Like 260-plus other Cupertino households, I was surprised a $45 Residential Parking Permit tax must be paid before January in order to park on the street in front of or near our home (or risk a $37 fine) weekdays or flea market Saturdays. In the 30-plus years since this program began in the 1960s we've never been charged a fee: Why now? But, like many of my neighbors, I must pay the new tax because we really have no choice. Sometimes we must park on the street so business or personal visiting vehicles may park in our driveways.

I object to this tax because the council imposed it without notifying affected residents in advance, although the permit renewal letter states the council enacted this tax in April 2005.

Imposing a new tax without any public notice, hearing or even an explanation in the renewal letter seems like taxation without representation.

After a couple emails to council members, I understand from Richard Lowenthal's email response the $45 tax is to cover the program's $12,000 cost, including signage (mostly installed years ago?) and enforcement costs in addition to $5 worth of stickers and guest permits issued every other year.

Although I believe the program's cost could be reimbursed by better enforcement and other cost-saving measures, I've decided to pay the tax because in the Dec. 14 Courier, City Manager Dave Knapp was quoted as saying, "City council could also decide to get rid of preferential parking [in Cupertino] all together." Having met Knapp a couple times, I believe he was merely stating a fact, not intending any threat.

His words reminded me how much worse our parking situation would quickly return to if the residential permits were discontinued.

Maybe the $12,000 in new taxes will pay for more frequent enforcement.

Steven Wesolowski

Cupertino

Parking permit fee worth
the six cents per day cost

This letter is in response to residents who are unhappy about paying the unexpected $45 bi-annual permit parking administrative fee.

The permit fee amounts to a little more than six cents per day. The permit parking system prevents residential streets from becoming parking lots for neighboring schools and businesses, with the attendant litter, traffic and loitering. The curbs are kept open so that residents and their guests may park in front of their homes. Without permit parking, streets could be jammed with every foot of curb space occupied. Six cents per day is a low price for these benefits.

There are approximately 41 streets with permit parking. The permit parking times are street-specific, and apply during special hours and days. The protection is targeted only for when it is needed.

The permit fee was adopted by the city council in 2004 during a time when the governor was holding back sales tax revenues from cities to cover the state's budget deficit. Cities were given IOUs, which are useless for paying employees and vendors. To balance its budget without $2 million in withheld sales tax revenue, Cupertino had some layoffs and fee increases.

This is the genesis of the permit-parking fee.

Steve Hill

Cupertino

Stephen Williams was one
of best teachers at school

Now that the dust has settled on the Stevens Creek Elementary School teacher being "run out of town" incident, we must reflect on those Cupertino residents who were more than happy to seen him go.

I have a different perspective of that sad incident.

Stephen Williams was my son's home room teacher for two years, and he taught advanced math and history to my boy. I personally met him at least half a dozen times over those two years.

Williams was always available before and after school hours to meet with me. I found him to be dedicated, honest, disciplined and a hard working teacher. But above all, he took extra time in teaching his students, which was reflected in the care he took in correcting students' papers and the extra material he handed out to supplement the learning process.

In my opinion, he was the best teacher at Stevens Creek Elementary, among other fine teachers that I met. I did not know, nor would I have cared that he was a person of strong Christian faith. The San Jose Mercury News in several articles called him a "religious fanatic," and so did many residents of Cupertino.

My mother and father lived under Hitler for six years (1939-1945), and they escaped Stalin's brutal dictatorship in 1949. Under those regimes, no religion was tolerated, and people were also "run out of town," except they went to death camps or Siberian gulags.

Jan Kucera Jr.

Cupertino

Correction

In the Dec. 21 article, "How to do CPR on animals," we should have said the idea for offering the class came from Liz Ambra, the program manager for vocational education, of the Sunnyvale-Cupertino Adult Education Center.