Letters Letters (August 25, 2004)

The sound of music

Editor,

What a great summer of music -- the Twilight and Brown Bag Concert Series in our parks were enjoyed by not only Palo Altans and families around the Bay Area but around the world. And from cradles to those as old as me.

Due to city budget limitations these events will have to suffer cutbacks or possible elimination next year

But thanks to several corporate and civic organizations and many generous past attendees we managed to enjoy the complete 2004 series. We now look forward to the 2005 Summer Concert Series for funding.

Thanks to support from the everlasting Palo Alto Weekly, Mayfield Mortgage, Oak Creek Apartments, Sheraton Hotel, Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, Palo Alto Green, Mendocino Brewing Company, Borel Private Bank and Trust Company and Whole Foods Market.

Plus hundreds of tax-deductible pledges made by attendees.

Now, for those of you who have received pledge forms from me, please mail in your check to the address shown on the pledge form. If you have not received a pledge form and wish to make a tax-deductible contribution (you will receive a letter of acknowledgement), write to: Twilight and Brown Bag Series, City of Palo Alto Arts & Culture Division, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
Elliott Bolter
Walter Hays Drive
Palo Alto

Squirrel lion food?

Editor,

We've had much hoo-hah about mountain lions wandering down the creek beds looking for food. Now we learn that the Baylands has too many squirrels and city personnel are poisoning them.

Looks like we have a classic supply/demand situation where the city can play broker.

Let's set up big squirrel traps at the golf course. Every few days a city truck takes the squirrels into the hills to the mountain lion habitat. Lions eat and leave the rest of us alone.

Golfers don't have squirrels burying their balls. Baylands raptors won't feed on poisoned squirrels. And the overall squirrel population in Palo Alto/Stanford is so healthy they'll never notice the loss of a few hundred golf course ground squirrels.

Looks like a win-win-win to me.
John Lovas
Coleridge Avenue
Palo Alto

Defining 'the public'

Editor,

One of the recent ReaderWire questions (Weekly, Aug. 20) was: What does public benefit mean?

The literal meaning would be to designate the benefits of every member in the community, but this is not the way that it is used. It is used to set up a conflict between "public interests" and private interests.

In a free society that respects individual rights, it means nothing. There is no entity "the public." The public is only a number of individuals. They freely trade with one another and no institutionalized force is involved.

If someone claims to have been injured by another, he/she can get redress by proving injury in a court under objective laws.

In a semi-free, semi-collectivist society such as we have now, the concept "public benefit" is a signal for various groups (residentialists, environmentalists, unions, egalitarians, multiculturalists, religionists, etc.) to lobby to get their group known as "the public." In this context, "benefit" has no moral meaning. It's merely government by pressure groups.

The most vocal gang with the most members, the best organization or the most political clout gets to become "the public." That gang uses the government to enforce its benefits, and any individual in the way loses his/her rights, usually property rights.

Let's respect individual rights and do away with the public-benefit concept. It's a corrupt concept.
Richard Wray
Loma Verde Avenue
Palo Alto

Library tech

Editor,

This is a heads up for library computer users. The library director plans to have installed in the computers, at a cost of $35,000, software for automatic logoff. This means that users are automatically logged off after a set time limit.

No doubt they will receive a few minutes warning. The logoff will occur even if there are other computers not being used. So coming in at low demand times will no longer have any advantage. Whether or not one will be permitted to log on again has not yet been decided.

The director can be reached at Paula.Simpson@cityofpaloalto.org. If you are a regular user, let her know your views.

Another heads up: The Human Relations Commission (HRC) will have its next meeting Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Council Conference Room. Scheduled is a presentation by the police chief on Tasers, and perhaps a demonstration.

The HRC meets on the second Thursday of each month. Check the agenda for Sept. 9, as the date for this presentation does not seem to be certain.
Natalie Fisher
Ellsworth Place
Palo Alto

'Our Town' praise

Editor,

Thank you for the excellent Our Town column of Aug. 18 entitled "Fighting for Life," which highlighted the benefits that Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, would bring to California.

Don Kazak elucidated the medical benefits of embryonic stem-cell research, which will hopefully provide cures for many debilitating conditions such as juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal-cord injury and stroke, while bringing jobs and capital investment to the state.

Kudos to our own Robert Klein, who spearheaded the campaign to pass Proposition 71, and whose Palo Alto office serves as the campaign's Northern California headquarters.

One has only to watch someone suffering from these conditions, such as a child who must inject insulin daily or an adult slowly incapacitated by Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or multiple sclerosis, to realize the tragedy of the Bush administration's restriction on federal funding that is now postponing embryonic stem-cell research.

Passage of Proposition 71 will position California in the forefront of stem-cell research, a good place to be for both humanitarian and economic reasons.
Susan L. Kaplan
Orme Street
Palo Alto

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