The Sunnyvale Sun recently changed distribution companies, and as usually happens during such a transition, there have been some problems. I assure you that we are printing and delivering the same number of papers, and we expect that the bumps will be smoothed out soon. It usually takes a month or so for distribution patterns to settle down.

We want you to get your paper, and there is a way you can help us correct the problems we've been experiencing. In any given week, if you do not receive your paper or the paper is not placed on your porch, we would greatly appreciate it if you would email our circulation manager and let him know the address where the problem is occurring. This will greatly aid us in working with the distribution company to pinpoint where the problems are.

Please send your emails to sduguay@svcn.com.

Remember to include the home address, a brief description of the problem and your phone number.

Please be our eyes and ears in facilitating delivery of your weekly community newspaper. Thank you, and thank you for reading the Sun.

—David Cohen, Publisher

City cuts down Friends of Sunnyvale signatures

After working several months collecting voter signatures on their petitions to get three initiatives on the next ballot, the citizen group Friends of Sunnyvale submitted more than 6,000 signatures for each initiative to the city.

The city's role in the process was to verify the count—to ensure that the minimum number of signatures (approximately 5,440 per initiative) had been met—before forwarding the petitions to the County Registrar of Voters.

In a surprise move, the city expanded the scope of its counting process to include questionable scrutiny for disqualification of individual signatures and/or whole petition pages of signatures!

In addition to withholding the criteria it used for such questionable disqualification action, the city also would not allow any of the Friends of Sunnyvale who were present during the review process to see any of the so-called rejects so they could question and/or challenge the city's action!

This highly questionable action by city management is very disturbing and raises questions about their intent when they cloak their action in secrecy.

As a longtime Sunnyvale resident and voter, I volunteered to help obtain signatures, and I am personally outraged that the city withheld more than 500 signatures from the County Registrar of Voters.

Since there is no way of knowing whose signature was disqualified and withheld by the city, everyone who signed a petition should let city hall know how you feel about this outrage and demand the immediate release of all those petition documents to the County Registrar of Voters.

—Charles Wallin, Sunnyvale


Security needed to stop harrassment by homeless

I wish to address an ongoing issue that pertains to the control of homeless people of Sunnyvale. I know that there is not much that can be done about the overall problems of the homeless, yet I would like to explain a recurring problem.

On several occasions I have encountered vagrants in front of the Safeway on Bernardo and El Camino. This is a problem for me because they are constantly harassing me for money. It's not like this is an occasional occurrence. It has been going on for months since I have lived here and I can only imagine how long before.

I notice that the homeless people are usually middle-aged men and women who have very erratic behavior, and on a few occasions I have seen them consuming alcoholic beverages in public right in front of the store. This is not the only place I have noticed this sort of thing.

It is my wish that we raise the daytime security of the shopping centers here in Sunnyvale. I have never thought of our town as having to worry about the homeless, but it seems to be a growing problem.

I think that by finding a way to deal with this problem we will make Sunnyvale a safer place for our children as well as make it a more desirable place to live. We should take pride in our town and leave a lasting impression on outsiders.

—Eric Harwood, Sunnyvale


Lakewood Park taken over by the unwelcome

Well another Mother's Day has come and gone. Once again we were denied the use of our neighborhood park by 1,000 out-of-towners.

Our neighborhood streets were congested by hundreds of parked cars. Our peace and quiet was shattered by multiple amplified sound systems. Bike lanes, crosswalks, sidewalks, the Hetch Hetchy trail and fire hydrants were all blocked by inconsiderate drivers.

The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety was afraid a riot would break out if they tried to enforce the parking ordinances. We have new sideshow signatures (burned rubber) on our streets.

The city spent 20 to 30 hours of the public safety department's time at $113 per hour to keep it from getting completely out of control. I doubt that the fees paid by the Cadillac Club will cover the damage from vehicles to the park itself.

An event like this would never be tolerated at Ponderosa Park or Serra Park or Las Palmas Park. It is time for us to tell city hall we won't tolerate it in our neighborhood either.

Our parks department rents out space for 325 people at Lakewood Park, much more than any other neighborhood park. This needs to change. The Cadillac Club paid for 325 (or less) people, and just like last year, more than a thousand showed up (police estimate). Next year the city must say no.

The Cadillac Club party, like other large events, should be held at a regional park like Baylands, not at a neighborhood park like Lakewood.

—Thom Mayer, Sunnyvale

Correction

In the May 21 issue of the Sun, the article titled "City proposes an outsourcing solution to help cut the budget" erroneously stated that City Manager Robert LaSala's proposed service level cuts would eliminate all full- and part-time temporary positions from the city's workforce. It should have stated that the proposal was for eliminating some full- and part-time temporary positions. The "all" should have referred only to the possible removal of all custodial positions.