The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Measure A boondoggle, voters should say no

As the election draws near, it is interesting how little information about Measure A is being discussed. All the self-interest groups of low-cost housing, health care, BART, and heaven knows who else is already out there thinking of all that taxpayers' money that may come to them. Measure A is a 30-year tax of one-half percent that you will pay on virtually everything you buy. Roughly $125 million the first year is the estimate. What are we getting for that huge amount of tax dollars over the next 30 years? Nobody knows, because we are giving a blank check to the county supervisors to spend the money wisely. These are the same county supervisors who just gave a 10 percent raise to county executives making almost a quarter of million dollars a year in salary before the raise.

These are the same county supervisors who are spending what started out as $70 million, now estimated at $90 million, before the first shovel of dirt is moved on a music venue in south San José that profit-making business walked away from as not being a viable investment. These are the same county supervisors who voted an extra annual paid holiday for all the county workers during the budget deficit several years ago that cost more than $70,000 the first year. Wise spending does not seem to be a county supervisor characteristic.

Why Measure A is on the ballot is because, by not designating the spending of the taxpayers' money, a two-third svote is not required. In other words, trust these county supervisors to spend the money wisely on anything. Let every self-interest group endorse the measure in hopes of getting some crumbs from the supervisors' table.

If the supervisors can't justify why they need the money and what they are going to spend it on, why should the people that are going to pay for 30 years vote for Measure A? I, for one, am voting no.

Charles Shoemaker

Vanderbilt Drive

Getting back to the soil would beneÞt the 'valley of the sun'

Writing a thank you for the May 3 issue of the Sun, (three weeks after its publication) doesn't seem fair to the excellence of this past issue.

The paper was written with a theme. The Charles Street Gardens construction piece, where we (the citizens of Sunnyvale) are bringing food production to the Civic Center, so beautifully written up by Jason Goldman-Hall. JoAnne Griffith-Domingue's wonderful piece on the CSA movement bringing sustainable farming practices to our community, touching us through the food we eat. Then capped off by editor Carol Bogart's column, sharing with us her experience growing and eating the fresh produce from the backyard garden on her father's farm.

We, the citizens of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara County, live on the best soils in the world for growing food. The Valley of the Hearts Delight was this region's moniker. As a temporary aberration (we could see it that way), we changed to silicon. It's time to return to the soils. Locally grown produce grows community.

Josh Salans

South Mary Avenue

Proud dad welcomes son to Sunnyvale, applauds city

Having been a long-time Sunnyvale resident myself, I learned to appreciate the quality of our city's services enough to entice my son, Zuri Barniv, into moving his dental clinic--thereby investing his future--in the city of Sunnyvale. The process of purchasing and building this clinic uncovered for us the historical background of what is called today Arques Plaza, located at the corner of Arques Avenue and Lawrence Expressway.

Gene Amdahl started Amdahl Computers in 1970, and successfully managed to compete with IBM for almost a quarter century. Two of his other companies followed in the same two single-story buildings, until he sold this property in '92. In '04, an entrepreneur purchased Arques Plaza, renovated it from the ground up, and made it into a modern medical center, which is, nowadays, getting populated by various medical professionals.

It turned out that my son served as a "pioneer" in being the first to take the plunge into this project. I cannot but marvel at being a participant in the historical cycle of birth and rebirth of new technologies, as today's most modern dental chairs now occupy the exact same floor space where the then-modern computer chip fabrication machines were 40 years ago.

Dr. Zuri Barniv, the dentist, took the place of Dr. Gene Amdahl, the computer scientist--thereby closing one complete cycle of creation.

I thank the city of Sunnyvale for supporting this progression.

Yair Barniv

Sunnyvale