I'm writing about a problem I face every day on my way to Kennedy Middle School. People keep driving in the bike lane.

Just yesterday, I had to slam on my brakes so I wouldn't get killed. A simple solution is leave home earlier if you must drive to school. You wouldn't be in such a rush if you left five minutes earlier.

You could stay in your lane and not drive in mine. Or better yet, your child could walk or ride their bike to school. It's good for their heath; it saves time, reduces traffic and it's less polluting to our environment.

Like your child, I'm just trying to get to school. Please treat me like you would want your child to be treated.

Kevin Hayes, 7th grader

Kennedy Middle School

Too many motorists
are in car-only mode

The Cupertino Courier's Dec. 8 story "Close Encounters" on the local bicycling scene came with impeccable timing. Year-round I commute by bike two to three times a week to my office in Cupertino from Sunnyvale. Biking home earlier this week in the evening down a quiet neighborhood street, a motorist ran a stop sign from a side street directly across my path.

Fortunately, after years of biking experience, I've come to expect such things as motorists not following the rules of the road, even the most basic ones, and a collision was averted this time (I do use a headlight and wear reflective gear after dark).

Unfortunately, far too many motorists operate in car-only mode. If no other cars are around, things like stopping at stop signs appear to be unnecessary. Yet in their haste motorists pay little mind to whether a jogger or dog walker is attempting to cross the street or if a lone bicyclist is pedaling along.

The safety of everyone on the road would be best served if people would give more heed to an old-fashioned notion--that of following the rules.

I use the word people purposefully, as its true for pedestrians and bicyclists as well. But those who can do the most harm, motorists, bear the greatest responsibility.

Kevin Gregory

Sunnyvale

The best kind of humor
is politically incorrect

In response to those letters saying that DeCinzo should be fired: People of Sunnyvale, you need to get a sense of humor. The best humor is politically incorrect, and always will be.

Advice to the editor of The Sun: Keep DeCinzo. The more letters you get, the more fun it is to read The Sun, and the more publicity you get.

Steven Schoch

Sunnyvale

This year should be 30th
reunion for Class of 1974

I lived in Sunnyvale during the last few years of the 1960's (The Wonder Years) and attended Madrone Jr. High and Sunnyvale High School.

If memory serves, this past year should have been the 30th reunion of the Class of 1974.

It was a wild and crazy time to live in the Bay Area, but I was blessed with great teachers and great friends.

My family moved away early in my high school career, and I have only motored through town twice since then in a hurry to get somewhere else.

I would love to hear from anyone from that era.

Thanks in advance to The Sun for this forum.

Jeff Mayfield
jmayfiel@lccs.edu

Lincoln, Illinois

Traffic study so costly as to stop school's addition

I am writing to support French American School of Silicon Valley in its appeal to the City of Sunnyvale about the installation of three modular rooms on the Serra School Campus--a Cupertino Union School District property.

The conditions added by the City of Sunnyvale Planning Commission as a pre-requisite to the approval of the construction might very well make it impossible for FASSV to go ahead with the project of improving its students' educational experience, as they include a study of the parking and traffic situation in the neighborhood of the campus, to be paid by the school in its entirety.

All parties recognized that the project would have zero impact on the traffic and the parking situation in the area. The traffic and parking situation in the neighborhood have to be improved, but it is an issue that involves three other schools, which should also participate in its study and resolution.

FASSV has already done a lot to improve the situation by keeping FASSV parents away from the most congested area by changing the entrance to its building. The school can be trusted to cooperate fully to implement any plan that might make the area safer.

It seems to me that FASSV's project should be considered by the neighborhood as an opportunity to find solutions to a situation that has been a concern for a long time.

As the school's librarian, I may add that our whole school community has been looking forward to having a regular, full-size library and use one of the modular buildings as its location. Losing the opportunity to finally fulfill that dream-particularly considering the reasons why that could happen would be a great disappointment.

In a school, the library is always a special place, loved by everyone. It offers a privileged environment where teachers and students have the opportunity to have special activities and enrich their basic curriculum. Having such a place would greatly benefit our students' education.

I do hope that FASSV's appeal will be an opportunity to reverse the decision taken by the planning commission and grant the use permit without conditions while initiating the process which will make circulation and parking safer in the school's neighborhood.

Clarisse Jousselin

FASSV Librarian Sunnyvale