Starting in May the Willow Glen Resident will be featuring a wine column once a month. Look for it in the section called "Simply Da Vine."

Show me the money before we give more

OK, so maybe we have all been sleeping for the past several decades. But it's time to wake up and take a look at some of the areas in our society that aren't doing well.

Since the despicable condition of our schools in California is in the headlines again, let's look at that issue. Every single year the school system gets an awful lot of money, and then there is the California State Lottery, which supposedly is there for the schools. So here is my question: "Where is all the money going?"

It's not going to janitors—anyone been watching the local news on that? And it's not going to the teachers. Notice any of them buying new homes and new cars? And let's see, how many new schools have we seen being built? Personally, I haven't seen any new schools. And most of the existing schools are in poor shape. So I repeat, where is all the money going?

Does anyone else out there get tired of the same old refrain, "We don't have enough money—we are going to need to raise taxes"? If the CEO of a company failed to manage a company well and the company was constantly running in the red, the CEO would be fired. In the business world there is accountability. Now there's a concept.

Since the government wants "we the people" to pay more for their bad management, I say "we the people" should have a right to see how they are spending the millions and millions of dollars they get every year. Exactly where is all that money going? Let's see that before we just start handing over more money for them to mismanage. And maybe, just maybe, it's time to say, "No. We are not going to cough up any more money. We want to know exactly how that money you spend so freely is being spent." Period. Anyone care to join me in these demands?

—Laura Lane, Willow Glen


Measure A is only a temporary solution

Yesterday I received a phone call from a woman asking, "Sir, do you know about Measure A?" I told her, "Yes. And Measure A is the wrong approach if we want to help our teachers."

Measure A is proposing a $98 line item on property tax bills to help San Jose schools get through the budget crisis. The measure is being placed on the ballot in a special June election. Giving more money to the schools may seem like a very noble approach to our education problems; however, it is flawed as a solution. Currently California has education administrators making as much or more than our governor and California senators. For a reference point, Gray Davis makes $175,000 per year, and California senators make $99,000 per year. Also, the administrators are receiving raises and bonuses while the educators, who are in direct contact with our children, are laid off and sent home. If the money we currently give via taxes is not distributed properly, no additional money should be given until we find a way to stop the fattening of the administrators so more money can reach our children.

To reiterate this point, let's look at a recent corporate example. American Airlines has laid off employees and asked other employees to take pay cuts while the executives were taking raises and bonuses. Almost everyone would agree that this is inappropriate and unfair to the employees. The exact same thing is happening in our government-run education system. Asking for more money is an insult to the community and shows disrespect to the taxes we currently pay for our education system. An appropriate solution would be to address the grossly overpaid school administrators and siphon money from them and give that to our teachers. Teachers have been asked to give more, the community has been asked to give more, but nobody is asking the administrators to share the pain.

Please do not vote for Measure A. It is not the solution to help our children. It may look like a fix, but it only serves as a mask for the gross misuse of funds at the administrative level.

—Bryan Wiens, Willow Glen


Cartoon misrepresents off-leash dog park area

I object to the DeCinzo cartoon published in the April 30 issue of the Willow Glen Resident. The cartoon maligns dog owners, the vast majority of whom are responsible and conscientious concerning the rights of other non-dog owner users.

However, my biggest complaint is that the cartoon reflects total ignorance about the purpose of designated "off-leash dog areas" in parks.

The dog park concept discussed in the news section of the paper is the total opposite of what DeCinzo's inflammatory cartoon seeks to convey.

Creating fenced-in dog areas in parks prevents the very sort of situation the ill-informed cartoonist portrays. As such, the newspaper has performed a marked disservice to the needed dialogue on the issue in our community.

—Richard J. Wylie, Andalusia Way


Dog owner insulted by cartoon about dog park

I really didn't appreciate the dog park cartoon in the April 30 issue of the Willow Glen Resident with the caption, "Your New Neighbors."

We have a very large community of Willow Glen residents who love their dogs and are responsible dog owners. I normally enjoy reading the Resident but found this pretty insulting.

—L. Sears, Willow Glen