The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Letters Tree-trimming is excessive Since moving to Sunnyvale more than a year ago, I've noticed that many trees in my neighborhood and in Sunnyvale in general are excessively trimmed and pruned. I consider many of the trees that are subject to this periodic pruning procedure to look unnatural and unhealthy. Why does the city of Sunnyvale conduct this apparent policy that harms the trees and devalues our neighborhoods? I've noticed that areas in Los Altos or Palo Alto, for example, are more attractive not because they have more trees, but because their tree maintenance policies apparently require a very minimal approach toward tree pruning. What can we do to improve our tree pruning methods so that our valuable trees are minimally altered and kept healthy and natural? John Lipinski Sunnyvale Proud to be a part of Fremont's family My husband and I must be about the luckiest people in Sunnyvale. We own a home in the Homestead attendance area, thus having an outrageously inflated value, and through the intra-district attendance process were able to have our son receive an outstanding high school education at Sunnyvale's Fremont High School. At Fremont, our son was one of a good number of unique and talented students who had an opportunity to shine as an individual, not one of many in a hoard of students living in a pressure cooker. He is now entering his senior year as a molecular biology major at the University of California, San Diego. Many of his high school friends and classmates are successful students at prestigious public and private colleges and universities. As you would not judge a book by its cover, don't judge a school by its test scores. The only sure thing SAT scores reflect is the income level of the student's family. Fremont High School provides many different educational opportunities to many different students--a healthy experience for living, studying and working in our democracy. I am proud to have been part of the Fremont family. Ellen McHenry Sunnyvale [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.