Jun 3, 2007

Letters

Bench marks for U.S.

Dear Editor: Bench marks for Iraq? How about bench marks for the immigration reform bill? Before a guest worker program, before Z visas, etc., prove that the border can and will be secured. Prove that our existing laws will be enforced. Then we can consider what to do with those who broke our laws by entering this country without permission and those who stayed beyond their visa limits. Convince us that border security is for real.

Eleanor Traeg,
Los Gatos


Isolated from broadband

Dear Editor: Six years ago, while vacationing in the "Golden Triangle" area of northern Thailand, I was pleasantly surprised to find Internet cafes that we could use to update friends and relatives on the progress of our travels. This little remote corner of the world had broadband and was fully "connected."

Contrast this with residents of the Santa Cruz mountains, just up the hill from Los Gatos (six miles by road) and perhaps 10 miles from the heart of Silicon Valley. Up there, there are no viable broadband services, and the only recourse is a slow dial-up connection. One would imagine that such a situation would be of acute embarrassment to both Verizon and Comcast, but apparently not.

Attempts to contact either of these companies to ascertain their plans to deliver such an essential service have met with the usual 1-800-Two-Step, where one gets passed between call centers without being able to talk to a local manager who even knows where Los Gatos is. The final straw came when I had to "hijack" a local Verizon employee who made the mistake of parking on Summit Road and learned that a Verizon beancounter at a corporate office somewhere had decided that it was not cost effective to offer the service to the local residents.

Perhaps at the turn of the next millennium, we shall see this technology be available to those folks that live on the fringes of Silicon Valley?

Darrell Earnshaw,
Los Gatos


Utility rate hike

Dear Editor: Once again the Palo Alto Utilities Department is proposing substantial rate increases that could take effect this July. This will be on the June 11 City Council agenda.

The 2007-08 proposed rate increases mark the third consecutive year for cost increases to the residents. Prior to the July 2005 rate increases, the average homeowner paid $2,603 a year for all utilities. With the proposed increases, the average homeowner will pay $3,578 a year for utilities - an increase of $975 a year. These excessive costs are out of proportion with any other living expenses in the Peninsula area.

The Utilities Department should not be a source of revenues for the city's general fund. Approximately 25 percent of the city's $129 million general fund comes from the Utilities Department. It was never originally intended that the Utilities Department "make a profit" to be paid to the city. Originally, Palo Alto owned its utilities to provide better service at a lower cost to its residents. It is no longer true that Palo Alto offers lower cost utilities than its neighboring cities.

The city charges the Utilities Department exorbitant rental rates ($10.4 million) for land that the city gets from Stanford University practically free. This accounting practice has overtones of "cooking the books." It's beyond a matter of internal accounting; it's about saving the residents a lot of money. The city should not be charging these fictitious, trumped-up utility land rents, but instead allow the savings to be passed on to its residents.

The utilities rate increases will jeopardize passage of future bond issues for the police building and libraries. Our government needs to stop increasing revenues and do more to reduce operating costs.

Chuck Bradley,

Palo Alto



Student enrichment

Dear Editor: As medical students at Stanford, we are concerned with the detrimental effects of educational inequality on health outcomes. While we applaud the efforts to develop language programs in Palo Alto elementary schools, as reported in "Debate continues over language lessons" (May 29), we feel that focus should also be placed on maintaining a basic level of education in all schools in this area.

In California, per-pupil spending ranges from $4,806 to a high of $34,279: an eightfold difference. Unequal spending creates differential educational experiences, which yield discrepancies in dropout rates, college and high-school attendance rates, and future socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status directly correlates with health outcomes.

To produce a society in which everyone can reach their full potential, we need to work toward a system where all students have access to the enriching programs your article profiled.

Swati Deshmukh, Jennifer Miller and Jessica Telleria,

Stanford University School

of Medicine,

Palo Alto



War in Iraq

Dear Editor: The flag at the Palo Alto veterans' hospital (and the flags at all veterans hospitals) should be flown at half staff every day that a U.S. service member dies in Iraq.

Dick Breon,

Palo Alto



Global warming

Dear Editor: Assume that global warming is occurring and that over the next century the lives of many of the world's poorest will be threatened. Millions of people living in coastal areas of Bangladesh and India will be forced to move as glaciers and icecaps melt and sea levels rise. Climate models predict droughts in Africa that will place additional millions at risk. The Pentagon claims that global warming poses a threat to our national security. What should we do for our planet?

Government controls over electrical power generation and transportation will be required as these are major sources of carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide adds to global warming. Also, what we buy contributes to global warming as every item and service we purchase has a carbon dioxide component. As yet, few politicians call for sacrifices in our lifestyle.

I'm sure that everybody, when challenged, can think of alternatives to consumerism, alternatives that don't have to lead to a collapse of the country's economy. How about spending on education and public health? Or purchasing land, planting trees and setting it aside for nature? The creative marketing talent that feeds the current demand for goods can be recruited to promote a new culture, a culture where increased savings bank balances are seen as a way to national security and a decreasing national debt is viewed as hitting a jackpot for our children. That would require quite a selling job, but we have organized the whole country in the past.

How often do we have a chance to save millions of lives? The global warming solution requires government action and a long-term commitment by all to a more modest lifestyle. Californians demonstrated that they could conserve during the energy crisis a few years back.

Robert Roth,

Palo Alto



Mideast conflict

Dear Editor: Linda Otero's letter (May 29) has reminded me of a Russian proverb, which may be translated, as "Those who sow wind will harvest storm." Since creation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, in 1964, when, by the way, neither the West Bank nor Gaza was in Israeli hands, Palestinians have been constantly attacking Israel. There have been thousands of innocent Israeli civilians murdered in these attacks during the past 43 years. Can one imagine our country's reaction if endless assaults on the American population had come from a neighboring state? In Otero's letter, there is a reference to a Web site titled "ifamericansknew." I believe if Americans knew the real facts, not the pro-Palestinian propaganda, of the Middle East conflict, they would have supported Israel even more strongly than they do at present.

As for the demolished houses and lost Palestinians lives, the "wind" of sneak attacks and latest open bombardment of Israel proper bring, naturally, "storm" to the Palestinian shores. Maybe some day the Palestinian warmongering will end and then another option will take hold in this region. It is called peace. Honest, honorable and mutually respectful.

Vladimir Kaplan,

San Mateo