Because I tend to be a trivia person, the local city signs catch my eye. I have been watching these for the last year or so and nothing seems to change. I am speaking in respect to Sunnyvale population figures. Some of our local funds derived from the state depend on the population numbers, and I'm wondering which ones our local leaders use.

On 237 East from Mountain View the number is119,650. On Hwy. 85 from Cupertino it's120,000. On Highway 101 south from Mountain View it's 120,500, and on Highway 82 (El Camino) from Mountain View it's 115,200.

I have checked other roads but have been unable to find more signs, however this is quite a representation, and especially the El Camino sign could have a very adverse effect on our financial situation if anyone still has those numbers in their calculations.

I'm sure I'm not the only resident who would be interested in the correct figures.

Betty Newton

Sunnyvale

Most council members
leadership program grads

Thank you for a fine article about our program, Leadership Sunnyvale, in the July 20 issue of The Sun. We certainly appreciate the exposure it brings to our ongoing recruitment efforts for the upcoming class scheduled for this fall.

One thing that Leadership Sunnyvale would like to acknowledge that was not recognized in the article is the incredible partnerships we have with the city of Sunnyvale and the Sunnyvale School District. Many city employees have been unsung heroes contributing instruction and helping to make the program so worthwhile.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the DeCinzo cartoon (July 20).

We wish, however, to point out the full extent of the effectiveness of this program.

Not only are six of the present seven city council members graduates of our program, as depicted, but four of the people not on the council who are running in the November election are graduates as well--Tim Risch, Chris Moylan, Pete Richards and Nancy Smith. Three of the council members of the four who finished their terms on the council in the 2003 election are graduates of the program too.

In summary, it might not be absolutely necessary to take Leadership Sunnyvale to serve on the city council, but it certainly does help.

Dick Smith

Board President of
Leadership Sunnyvale

Streets--lasting mark of Murphy family

The cover story "Roots Bound" in the July 27th issue of The Sun included the story of Sunnyvale's founding family--the Murphys. What we learned from the Sunnyvale Historical Society is that at least 15 of the streets in Sunnyvale have been named after people connected to the Murphy family. We thought readers would like to know the names of these streets. --Editor

All references to Martin refer to Martin Murphy Jr., the so-called father of Sunnyvale.

Murphy Street--surname of the Murphy family
(first official street in town)

Martin Avenue--Martin Murphy Jr.

Mary Avenue--Martin's spouse, Mary Bolger Murphy

Mathilda Avenue--Martin's granddaughter Mathilda Taaffe

Maude Avenue--Martin's granddaughter Maud Taaffe

Taaffe Street--Martin's son-in-law William Taaffe

Arques Avenue--Martin's son-in-law Joaquin Arques

Carroll Avenue--Martin's son-in-law Richard Carroll

Evelyn Avenue--Martin's granddaughter Evelyn Murphy

(The above names are from the city's original street layouts)

As the city grew, more streets took names from the Murphy lineage:

Daniel Way--Martin's brother Daniel Murphy

Bernardo Avenue--Martin's son Bernard D. Murphy

James Drive--Martin's son James Murphy

Elizabeth Way--Martin's daughter Elizabeth Yuba Murphy Taaffe

Helena Avenue--Martin's granddaughter Helena Murphy

Helen Street--Martin's daughter Helen Murphy Arques