Publication Date: Wednesday Jan 6, 1999

Letters

Forcing our hands

Editor,

Nancy Flowers (Guest Opinion, Dec. 16) incorrectly writes, "Very few Americans know that Article 25 (of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) guarantees them as a human right 'a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.'"

I do not believe that if a mere declaration guarantees something, I will get it. After all, food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services are products of other peoples' labor. I might be able to acquire these goods by trading goods I produce for them (i.e., purchasing them). Or, if I lack economic resources, I can seek the support of a charitable organization supported by voluntary donations. But if I lack my own resources and the ability to convince others to support me through a charity, how can I be guaranteed food, clothing, housing, medical care and "necessary social services?"

The answer, of course, is force. That is, to pass a law. If I have a "right" to what other people produce, and if governments should guarantee my rights, they will pass laws making it illegal for people not to do so. Governments have created huge involuntary charities funded by taxpayers. Taxpayers who do not want to fund a government charity are criminals and face the threat of property loss and prison.

Such obstinate taxpayers are not necessarily heartless. The government is notorious for its inefficiency and has a solid customer base that does not want to go to prison. Private charities don't have it so easy. They need to compete for funds from "customers" who want to do the most good with their money. Private charities will strive to be efficient. People who can choose charities will look to support people who want to improve themselves.

I do not recognize the truth of such welfare rights mentioned in Article 25. It advocates a type of slavery: The average taxpayer works five months of the year to earn income that she never owns, assuming that all of what she "owes" to the government is withheld. The government in turn hands out some of this money in the form of "entitlements."

Flowers celebrates "the inherent dignity" and the "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family." How dignified can a person feel if he knows that people help him because it's illegal not to? If I needed help, I would prefer that people help me because I earn it: They are choosing to invest in my potential to become self-sufficient. To government charity, the needy are just mouths to be fed.

`Facts' of life?

Editor,

Regarding the letter from Mary Elizabeth Wynne (Dec. 16): Wynne refers to "pro-abortion demonstrators" as "ugly," "noisy" and "taunting." This image is far from the reality of what happens here in Menlo Park. Every week, there are anti-choice demonstrators at the clinic near my house. They display large signs that are deliberately shocking and ugly, and some of them talk continually and even raise their voices at people entering the clinic to obtain health care. The only pro-choice presence is a quiet contingent that helps protect clinic users from these intimidating actions. I have to wonder where Wynne gets her "facts."

Growing pains

Editor,

As you might have heard, Hyatt plans to increase the density of Rickeys to over 300 apartment units. This is just one site on El Camino in south Palo Alto. Sitting next to Rickeys is the Palo Alto Elks Lodge. Their future plans will be to develop the whole parcel--which will include many residential units. A short distance down El Camino is the Palo Alto Bowl. I do not know their future plans, but the property is large and can accommodate a good number of residential units. If just these properties are developed to their maximum number of dwelling sites, the overall impact of people and autos in the immediate area will be devastating. Palo Alto needs to look into this area and come up with a new plan which would accommodate some growth and take into account the existing density.

Good Samaritans

Editor,

Just when we think Silicon Valley is so hectic and we are all running at the speed of light in our daily lives, something extraordinary happens.

On Nov. 28, while driving leisurely south on Middlefield Road, I was cut off by a motorist from a side street. I had the right of way, but the driver on California Avenue cut in front of me at a very high speed. I slammed on the brakes and skidded into a parked car. It had been raining, so the roads were very slick.

A passerby came over and gave me his name and number as a witness. I was visibly shaken but proceeded to call the police. While waiting for the police, a young woman and her companion showed up. She informed me that she was the one who had cut in front of me. She then told me that after she did so, another motorist driving by followed her and made her come back to the scene of the accident. Otherwise she would have gone on her merry way without taking any responsibility for what she had caused. The same motorist "witness" called the police while they were with me to verify that this driver had come back.

Whoever you are--thank you, thank you, thank you. It is moments like this that make you appreciate the kindness of people when you think it is so frantic and uncaring out there. It is also a reminder that Palo Altans are special people who care and take pride in their community.

Seeking support

Editor,

Thank you for your insightful article "For the ages" (Nov. 18) and your sensitivity to the needs of an increasing number of adult children who care for older family members. As an agency serving older adults for the last 30 years, Avenidas is responding to those needs. We have a service targeted specifically to adult children with older parents called Avenidas Senior Care.

As adult children realize that their parents could benefit from support with independent living, there is a place for them to turn. Avenidas Senior Care offers counseling to care givers, extended and continuing service assistance, independent and unbiased assessments and professional support of the highest quality. We are here to help the busy and/or long-distance adult child and care giver maintain the dignity and independence of older family members.

Thank you for recognizing the diverse needs of the Midpeninsula's older population. If your readers have questions or would like more information about Avenidas Senior Care, they can call 326-5362, Ext. 53.

