I want to set the record straight regarding my position on the new library because there are lessons to be drawn here. Actually, I was in favor of a building a larger library, but opposed mostly to the particular method of financing it.

The proponents of the new library proposed financing it by mortgaging (technically with "certificates of participation") municipal facilities and promised no tax increase or curtailment of services.

I felt that this was too risky in the event of a recession and I advocated instead that Cupertino float a bond, resulting in a small voter-approved tax increase that would not burden the city's fragile General Fund. (Saratoga financed its new library in this way.)

I felt that the debt service on the city's existing debt of over $50 million, along with the additional amount for the library, would result in the curtailment of services to our citizens because, unlike most adjacent cities, we were not debt-free. Sadly, my apprehensions were realized and a long list of service cuts resulted, including the elimination of library services on Sundays and Mondays and the termination of the caseworker position at the Senior Center.

The debt service will burden the General Fund for the next 30 years. Financing the library with a bond would have saved annually more than $700,000 in debt service payments and loss of investment income to the General Fund.

This amount would have been sufficient to avoid the library closure and the termination of the caseworker.

Ironically, several council members privately told me that they agreed with me but were stampeded into voting for unwise promises.

There are two lessons from this: 1. There is no free lunch; and 2. Make sure that your council member cannot be stampeded.

Nick Szabo

Former mayor of Cupertino

No Child Left Behind doesn't allow teaching

I've been watching the vastly increased workload that's being passed onto kindergarten and first-grade teachers regarding requirements for (almost) continuous assessment in the area of letter sounds, reading and writing.

As a result, many of those teachers are simply overwhelmed and disheartened. Many, if not most, of these assessments are the result of No Child Left Behind and new California state mandates.

I am a former Cupertino elementary teacher, and my wife has taught kindergarten in Cupertino for nearly 20 years. She believes, based on her training and experience, that placing just one, full-time reading specialist in every medium-sized elementary school (400 to 600 students) would be sufficient to complete all these new assessments, freeing up the teachers to teach.

Although Cupertino Union School District has literally no money and none on the horizon, is it possible that the current administration would consider creating an intern-type program with a local teaching college, using students who are majoring in education, strictly for the purpose of assessment, and rewarding them with college credits? This would be similar to the Santa Clara University intern-type program already in existence.

If and when Cupertino enacts a decent parcel tax, these positions could be made full time/permanent--providing real relief for teachers who are, quite honestly, extremely discouraged.

Although many professional educators feel that No Child Left Behind is a blueprint for disaster, it is obvious that it is not going to disappear anytime in the near future.

Just one more staff addition to these schools would make a drastic difference in these teachers' lives (and the students progress too, as the teachers would be freed up to teach . . . just teach).

James Thurber

Mountain View

Consultants give answer
one is willing to pay for

In the words of Gomer Pyle, "surprise, surprise" that consultants hired by city officials would conclude that the CCC initiatives were not good for Cupertino. I have never met a consultant who wouldn't give you the answer you were willing to pay for.

The city officials have lots of your tax dollars to spend on consultants to thwart the will of the citizens of Cupertino but none to spend on a special election to determine what the citizens want for the future of their city.

With nearly 50 percent of the citizens who vote in elections signing the CCC petitions, is it any wonder the city officials are afraid to submit them to the citizens for a decision? City officials have the city attorney working to find every technicality to stop the citizens from being heard.

Case in point: the city attorney decided that the petitions were misleading because they did not state that if 15 percent of the citizens signed, a special election would be required when this is clearly stated in the California Election Code. Apparently ignorance of the law is an excuse when it is beneficial to city officials.

The best way for Cupertino citizens to respond to the actions of city officials is to vote for the initiatives and vote to remove those city council members who have done everything possible to stop them from being heard at the ballot box.

Robert Garten

Cupertino

Corrections

In the Nov. 10 roundup of local orchid groups, the Santa Clara Valley Orchid Society was listed as meeting every first Wednesday of the month in Willow Glen; however, the Dec. 1 meeting is canceled. For more information, visit pw1.netcom.com/~sprkdg/scvoshtm.htm.

In the Nov. 3 Courier article "Reservoir's water is fine, but the fish are polluted," spokesman Mike Di Marco should have been listed as an employee of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.