Time is short for the Friends of Sunnyvale to meet their goal of 6,000 signatures for their three initiatives on downtown building height limits, restricting eminent domain and voter approval of redevelopment plans.

We are 80 percent of the way there to qualify our initiatives with signatures in hand. Unknown is how many of the hundreds of signature packets we gave out to people will really come back.

We have learned a lot since we started. We have learned that there are many, many wonderful, friendly Sunnyvale residents. We have learned how much they care about the city. There are some who want Sunnyvale to stay exactly the same, but many feel, as we do, that change is not bad. We just don't want to lose those aspects of Sunnyvale that have given it an intimate feel and make it such a great place to live.

At the farmer's market on Saturday, our "headquarters," many immigrants stop and want to know what we are doing and why. They are interested in the democratic process and want to exercise their right to engage us in lively discussions just because it is possible to do that here in America. Some are new citizens, proud to sign and have their voices be heard.

Many of us "old-time" Americans have lost that joy. It is shocking to see how many of us are not registered to vote.

Another thing we have learned is how hard it is to motivate others. Maybe we are too comfortable or busy in our everyday lives and let others decide for us.

Many ask if there is any way they can help but quickly lose interest if we suggest they could walk their neighborhood or sign up to sit at the library or other location to gather signatures.

The other side of that is having an 80-year-old woman, somewhat frail, turn in 75 signatures that she gathered door to door. I know it must have taken her 10 to 12 hours to do that.

If we had it to do over again, we would have done it better. We were lulled by verbal support and should have been walking precincts from day one.

More than 90 percent of people sign the petition when we go door to door, but it is slow going. Because of the time it takes to inform people and get them to sign, it works out to be only six to eight signatures an hour. (For 6,000 that is 750 to 1,000 volunteer hours.) Even if we don't make it, we have informed thousands of people. Not bad for a grass-roots group with no budget. When the draft environmental impact report comes out, we will fill the council chambers with residents eager to say what kind of downtown they want. [Editor's note: The environmental impact report came out April 1.]

We need to get the word out to get all signatures in by April 13th.

People can download information on the initiatives from our website, located at www.friendsofsunnyvale.org.

They can sign them and mail them in. Maybe they can even get a neighbor or two to sign.

—Paul Jay Reed, Board member, Friends of Sunnyvale

Connecting with our hometown troops

As a weekly newspaper, The Sun does not have a fast enough turn around time nor the resources to be covering the Iraqi war and the controversy surrounding it in a timely way. We are, however, the community's newspaper and want very much to reflect in some heartfelt way what residents in Sunnyvale are experiencing as this war wages on. In that vein, we would like to print names and short profiles as well as pictures of anyone from Sunnyvale who is serving in Iraq. You are certainly welcome to use our letters-to-the editor section as a forum to express your pride and your concerns about the war. We will make every effort to print them all.

—Sandy Sims, Editor