Another blow

Editor,

Printers Inc.'s demise is only the latest in a series of blows to California Avenue. We have also lost our hardware and pet stores and seen our drugstore turn into a chain. But the loss of Printers Inc., the heart and soul of the avenue and the neighborhood, is the heaviest blow yet.

The economic forces behind this loss are powerful, but individual battles against them can be won, and I appeal to everyone in our community to wage those battles. Some of us can do this on a larger scale than others. For example, Printers Inc.'s landlord, Rick Stultz, could--as a community service--work with the store to establish a rent both can afford.

But the rest of us can act, too. Other businesses can notify their communities when they see trouble coming, to enable people to offer support before it is too late. Local banks, the chamber of commerce or the city could establish a fund to assist independent businesses facing intolerable pressure from rent increases or chain stores. And when each of us goes shopping, we can patronize our independent, locally owned businesses rather than chain stores or online suppliers.

None of the steps I'm suggesting would maximize short-term economic benefit (for the landlord, the taxpayers or individual shoppers, respectively). But how much are our independent, locally owned businesses worth to us as individuals and as a community? Those who browsed at Printers Inc. and then bought their books online might have made a different decision if they had thought about the larger effects of their actions. The few dollars more that independent stores may charge is the price of selection, service, accessibility and character. Let's start diverting some of the money we spend on lattes at Starbucks to cover the cost of keeping our local businesses alive.

Cultural cues

Editor,

I would like to point out some mistakes in the article "Culture Shock" (Nov. 11) in its description of Russian culture. I myself moved from Russia to the United States about three years ago, and though I was born in 1985, I have some understanding of the Soviet era also, because most of the people I grew up with lived during that period.

The article describes the cultural differences that immigrants from the former Soviet Union must adjust to. The main differences it states are: 1. Americans consider themselves separate individuals; immigrants from the former Soviet Union see themselves more a part of a group.

2. Privacy is highly valued by Americans; in Russia it's not.

3. Americans believe in and respect the law; Russians believe more in personal relationships than law.

4. Russians believe more in ritual.

5. Americans see time as a resource; Russians disrespect time.

6. Personal interaction is different.

What the article describes is somewhat similar to the situation during communism before 1985. Since very few people came to the United States from the Soviet Union between '79 and '85, because the Soviet government wasn't allowing people to emigrate, the article would have some relevance to those who came before the '80s only. Many of the emigrants to Silicon Valley from the former Soviet Union arrived in recent years.

The current situation in Russia is drastically different from what it was 20 years ago. The culture is much more similar to that of the United States, and those coming to Silicon Valley mostly are those better adapted to the changes. They would often be used to the fast-paced world, to changing jobs. There isn't much of a culture shock to them at all, except problems with the English language. Some of the statements in the articles were not even true during the Soviet era.

For example, the article says, "The Russian word for individualism is seen as a pejorative; it is defined as being self-centered and lacking in consideration for others." That is an incorrect statement. That is the definition of the word in Russian that sounds like the word "individualism" in English. It is, however, not the Russian word for what in English is called individualism. This is a case of incorrect translation, so the point the article makes is incorrect. Individualism is not (and was not) considered a bad thing.

The article says that for Russians, "a penny given to your friend is 1,000 rubles earned." What is that supposed to mean? There is a saying, "Don't have a hundred rubles, have a hundred friends," but this saying seems unrelated in meaning to the one quoted.

The article does not accomplish the purpose of describing the key cultural differences correctly. It makes those who are from the former Soviet Union seem completely alien, which is not the case.

Fiber fumbling

Dear Editors,

The city staff process and recommendation to kill the fiber ring program demonstrates a real disconnect between the city staff and the public they exist to "serve." Unfortunately, the elected officials of our fair city rolled over in the face of staff input. Display of this staff control and elected officials' rollover was most obvious in the series of back-peddlings and delays in reporting to the community regarding the status of the now nonprogram.

For anyone who has ever played with a spread sheet, it is easy to see that the city staff, without real experience implementing a system of this nature, knocked off the program with theoretical numbers. (Providing service to thousands of homes really is different from serving a relatively few businesses.) There is very likely some other reason they don't want to engage in a highly visible program that might all too quickly make evident incompetence or technological backwardness.

Did the city staff seek the advice and counsel of anyone with significant experience in implementing comparable systems? Or was this all done by staff with experience in other communications systems or electrical power systems? Despite salting the early press releases with nice words like "open" and "dialogue," all this action has been hidden in a closet, so we don't know any of the answers to even these simple questions.

After laying claim to basically being "too expensive," did the city staff ever tell any citizen just what that meant, or seek any significant input about cost (or anything else, for that matter) from the thousand-plus people who expressed an interest in participation from day one? No.

While the technology frontier land, our fair city, fumbles the ball of fiber, such backlands as Iowa are now making decisions on deployment of the fiber network they have operating, and cow towns in Texas are into their second decade of widely deployed fiber loops.

Are we ostriches or eagles?

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