Willow Glen Resident

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Cartoon is easy to understand--funny

For the first time in many moons I really chuckled over the cartoon in the newspaper on Sept. 20. Not only did I understand (for a change), but I considered it clever and funny. This is what a political cartoon should be like. Thank you and keep it up, RJ Matson.

Sandra Aylsworth

Monte Sereno

Traffic is still a big
problem on Lincoln

My husband and I often have lunch at Le Boulanger Bakery. As we sit there, we have noticed how ineffective the flashing yellow lights are for pedestrians using the crosswalk on Lincoln Avenue between the bakery and the bookstore.

I understand that an effort was made by the city to slow traffic down and make the crosswalk safer by installing these lights. But if someone sits inside the bakery for an hour or so and watches people cross back and forth, it's easy to see the effort has not paid off.

It appears to us that the average speed is 35 mph, with no decrease in speed by many drivers as they approach the crosswalk. There are signs in the center of the street to alert drivers there is a crosswalk. Those signs are forever being hit and knocked down. We noticed people who didn't push the button did a better job of checking out the street as they crossed. The people who pushed the button seemed more trusting, believing the lights would send a message that drivers should stop. Those lights are giving people a false sense of security.

The most common occurrence involves people making it halfway across when either one or both lanes of traffic don't stop, and the pedestrians are stuck standing out in the middle of the street until someone finally sees them and stops. What disturbs me most is that so many young parents cross with their children-- babies in strollers and toddlers. Children trust their mothers and fathers will keep them safe, but that crosswalk is so treacherous maybe some thought might be given to walking a short distance down the block and crossing with the signal at Lincoln and Minnesota avenues.

When you see a car stop on a dime a few feet away from a family, it really takes your breath away.

Something needs to be done about the traffic problem in our shopping district on Lincoln. Many people have come up with well thought-out suggestions, but so far there doesn't seem to be a workable plan. A good start would be to enforce the 25-mph speed limit and start ticketing drivers who dare to speed through that crosswalk when people are in it.

Even at the signal, a person needs to be careful. I was crossing with the green light from Bank of America to Wells Fargo Bank last week and had one more lane to cross over, and as I started to step forward a guy on a cell phone came flying through at high speed. He didn't see the stoplight or a 6-foot- tall woman wearing a red sweater?

We need some help here in Willow Glen. Maybe someone out there has some ideas to share. Let's not give up hope in solving this problem.

Linda Julian

Willow Glen

Violence not funny,
even in a cartoon

As a reader of the Community Newspapers, I found DeCinzo's Sept. 7 cartoon "Mission Impossible" distasteful and appalling. Personally, I am very surprised that such a smart, sophisticated newspaper would support such tasteless political advertisements. I respectfully understand that the caption "cartoonist view" is a disclaimer, yet approval to print it concerns me. I would think that the editing staff would have thrown this cartoon strip out for its childish, tasteless and violent content. When I saw the comic strip and read the content, what came to my mind was DeCinzo the cartoonist must be a 13-year-old boy caught up in today's war on terror and video games or a very disturbed adult. It is my hope that in the future, the Silicon Valley Community Newspaper is more mindful and mature about what they print, even when it is meant to be humorous. Violence is not funny, ever!

Olivia Soza-Mendiola,

Rose Garden