May 30, 2008

Letters

Assembly race

Dear Editor: When I vote, I vote for authenticity. I want my candidate to vote according to his or her beliefs, not ambitions. Jerry Hill was a Republican for more than 30 years. Now he is a Democrat. I'm sure he's got a good explanation for the flip, but it makes me uncomfortable. I refuse to take a risk during this election cycle. I have two young children; we have too much to lose. As a lifelong Democrat, I am voting for fellow lifelong Democrat Gina Papan in the upcoming Democratic primary [for Assembly District 19]. Gina represents the next generation of women capable of effecting positive change for San Mateo County and California. We need to send women like Gina to Sacramento to fight for universal health care and to save funding for our schools.

Claire Conway,

San Mateo



Annoying calls

Dear Editor: I promise that I will not vote for any person who causes my phone to receive a recorded message of any kind. If a person seeking political office comes to my door or approaches me at the mall, and if I have the time to do so, I will listen to them and discuss issues to help me decide how to vote. But unsolicited phone calls are an intrusion on my privacy and are unwelcome. Especially annoying are recorded messages, where I can't interrupt, ask for clarifications or become part of the conversation. These people may think that name exposure is to their advantage, but I will use it to help defeat them. I will not help elect anyone to represent me who is so oblivious to my needs and comfort as to make blind calls to my telephone.

Donald Ravey,

San Mateo



Measure A

Editor: As a senior with a long family history in Palo Alto, I urge your readers to support Measure A (my grandfather, for whom Walter Hays Elementary is named, led the district's first bond issue, which built Palo Alto High School).

Our three children received an outstanding education here, so although we no longer have children in school, we feel it is our duty to do whatever is necessary to ensure that today's students receive the same benefits. The excellence of our schools also maintains the property values of everyone, including families with no children, so as beneficiaries of that system, it is in our interest to maintain it.

As chair of the Sustainable Schools Committee, I know that the district is exercising outstanding stewardship of our tax dollars.

With financial help from city utilities, it has installed an energy management system that achieves substantial savings, shifting funds from utility bills to improved education. It has also worked with an engineering firm to plan more energy-conservation projects, and funding these projects through Measure A will accomplish still further savings.

No matter how outstanding our schools may be, they cannot maintain their high quality without substantial capital investment. Many of the district's buildings are 40 to 90 years old and seriously require renovation or replacement, and the 25 percent increase in the student population since the last bond issue in 1995 requires new facilities.

Measure A will solve those problems without raising tax rates. Vote "yes."

Walter Hays,

Palo Alto



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Dear Editor: Wayne Martin makes a very astute observation in his recent letter discussing the Palo Alto Unified School District ("Protect school property," Tuesday). His key sentence is, "What is missing is an 'owner'- someone tasked with being the facilities manager who is charged with fighting for the grounds and buildings as if he/she actually 'owned' them." This is an excellent point.

Mr. Martin's solution, however, is for the district to hire a bureaucrat to look after the grounds and buildings as if he owned them. This will not accomplish much. That's because the point really applies to not just the grounds and buildings but to the complete school system. We need owners for all of it. The schools should be sold to private bidders who will have a stake in running them.

We can take a step in this direction by starving the existing government system out. That's why I am voting "no" on Measure A.

Richard Wray,

Palo Alto


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Dear Editor: Isn't it interesting that local developers, who have snookered the Palo Alto City Council into approving thousands of housing units in the past decade, are now donating heavily to assure passage of Measure A. It must be nice to make many millions of dollars of profit by offering premium homes in the "wonderful Palo Alto school district," and yet not have to pay reasonable development fees to insure that the eventual residents of your homes don't destroy that same school district. Because that is why Measure A is before us. The schools are extremely overcrowded, portable classrooms are popping up everywhere and talk of increasing class sizes and other cuts abound, all because the excessive building boom has overburdened our schools (as well as our parks, libraries, roads and infrastructure). Perhaps before Measure A expires in 30 or so years, we will figure out how to make sure that developers pay for the true costs associated with their buildings, costs that are currently dumped on the residents of the city.

Tina Peak,

Palo Alto



Showing patriotism

Dear Editor: The election campaign has hardly begun and Sen. John McCain has already taken the low road with his remark that "Senator Obama did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform."

If McCain wants to make patriotism a theme of his campaign, Obama's commencement address at Wesleyan University last Sunday proved he is more than ready to take on the debate. In pointing out that "our individual salvation depends on our collective salvation" and urging the students to serve their country and the world through helping others, Obama was defining patriotism in its truest form. He called on young people to help rebuild New Orleans, volunteer at a soup kitchen, or help ease the suffering in Darfur. Instead of promising to increase the size of the military, he promised to double the size of the Peace Corps.

As a graduate of Harvard Law School, Obama could have joined a top law firm but chose instead to do community organizing in Chicago's poor neighborhoods. McCain showed great courage in enduring five years of torture and imprisonment, but serving as a bomber pilot is not the only way to show patriotism. What we need most at this point is not a war hero but a smart and compassionate president who will work to make America a more just place, and the world a more peaceful one.

Rachelle Marshall,

Stanford