Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (May 07, 2004)

City council perk is unethical

Editor:

The first article I read in last week's Voice was "Popular city council perk criticized" on the front page.

As a federal government employee, I receive annual ethics training and I can assure you that this type of "perk" would qualify as unethical at NASA. It is laughable that the tickets have no legal value. It is equally disturbing that the council members, save Perry, see no conflict of interest in this "perk."

The council should not accept these tickets. It's just plain wrong. It implies a lack of credibility of the council with respect to any vote regarding Shoreline. It's disturbing that council member Mary Lou Zoglin believes this is "just part of the rent for the amphitheater."

If that were in fact true, then the true benefactors should be the City of Mountain View and not those who are supposed to represent our city with the highest degree of integrity. Donation of the tickets to support the local schools comes to mind.

Equally appalling and thinly veiled is Council member Mike Kasperzak's comment that he goes to the shows "seeing how the parking is handled, looking to see the certain sponsorships . . . It's good to know that Shoreline is holding up their end of the contract."

Certainly one does not require a ticket to see that Shoreline is holding up its end of the contract.

Michael Fletcher
Dell Avenue

Voters didn't know about dialysis center's future

Editor:

I wonder if the El Camino Hospital's bond issue would have passed quite so easily had the public known that there would be no room for the dialysis center?

The bond passage meant that the public agreed to pay additional taxes to get an earthquake-safe hospital that would continue to offer fine medical care and would also have additional features to improve community health care. The public was not informed, however, that the dialysis center, presently on the El Camino campus, would not continue at that location.

Surely room could have been found, but the public didn't get notified until now. Why? It appears that we are not being dealt with openly.

Arlene Christie
Woburn Court

Rebuttal on claim for 'longer lasting' vinyl fencing

Editor:

The author of the Home and Garden article on fencing in your April 23 issue characterized vinyl fencing as "longer lasting" than wood. I think this insupportable claim demands a rebuttal.

In the first place, the statement that vinyl fencing will last 20 years is unproven, as it has scarcely been on the market that long. Its popularity on the East Coast is not really relevant to Californians, as it is sun that breaks down plastics like vinyl, not just age.

The truth is that the attraction of vinyl fencing is due mainly to the maintenance issue -- there isn't any. But when it finally starts cracking in the sun (or from kids climbing on it) what do you have? A a truckload of plastic headed for the landfill.

Wood, on the other hand, is a well-proven material. Yes, it requires regular repainting, and other repairs, but the estimate given in the article of a 15- to 20-year lifetime is on the low side. I guarantee that you can find 50-year-old wooden picket fences in Mountain View.

At the end of its lifetime, wood is biodegradable. And when it comes down to appearance, there is no comparison. The all-white, all-the-time look of vinyl can best be characterized as "cheesy," especially where it appears in stark contrast to the earth tones or pastels of a typical California bungalow.

Mark Heim
California Street

We can choose to preserve a healthy planet

Editor:

Earth Day was particularly urgent this year.

Americans are being asked to make an Esau-like choice: sell out their birthright (a free country with wonderful resources of nature, liberty and ideas) for a cold sterile vision focused on grim vigilance, endless war, depletion of irreplaceable petroleum and eventual collapse of our ecosystems under the stress of rigidly retaining our current unsustainable system.

I hope that we can open our vision to the possibility of a smarter set of solutions. We are still great and strong and can, with the right leadership, find new ways to maintain our economy and sustain our environment without destroying the Earth that we need to provide us with a long-term future.

Ed Taub
Devoto Street

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