I respectfully disagree with Rene Francois' Jan. 12 letter in The Sun. The only thing appalling about Assemblywoman Sally Lieber getting involved in the SMaRT station employee salary issue, is the embarrassment that she had to put the spotlight on what appears to be the city's impotent foot-dragging.

It's embarrassing that an out-of-towner had to "dig in the mess" that we pay our city government to handle.

Rather than "circumventing the rule of law," it appears that Lieber is subtly encouraging adherence to the rule of law.

Two extremely simple issues from what we read: first, the state determines the pay and benefits stipulations as required by law, and second, contractors are required to conform according to their contract with the city.

Sounds like a "no-brainer."

If a top city staffer signed an employment contract which included a salary commensurate with what neighboring cities pay for the same job description but was then paid less than two-thirds of the contract terms—can you fathom the uproar? The resolution would not require six months of investigation.

City staff is perhaps too paranoid to seriously pursue this, as they may live in daily fear of being the next to lose a job.

I agree with Robert Morales' statement in the Jan. 5 article "Sorters still fighting for wages" that waiting five months to challenge the law is unheard of.

Nor do we read about the city council investigating this foot-dragging. Council members may not have time to look after the city affairs we elected them to handle. They have been quite busy getting rid of city staff. Of course, the council may have made appropriate inquiries. We don't expect, nor do we want them to micromanage.

So many of their decisions that have raised the citizens' curiosity have been done in closed sessions, so their activities are not very important.

If the state does not change its ruling, the city should renegotiate the contract with Green Team/Zanker to comply with the law as it would if changes were mandated in the minimum wage rate—for any contract workers affected.

The way the council throws hundreds of thousands of dollars after each staffer they dismiss (plus many thousands for legal consultants to handle the numerous termination negotiations and many additional thousands searching for replacements), the delay certainly can't be for lack of funds.

Paul Werner

Sunnyvale

Psychiatrist not only ones trained in depression

In his Jan. 19 letter to the editor, Stuart Krigel states that "Psychiatrists are the only mental health professionals trained to diagnose and treat depression ..." This is incorrect. Psychologists, family therapists, social workers, and (I presume) nurse practitioners who prescribe are also trained to diagnose and treat depression.

His next phrase, "... and rule out possible medical illnesses that could be masquerading as depression" is misleading, in that internists, family practitioners and other physicians also diagnose related medical conditions and also often prescribe for depression.

If he means that psychiatrists can do both, this is correct but his sentence as a whole is misleading.

Linda Riebel, Ph. D.

San Jose

Car ticketed while parked in the owner's driveway

I was shocked to find one of my cars ticketed by Sunnyvale public safety while parked in my driveway, resulting in a fine (a shakedown?). Even though it wasn't causing public harm or inconvenience.

Devastated by the tragic loss of three family members, I don't need this. I'm not thinking straight and am in no condition at the moment to fight this infringement on my property rights.

But I'll say this; this and other Mickey Mouse regulations and the needless waste of dwindling resources that [the city] engender detracts from the image of Sunnyvale as a progressive community.

Henry Foronda

Sunnyvale

Corrections

In The Sun's Jan. 19 article "AT&T's plans to install a tower at St. Luke's is put on hold" we erroneously referred to Councilman John Howe as the mayor and mistakenly wrote the wrong city name for the Sunnyvale City Council.

The headline for The Sun's Jan. 19 story "New chief takes over department Jan. 30" should have read Jan. 31. And in case we misled our readers about who does the hiring for department head positions, please note it's the city manager.