Letters

Bike group has much to teach

I am responding to a letter written by Sandra Skolnik several weeks ago. Anyone interested in learning my motivations can meet me the second Thursday of every month at Town and County Round Table Pizza in Sunnyvale where we, with members of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, can discuss how to use AB1475 to create "Safe Routes to School." Other topics include the reasons behind the rise in bicycle/pedestrian deaths and thefts and the motives behind the National League of Cities, which wants to "establish a national policy on community development to promote more livable communities."

With our group, you will learn why "the automobile has inspired unsightly and repetitive architectural forms of convenience--gas stations, garages, parking lots, strip malls, and drive-thru restaurants--while obliterating the cultural and natural heritage of their surroundings" as stated in Environmental Action Magazine. With our help, you will discover why the current design of Sunnyvale discriminates towards the young, poor, elderly and people with disabilities who cannot drive, according to the National Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Furthermore, you can learn why environmental organizations around the world such as the Sierra Club are aiming for "cost-saving and effective solutions that sustain quality of life and protect parks, open space and wetlands as their towns and cities expand."

Yes, I agree with Sandra that the bit of green we see in private properties in Sunnyvale is nice for those who can afford it, yet I would much prefer a dense Sunnyvale surrounded by "the world's fruit basket" we had 50 years ago. Thanks to "uncontrolled growth and an unwillingness to do anything about it," we have the Sunnyvale which we see today. Either we can open up our city to more people, or we can watch our new 30 million neighbors in 50 years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, build houses on our green hills while we witness our skies darken as more new residents buy 12mpg sport utility vehicles, the auto being the only available transportation, with a dwindling supply of oil predicted by the American Petroleum Institute to last 40 more years, and the current failure of vehicle alternatives reported in Scientific American: "the all but unattainable fuel-efficiency goal compelled researchers to pursue far-fetched technologies." With no oil, would people still live in Sunnyvale under existing conditions? Please park your car, dust off your bicycle and join us! You have much to learn.

Daniel Kuettel
Sunnyvale

Kudos to Julia Miller for her vote on the Town Center mall

I want to thank Julia Miller as the only councilmember who understands that the Town Center mall project is not suited for the location, and for having the courage to dissent and stand behind her beliefs.

A project like this denies the right of Sunnyvale residents to enjoy their homes in peace; meanwhile, the corporate executives, who do not live in Sunnyvale, want to put in a 20-screen movie theater and reap the benefits of their profits. I imagine they live in expensive homes in quiet communities on quiet acreage where noisy traffic and disturbances do not exist for them. This is typical of the takeover of our city councils by development companies, real estate companies and large corporations at the expense of community residents.

In Communist Russia, privileges, such as country homes and access to quality goods and services, were given to members of the Communist Party; while the proletariat (the workers) had to live in tiny apartments, had limited, poor-quality goods available and had to do what they were told.

We may be living in a free-enterprise system, but (although stretching it quite a bit) it basically sounds like the other side of the same coin to me; only instead of the party members, it is the moneyed interests that have the country homes, privileges, etc.; while working-class Americans have to take what they can, live in noisy, crowded conditions (created by the moneyed interests) and see their lives and work being affected by the stoolies of the moneyed interests. Here too, it takes courage to dissent from the prevailing agenda of those who have the power.

I may not have solutions, but I don't believe forced development and creating artificial needs is one of them.

Sandra Skolnik
Sunnyvale

District should have taken more action in another aspect of Lamson case

While it is certainly admirable that Joe Hamilton choose to quickly respond to the abuse charges against Jeff Lamson, he may have failed to address the rights of another group of students violated by this man. Shortly after Lamson's dismissal from the district, parents and administrators became aware that Lamson had been showing sexually explicit videos to some of the football players, on school grounds, as part of a "team building" experience. I can only imagine the physical effect these videos had on 16- to 18-year-old boys, but psychologically, it gave approval to the exploitation of women through Lamson's promotion of the activity.

I met with district officials a couple of times, trying to urge them to initiate some sort of sensitivity awareness sessions for the players, in order to show them how inappropriate it was for Lamson to show them this sexual material. Although Hamilton seemed willing to take some measure to avert any future behavior that may occur due this situation, I did not see any measurable action taken.

To this day, my son and a handful of other players still do not see these poor girls as victims, but rather as participants. I can only hope that Lamson's behavior is not repeated by any one of these impressionable young men at a future time.

Bari Holm
Sunnyvale

Public Safety

Sports Briefs

Firebirds tied for third in baseball league