May 28, 2008

Letters

Selfish Measure A

Dear Editor: Sunday's Daily News endorsement of Measure A (Palo Alto's $756 million including interest school bond proposal) appeared above a thoughtful letter by Stanford student Sarah Mummah. She talked about the critical importance of school funding in low-income school districts, where adequate financing influences student outcomes far more than in relatively affluent communities. Honestly, just as many Palo Alto students would go on to college if they were educated in large classes held in circus tents.

Measure A proponents gush about "our children." But they're really saying "my children," aren't they? I'd have been impressed if the Palo Alto PTA and the Palo Alto Unified School District had teamed up with their counterparts in East Palo Alto and suchlike, creating a bond measure that helped level the playing field. No such luck. Underneath Palo Alto's eloquent speechifying about the importance of children and education lies an unspoken class consciousness that's just as hard, just as selfish, just as pitiless as that of the most right-wing communities. Measure A's attitude toward our poorer neighbors? "Let them eat cake."

Besides being selfish, Measure A falls short of Proposition 39's mandate that school bond issues state just what they'll do with the money. Measure A often wanders into vague wish list territory. And I don't appreciate its proponents slipping it into a low-turnout election likely to be dominated by zealots. A "no" vote tells the PAUSD to try again in November with a better proposal - and a fairer one.

Lee The

Palo Alto



County board needs changes

Dear Editor: Our unbridled board of supervisors in San Mateo County needs change. Their lock-step, 5-0 votes supported the following:

1. Relocation of Sequoia Hospital. Fortunately this did not happen, and we will enjoy Sequoia Hospital for years to come.

2. Elimination of gun shows at the county fair. Mark Church stated "if it saves one life, it's worth it." How shallow can you get?

3. Subsidized health insurance for families up to four times the already bloated federal poverty level. Plans to extend this to the adult population are being studied. Such programs should be submitted to voters for approval.

4. Reintroduced a 1/8th-cent sales tax ballot measure (Measure O) for parks, which was recently rejected by voters. The failure of the board to pursue revenue-producing uses of vast holdings of public lands violates the public trust.

There are three supervisors up for re-election. I urge voters to reject the incumbents by voting for John Bostic and Demetrios Nikas, and writing in "None of the above" as an alternative to Adrienne Tissier, who is unopposed.

I urge Democrats to reject Jerry Hill for state Assembly by voting for Gina Papan.

And please vote "no" on the sales tax Measure O.

Jack Hickey,

Emerald Hills



Holober for Assembly

Dear Editor: Republicans in Sacramento are proposing $4.8 billion cuts to our public schools. This would harm our children and devastate our future in the global economy. We need a strong education leader like Richard Holober in the state Assembly to make sure that our schools are once again a priority.

Richard Holober is the proven education champion, running in the 19th Assembly District race. He has 14 years of experience as a locally elected Millbrae school board and San Mateo County Community College board member. He and his wife sent their two children to San Mateo County public schools, and they have been active PTA members and engaged parents.

When it comes to a real track record of fighting for our public schools and colleges, Holober stands out from the crowd.

That is every organization that represents classroom teachers, community college and state university faculty in the region support Holober for Assembly.

I urge all San Mateo voters to stand up for our children and grandchildren by voting for Holober on June 3.

Craig Childress, president, and

Carlo Corti, vice president, San Mateo Union

High School District Teachers Association



Appeasement

Dear Editor: Letter writer Keith C. De Filippis claims that talking to despots never works [Letters, Monday]. There are a number of reasons for Sen. Barack Obama's response to Bush's statements to the Israeli Knesset. One is that Mr. Bush couldn't be more wrong and that people such as De Filippis should not be drawing the wrong inferences. In that respect, Sen. Obama failed. After years of pursuing a no-talk agenda that allowed North Korea's Kim Jung Il to produce more nuclear weapons, President Bush agreed to talks that have produced some results. Is Mr. Bush an appeaser? In January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that if Iran would halt its uranium enrichment program, she'd meet her Iranian counterpart "anyplace, anytime, anywhere to talk about anything." Is Secretary Rice an appeaser? The answer is obvious: Diplomacy does not equate to appeasement.

Richard Sutherland,

Los Alto



Atherton council

Dear Editor: Jim Dobbie is clearly the more qualified candidate for the Atherton City Council.

For the last 10 years Mr. Dobbie has served effectively on town committees and been a regular attendee and speaker at Atherton council meetings, while Elizabeth Lewis' service to the town began in 2006, and she has attended only a few council meetings. Lewis' glossy campaign brochure implies she worked on the Construction Operations Plan (COP) with Dobbie. The plan established daily and overall project time limits and on-site parking regulations. However, those ordinances were adopted in 2003; whereas Lewis was not appointed to the General Plan Committee until May 2006.

Dobbie worked successfully with other Atherton residents to lobby the San Francisco Internation Airport roundtable and the Federal Aviation Administration to stop airlines flying at lower-than-allowed altitudes, causing serious noise problems for our town. Serving as chairman of the General Plan Committee, he worked on environmental issues such as green building and satisfying state requirements for low-cost housing.

There are two reasons to oppose Lewis: 1) She is in the real estate business, and much of her support comes from developers and realtors. What makes Atherton the matchless place to live is, as my husband says, "the space between the notes" - but the real estate community thrives on building bigger houses on smaller lots, not the reverse. Lewis' run for the council thus constitutes a conflict of interest. 2) Her recent misleading and, in some cases, dishonest mailer is ample reason to question Lewis' judgment and integrity.

Mr. Dobbie's experience as a high-level executive in several companies has made him a thoughtful team player and articulate problem solver. Neither Lewis' brief two years' service to the town nor her career in real estate qualifies her for the Council.

Linda Grossman,

Atherton