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Letters

Mayor Yeh's promises

Editor,

Let's give Mayor Yiaway Yeh a chance to deliver on the promises delivered in his state of the city address. However, we need to watch the following closely:

1. How much of the budget is dedicated to building future reserves?

2. Are city services listed out in simple language and then prioritized?

3. Are meaningful reductions made to the size of our city government to make room for the "catch up" of infrastructure and the "reserve" for future needs? Without meaningful progress on both counts, the words offered will go down in history as insincere political rhetoric.

4. The labor union has spent a lot of money getting Yeh to his current spot. Beware of any indication of quid pro quo. There are many labor initiatives that are masked as "fairness to the workers," however in practice they are about escalating municipal costs and preserving privilege for the few.

5. Watch out for mega projects that sneak in under the planned community zoning and violate density restrictions guised as environmentally friendly density near transit hubs. Know that sheep in wolf's clothing. Density not only impacts the quality of life in our neighborhoods, but gives away school access without compensation to the schools.

In short, we can support Mr. Yeh and wish him the best, but keep these potential conflicts of interest on your radar, and if you observe any of these things happening, speak up and unveil the truth.

More simply stated: "Mr. Yeh, don't go there."

Timothy Gray

Park Boulevard

Palo Alto