The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

This Virginia is still believing there could be a Santa Claus

I wanted to let you know the article on the Art and Wine Festival was quite an eye-opener. I had been struggling to understand why we (Sunnyvale) don't have a new mall yet. I could not believe that city council would actually charge the Chamber of Commerce to use the plaza area during the Art and Wine festival. If we have a city council willing to make it difficult for the organization that brings business to Sunnyvale, well, I guess that explains why we don't have a new mall. Since our city council is so willing to cut their nose off to spite their face, I'm not planning on voting for any of them again, even if they ran for dogcatcher.

However, being a Virginia, I do believe in Santa Claus. Therefore Sunnyvale will have a new mall some day. Isn't that so, Sun?

Virginia Conboy

Sunnyvale

Break-in shouldn't mean lost data; people can back it up

Although I feel sad about the break-in and the loss of computer equipment at Chabad, I am frustrated to hear about the loss of their data. How uninformed can they be?

Anyone using a computer, whether for business or personal use, should assume the data could be lost or destroyed. In addition to theft, there are other risks to computer data, such as earthquake, disk failure, fire and computer viruses, to name a few.

If the data was important, why didn't they have a backup copy? Making a backup of important data is not rocket science. It can be done easily, and storage devices are inexpensive, so there is no excuse for losing data.

Please tell your readers the importance of having a regular backup plan for any data they don't want to lose. If the data is sensitive or personal, it can be protected with a password or by encryption.

Fern Wollrich

Sunnyvale

Foundation declares it supports district's superintendent, staff

The purpose of the Fremont Union High School's Foundation is to support and enhance programs within the Fremont Union high school district. We support our students, our schools, our district and our superintendent and his staff.

On June 28, there was a letter to the editor of the Courier stating that the relationship between the High Schools Foundation and the superintendent of the Fremont Union High School District was at an all-time low.

The foundation would like to clarify two issues:

The writer of the previously mentioned letter to the editor does not speak for the foundation; and

The foundation has a very good working relationship with Dr. Rowley.

The foundation looks forward to continuing our positive relationship with Dr. Rowley and his staff as we further support our students and the Fremont Union High School District.

Erica Headley

Executive director

Laurie Dean

Co-president

Kathee Kraker

Co-president

High-density condominium development is shortchanging schools

Last week my son and I rode our bicycles to Eaton Elementary, where he enjoys playing handball. Half of the handball court was gone, covered by another portable classroom. Lawson, our newest middle school, just got two portables; Kennedy and Miller each has 10. Collins lacks room for more portables, and they're transferring students to Eaton. District-wide, more than 10 more portables are coming.

The developers and city council always claim the students generated by their high-density projects can be accommodated by the district, omitting the fact that they're accommodated by installing portables onto blacktops and playing fields. CUSD knows portables are the only solution; tax revenues generated by the new housing aren't nearly enough to construct proper buildings.

Each new portable means 30 additional students, but no expansion of the library, computer lab, gymnasium, auditorium, conservatory, locker rooms, café, playgrounds, playing fields, etc. Schools with many portables have even added portable restrooms. Portables were designed to temporarily handle unexpected influxes of students. Instead, they are permanently degrading the quality of our schools with the overcrowding they cause.

The developers and city council are destroying our schools by adding so much high-density housing, without the essential infrastructure. Rezoning commercial to residential ensures the schools will be underfunded and overcrowded forever; the developers don't care, nor does the city council.

Hopefully, the new CUSD superintendent will stop kowtowing to developers and the city council, and will speak out against the uncontrolled growth that's destroying Cupertino and its schools.

Steven Scharf

Somerset Drive