was overlooked. Little credit was given to the Lytton Gardens project which was several years in the making and became available for all residents due to the guidance and enthusiasm of Michael Robinson, the Lytton Gardens staff and the Residents Association, without which there would be no free Internet at all.

Vicky Anning's article was, unfortunately, misleading, failing to concentrate on the amazing accomplishments of 54 graduates, ranging in age from 70 to 98, proving that seniors can master e-mail and the Internet. Unfortunately, our senior residents and their unquestionable success were lost in the article. They are not the "Silver Surfers" from Palo Alto Commons. They are the "Lytton Senior Communicators."

Lytton Gardens is a nonprofit senior housing and health care facility for low income seniors. We hope that your readers will consider donations to Lytton Gardens so that we can continue this wonderful program and make the exciting world of e-mail and the Internet available to all of our residents.

Nancy Leonard President Lytton Gardens Residents Association

On the other side of town

Editor,

The week of Aug. 2 was not a very good week for most of Palo Alto, unless you live in the north.

First, our City Council votes unanimously to provide a shuttle bus that will go from the University Avenue Caltrain Station down Embarcadero to East Bayshore, and another one that will wind around streets adjacent to Middlefield Road. What happened to the proposed bus from the San Antonio Avenue Caltrain Station to West Bayshore through south Palo Alto? Nixed because we're not in the north part of town.

Second, our City Council votes unanimously to provide funds so a few select residents of north Palo Alto can have some very expensive fiber-optic cable connections. They did not offer this fiber-optic trial to any other neighborhoods in Palo Alto.

Third, the city is planning to install specially designed emergency phones in three north Palo Alto parks. How about emergency phones for Boulware Park, Greer Park and Bol Park? They've had their share of assaults. Meanwhile, SUV's are being ticketed for parking in north Palo Alto while red light runners are having a field day in the rest of our town. All this on top of the $1 million being spent for historic preservation.

Lastly, Judy Kleinberg, a candidate for City Council, is "worried about Stanford." Well Ms. Kleinberg, I hope Stanford elects you to our City Council. Meanwhile I hope the other non-incumbent candidates are more worried about the voters of south Palo Alto. We pay our taxes too.

Jean Wilcox Sutherland Drive Palo Alto

Kudos for coverage

Editor,

If you are a reader of only the San Jose Mercury News, you would never have known about a huge youth sports event that occurred recently in the San Jose area.

Thanks to the excellent coverage by the Palo Alto Weekly, at least our local population was informed about the 1999 USA Water Polo Junior Olympics where 4,300 athletes, ages 13 to 18 participated. During the week of Aug. 8-14, over 300 teams from across the US converged on the San Jose, south Peninsula area competing in 1,000 water polo games, culminating in thrilling championships on Aug. 11 for girls and Aug. 14 for boys.

The Palo Alto Weekly has always given outstanding coverage to this event including photos, interviews, and results. Your sports department is to be commended for that. Highest praise and accolades also go to all the Radian and Stanford Water Polo age-group teams for their excellent showing again this year. And last but not least, our heartiest congratulations to the Stanford 18 & Under Boys A Team and their coaches Terry O'Donnell and Jon Barnea, for winning the bronze medal at the 1999 Junior Olympics.

Ann and Dan Swinehart Ferne Avenue Palo Alto

Phone line frustration

Editor,

Pacific Bell should consider expanding its business to developing countries; its services are compatible with what customers in those countries are used to.

Here is our story: We moved from a house in Palo Alto to another house in Palo Alto on Aug. 1. We called Pacific Bell about one week before moving and were given a new phone number. We started using the new phone from the very first day, but we quickly realized that we couldn't receive any phone calls because the phone line was connected to a different number. We called Pacific Bell, they told us there was a problem with the line and sent a technician. He arrived within a day and physically cut the line. When we called customer service to find out what was going on, we were told there were no phone lines available and that we should wait for one week. We called again after a week and were told there was a problem with the cable outside the house (the same one the technician cut?) and that they would be able to fix it within a month. That means no telephone for one month. We complained as vehemently as we could, but no use. So, here we are, in the heart of the Silicon Valley, with no phone line for a month. As I said, customers in developing countries would not notice the difference.

Roberto and Michela Aiello Alger Drive Palo Alto

Community questions

Editor,

Why does the city feel that it is necessary to go to court to keep the report on the sand bagging of the city manager's home secret? Doesn't the report find that the manager, June Fleming, did nothing wrong? When the incident occurred, I thought nothing of it, but now my curiosity is piqued and I'd like to have a look at that report. As a city taxpayer, I would think we have a right to see:

1) What our city workers are doing

2) How our money to hire the investigator was spent

3) Why the city felt it necessary to spend more of our money to take the issue to court.

