The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Letters

Please provide better community coverage

In my humble opinion, The Sun is missing the entire point of what a community newspaper should be. As demonstrated by other local community newspapers, i.e., the Los Gatos Weekly-Times (which has three times as many pages as The Sun and yet has a much smaller population than Sunnyvale--curious) and the Los Altos Town Crier, community events are written about prior to the event, and then oftentimes follow-up stories are published. To my way of thinking, that is the purpose of a newspaper--to report on community and local events to inform the public.

For the past several years, there has been a growing grassroots effort to raise funds for the Orchard Heritage Park Interpretive Exhibit. A lot of people have put in a lot of volunteer hours to bring the dream of preserving some of our valuable Sunnyvale history--mainly for children who will soon grow up in our valley and never be able to enjoy seeing an apricot or cherry orchard in full bloom, or for that matter, even be aware of what a apricot or cherry looks like growing on a tree. They will only see them packaged in the grocery store.

To help solve that problem, on April 25 a major fundraising event was held on the future site of the exhibit, and yet The Sun only saw fit to print a two-paragraph, one-column blurb. This event was a major happening in our city, supported by Citibank and Union Bank of California, as well as our mayor and the entire City Council, city manager and executive director of the Chamber of Commerce--who all participated in an old-fashioned pie-eating contest--as well as other distinguished guests. However, The Sun did not deem this event worthy of more than a few paragraphs totaling 50 words. There was a silent auction, an old-time bake sale, clowns and activities for the kids, magic tricks, musical entertainment, and tours of the apricot orchard by Charlie Olson, whose family has lived and maintained orchards in Sunnyvale for 100 years. Yet The Sun did not deem this event newsworthy; only 50 words could be found to report the event.

I would like to suggest that The Sun follow up on the activities of the fundraising plans for the exhibit which is, believe it or not, a major event happening in our community. A lot of Sunnyvale residents have already contributed toward this project through the purchase of engraved bricks which will be laid down leading into the exhibit.

Come on, Sunnyvale Sun! Get with the program. Get your staff out there and find out what is going on in our community, and start printing some newsworthy articles instead of uninteresting filler photographs with uninformative captions, or articles about bored bar-dwellers putting dollar bills on the ceiling! We live in a thriving, exciting community with interesting, talented people. Get out and find those stories and turn The Sun into a newspaper worthy of our great city.

Leslie Lawton
Sunnyvale

Vote no on the 95-5 initiative

Steve Enders' article entitled "Meeting Kicks Off the 'No on 95-5' Campaign" points out some of the flaws in Proposition 223, the "Educational Efficiency Initiative." Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a nonprofit regional collaborative investing in K-12 education reform, opposes Proposition 223. While we support the concept of holding schools accountable for student results, the rigid state requirement that all districts spend no more than 5 percent of their budget on "central administration" would impede the progress our schools are making in preparing students for the 21st-century workplace.

Proposition 223's one-size-fits-all approach is unjustified and not in the best interest of students. The state should play a leadership role in setting standards for our students, but local school boards need flexibility in deciding how to reach those standards. We urge voters to vote no on Proposition 223 on June 2.

Tim Cuneo
Senior Executive Director, 21st Century Education Initiative,
Joint Venture: Silicon Valley

Restaurant experience was good and bad

I read your piece on Oliver's Cafe a couple of weeks ago and my neighbor and I decided to check it out. May I add my own thoughts to your piece? Both positive and negative.

The negative first. I ordered a soup and half a sandwich combination. I asked for the club sandwich, but was told by a rude waitress that I couldn't have that choice because it would mean an extra slice of bread. Excuse me? Bread comes out to about 10 cents a slice. Come on! Rather than make a big deal of it, I ordered another sandwich.

The biggest disappointment, however, was the soup. I ordered the lemon rice soup. Being half Greek, I thought I would be getting avgolemono soup, like my father used to make. Instead, I got a tiny cup of gelatinous, overly salted material, with barely any lemon flavor.

Now to the positive. It is a nice looking, comfortable atmosphere--clean place. I especially like the clean outdoor carpet, the glass windows, the sturdy but comfortable chairs and the lovely maroon cloth napkins.

My friend had a Philly cheese sandwich, which she loved, and the menu variety was large and magnificent. I will return, probably for breakfast, but if I get another rude waitress, I am going to be nasty right back.

Irene Inman
Cupertino

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