The Sunnyvale Sun
Letters & Opinions
Letters
Companies need
to support our
local schools
In response to the article "Educators Rally to Curb State Budget Cuts" by Crystal Lu (Jan. 23), I was shocked by the critical shortfall of funding from the state level. Because of this serious problem, I would be interested in seeing if local companies such as Apple, Intel, AMD, Applied Materials and other technical corporations would support financially and creatively, to some degree, the area schools.
The obvious reason is that these companies rely heavily on engineering talent and we have some of the best schools and students in the country in our community, but without funding we can quickly lose that advantage. Less funding means fewer students will have the opportunity to learn and pursue programs in engineering and the sciences. This not only hurts the competitive nature of the United States, but also reduces the ability of U.S. companies to develop new products. Eventually it will hurt us all, if not already.
Recently in Forbes Magazine there was a commentary by Craig R. Barrett, chairman of Intel Corporation. In his commentary, Dr. Barrett indicated that, in the U.S., only 6 percent of college undergraduates major in engineering today, the second lowest figure among developed countries. In China 40 percent of the students graduate with engineering degrees.
As a society we are failing to prepare for the future. Looking into the future, the present baby boomer talent pool of engineers will be retiring with precious few replacements visible on the horizon. This is a critical time for everyone and I would hope that those companies will consider internal programs, to not only help fund schools but to encourage the development of a highly trained society through their creative ideas and energy. If not, the future looks as though it could be pretty stormy with us all in the same lifeboat, and sadly, without anyone trained to row.
Martin Jeffries
Cupertino block leader
Problem with
abandoned carts
still exists
The recent article regarding wayward shopping carts (Jan. 30) would have us believe that the problem of shopping cart theft and abandonment has been corrected or maybe doesn't even really exist at all. As a lifelong resident of Sunnyvale and frequent caller to the city's abandoned shopping cart hotline, I can assure you that the problem still exists and the resulting eyesore that plagues our city continues.
A May 2006 report, prepared by James Craig of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Works found that "...from the end of September, 2004 to date (May 2006) more than 1,300 abandoned carts have been reported, while many more are still abandoned on city streets in areas where nobody has taken the time to call." Since that time, the city has stopped tracking this data. As such, no metric is available to say with certainty whether the problem has lessened or, as some suspect, become worse.
The claim that carts are picked up quickly or that call volumes to the abandoned shopping cart hotline are low ignores the fact that the people taking these carts from the store are breaking the law. Due to the city's lack of ability and/or desire to enforce the law, they lend tacit approval to shopping cart theft and the blight on our community. Let us regain our pride in the beauty of our city. We need to enforce the existing laws and prosecute those that steal these carts then abandon them on our streets. And we need to require merchants with shopping carts to actively prevent their theft through the use locking devices or other means.
At the very least, I urge my fellow Sunnyvale residents to show that they care and that the ruin of our community does matter. Call the city's abandoned shopping cart hotline at 408.730.7680. and report those carts that you see. Working together, we can fix this.
Don Cohn
Bryan Avenue
Correction
In the story on Asian American parents in the Fremont Union High School District (Jan. 30), parent Ming Ching Tsai's full name was not included. Her son was also misidentified. His first name is Andzu.