Letters

College should respect the wishes of residents

At the June 27 board of trustees meeting, Ms. Brenda Albrecht, a Saratoga resident requested that the board agendize a feasibility study regarding construction of a stadium at Mission College. That request was not agendized for the July 19 meeting; nor is there any indication that the item has been agendized for a future meeting.

Instead, Chancellor Linda Salter has agendized an item that would severely limit public input at all future meetings. This request from a member of the public must be agendized for discussion. Please agendize this item for the next regular board of trustees meeting at West Valley College.

The college should respect the wishes of Saratoga and its citizens; the traffic in Saratoga is already bad enough; we do not need the additional traffic a stadium at WVC would cause.

Carl Nielsen
(and 10 other names)

College should put item on the agenda

A recent request at the board of trustees meeting to agendize a feasibility study regarding construction of a stadium at Mission College was not met. This request should have been agendized for the July 19, 2001, meeting. Instead an item that would severely limit public input at all future meetings has been agendized.

As a resident of Saratoga for 36 years, I am deeply appalled at the attitude and actions taken by the present board of trustees regarding the issue of a WVC stadium. The request for feasibility study at Mission College is a very sensible and practical request, and I ask that this item be discussed at the next trustees meeting at WVC.

Lois O'Haren
Okanogan Drive

City of Saratoga has become unresponsive

On June 15, following several attempts to speak with the Saratoga Planning Department or city manager's office, I finally spoke with a new employee who had been hired that week. I expressed my concern that there were several land-moving projects in the hillside above our property, one where the equipment ran until 9 p.m. These properties, formerly known as the Chadwick-Cocciardi development, have a long history of illegal grading and consequential landslides and triggered city legislation to prevent future problems.

I asked if the city remembers when controls were put in place following that controversy; if the repairs had ever been completed on those properties; and if there was some city control overseeing the cumulative effects of land movement and building in the hillsides.

He responded that the entire staff was new, and he doubted that anyone had much knowledge of the history. He suggested I write a letter. When I responded that I had a reputation for my outspoken letters and was treated with disrespect for being "unreasonable," he suggested that I send copies of my past communication regarding this matter. Ridiculous!

On June 19, I sent a new letter outlining the potential cumulative results of several projects, and offered to accompany someone from the city to observe the causes for concern. The letter was addressed to the city manager and planning department and to members of the city council and the planning commission. A month has passed, and I have had no response.

I still remember that the city failed to respond to alarmed telephone calls when the hillside was illegally bulldozed during the Chadwick-Cocciardi incident and only responded when the Saratoga News ran the story with photos that exposed the devastation. I remember the woman who wailed, "I called and called--where were you people!," when the city was finally forced to face its negligence. The city failed to respond in 1989 until it was too late.

The Saratoga News featured the new planning director, Tim Sullivan, in the June 20 issue, when most people in Saratoga learned there has been controversy about cleaning house at city hall. Televised planning meetings on KSAR confirm that Saratoga is starting over and is reinventing the wheel. John F. Kennedy once said that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. It is 2001, and the new city hall is not responsive.

Luanne Nieman
Padero Court

Homosexuality is a chosen behavior

In his letter in the July 11 issue of the Saratoga News, Oliver Hsu makes a point that is often made by advocates of homosexuality: it's like being white, Asian or black. This is a falsehood.

Those born white, Asian or black appear that way from their mother; there is nothing they can do about it, and they can be recognized in their condition by all, right from birth.

Homosexuality describes behavior, something that people choose to do in later life, albeit perhaps from an inherited tendency. In this way, it is more akin to alcoholism or pyromania, but there are important differences.

When alcoholics begin to drink, they are probably unaware of their tendency; thus, it is easier to see why they succumb. For those with pyromania, social teaching and the law proscribe the behavior; thus, those who succumb knew the risks when they started.

Homosexuality is not victimless behavior. It is not unlawful, but it is well known that persons practicing this behavior are significantly more prone to diseases (not just AIDS and other STDs) and at greater risk of social and personal problems.

Societies down the ages have struggled with it. Today, we feel criminalization is not an answer, but it is a travesty to suggest that it is an "alternative lifestyle, " equally valid, equally healthy, and equally fulfilling.

Unfortunately, many of us have been born with visible and invisible attributes that we would rather not have. And we try to avoid these becoming bigger problems by avoiding activity we know would put us at risk.

P. Knight
Saratoga

Correction

In a letter to the "Speak Out" section of the Saratoga News in the July 25 issue, Karen Hyde, an assistant principal at Saratoga High School, was identified as a member of the organization, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Hyde says she has never belonged to the organization.

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