When I attended the June 21 Cupertino City Council meeting and saw the presentation about the $9-million Mary Avenue footbridge over Highway 280, I was very impressed with the looks of this new futuristic-looking suspension bridge, linking Sunnyvale and Cupertino.

However, when a young lady who was a Homestead High School graduate spoke, I do not think she received the correct answer to a her very important, pertinent question.

The question from this creative-thinking, forward-looking lady was: "If the entire student body from Homestead High School pulled a student prank and all stood shoulder to shoulder on the bridge, would it support them?" (The proposed bridge is very close to Homestead High School.)

The answer from the city official, which was given too quickly and suggested he had not seriously considered the question, was, "Yes, because the bridge is heavier than the students."

As any engineering student who had taken a course in Statistics 101 could tell this official, the weight of the bridge has nothing to do with the maximum weight-bearing load of the structure. The total weight of the student body should be calculated, and then determined if that load plus the weight of the bridge would not cause the structure to fail.

Any residents who saw the photos of the Golden Gate Bridge taken during the May 28, 1987, 50-year anniversary celebration, when pedestrians were allowed en masse on the bridge, would have remembered the tremendous downward bowing of the horizontal span. After seeing the results, the bridge authority announced it would never allow that kind of pedestrian load to occur again on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Failure of this new bridge, if it did occur, fully loaded, with students cascading onto Highway 280, would be an enormous tragedy for everyone involved, including city officials.

The question from this young lady should be taken seriously, and the calculations should be carefully made to ensure the safety of the possibly reckless and overzealous students.

Tom Pomposo

Cupertino