How does keeping it private benefit the community? If I were a resident of one of the flooded homes, I'd be livid. What is it that the city is protecting us from? What is in that report that they don't want us to see? I thought that one of the benefits of the Palo Alto government was that it represented and involved the citizens. That doesn't seem to be the case here, and I, for one, would like to know why. If the council wants to protect us from something, how about cars speeding through our streets, houses that don't fit in with the neighborhoods, and overcrowding in our school system.

Keith Ferrell Emerson Street Palo Alto

A hazardous incident

Editor,

I was reading the newspaper this morning and noticed an article on a police officer who had lost control of his car during a high-speed chase and caused an injury accident on Highway 92 and Interstate 280. Normally, I wouldn't have given the story a second glance. Everyone makes mistakes, but unfortunately, it reminded me of a startling incident of police carelessness I witnessed a recent Monday evening.

It was about 7:30 p.m. and I was headed south on El Camino to meet a friend for dinner in Palo Alto. I was stopped at the Oak Grove intersection in Menlo Park. I could see an Atherton police car in the right lane. At this particular crossing, there are three lanes, one to turn left and two to go straight. When the light turned green (to both turn and/or go straight), traffic progressed. A few cars turned left. After they had done so, a car turned left from the middle lane.

Probably not a good idea, but there was no cross traffic, the left-hand signal was green and the driver did not endanger anyone. However, the police car, in a zealous fit, simultaneously turned on his lights and crossed the middle lane of traffic to chase the offending driver, nearly hitting a string of vehicles headed through the intersection. The other driver, realizing he was being chased, pulled over, but the officer was speeding up so quickly that he nearly slammed into the other car and fishtailed all over the road before pulling up behind it.

Honestly, I was disgusted. The officer's carelessness and complete disregard for the safety of everyone else in the intersection indicated bloodthirsty poor judgment. If all Atherton police have to do is chase people who inadvertently get into the wrong lane, perhaps they should venture across 101 and help out the officers in East Palo Alto who are fighting serious crime.

Julie Colwell Murray Court Redwood City

Sticks and stones

Editor,

The nation is literally hemorrhaging from crimes of violence, predicated on racism, ethnic hatred, religious hatred and fanaticism, and sexism, to name a few sicknesses. Words alone about others found objectionable do not seem to suffice for many, as that inadequacy succumbs to attempted murder and murder itself.

Perhaps there should be a retraction of the adage that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." If it becomes understood that words do hurt, perhaps there would be no need for them to be supplemented by sticks and stones.

How problems are phrased usually defines how they are addressed. One word that has had frequent and increasing usage in this context is "tolerance." For example, it is often stated that society must become "more tolerant" of others. Terminology may not be a big issue on first blush, but it provides and objectionable perspective.

As an individual, I resent any one being "tolerant" of me in any manner, verbal or otherwise, no matter the context. This is the case more so where my standing as an African American is the issue.

"Tolerance" is a concept that should be censured from defining and determining social interactions and liabilities. Its usage is arrogant, ignorant, abusive and insulting, self-centered, condescending, and without constructive social benefit. Those who believe in "tolerating others" have probably never experienced the hurt and bitterness of tolerance themselves.

Moreover, it must be emphasized from all classrooms and rallies that individuals' rights to be, and exist safely and justly in a civilized society, must not be contingent on the tolerance of anyone. These rights need no other moral justification.

Finally, there is not much that separates tolerance from intolerance, having experienced both. As society addresses these sicknesses, it is proposed that "tolerance" be removed from the rhetoric of resolutions.

Henry Organ Euclid Avenue Menlo Park

Clarifying comments

Editor,

I have been reading the comments with regards to the eruv proposal for several weeks now and have been very happy to read the many positive comments. I was bothered though by some people who opposed the eruv who were using their opposition as a forum to express their antisemitism. In other letters of opposition I have heard the issue of separation of church and state as the basis for opposition. However, the eruv is not a religious symbol, it is just a boundary. It does serve to allow Orthodox and Sabbath-observant Jews, our neighbors, a chance to use a stroller or carry a child.

As far as the separation of church and state, I wanted to comment on our public school calendar. It seems that every year our school's winter and spring vacations are made around the religious holidays of Christmas and Easter. Our public school children are always given Christmas Day off and Good Friday. These are clearly very religious holidays and the public schools are never in session on these days. This appears to be a mixing of church and state. Putting twine around the city to create a boundary in order to allow a family the opportunity to push a stroller seems much less so to me.

Suzanne Brownstein Cotton Street Menlo Park 

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