Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (February 11, 2005)

Region needs BART

Editor:

I couldn't disagree more with your editorial on Feb. 4 calling Carl Guardino's letter about voters' BART support out of line.

There was a very clear mandate delivered by the voters in 2000 that BART was the number-one transit priority in the county. That message was the most overpowering result in any proposition that I have witnessed in my 35 years in this valley. The alleged voting impact of the electrification of Caltrain in your editorial is pure cotton-candy conjecture. You've spun that one out of nowhere.

I agree that we are now in a great budget crunch compared to the flush times of 2000. But I believe the wisest use of those transit dollars is to build BART linking East Bay to San Jose and the airport, even at the expense of the lesser important projects on the list. BART represents our best hope for high capacity, low land-use transit in our future. While I don't expect for a minute that it will reduce freeway traffic by a single car, I do believe it will carry the bulk of our future transit growth.

A livable and vibrant valley not trampled by autos and buses requires a high capacity, efficient transit system to support a higher density and higher-quality housing mix. It is a healthy vision that lets us breathe, work and play in a new "Valley of the Mind's Delight." Let's build a future in which we all can live. Allen Price Velarde Street

BART needs reevaluation

Editor:

I couldn't agree more with the Feb. 4 editorial, "Guardino's BART push out of line." First of all, I do believe there are a number of Bay Area communities that have been paying a special sales tax to extend BART in other directions that should presumably be built before any extension into Santa Clara County. Antioch and Livermore come to mind.

Secondly, it boggles the mind that Carl Guardino would have the gall to mail letters to North County city councils asking them to both remove their current appointee on the VTA board and divert precious transportation dollars that could and should be spent evenly across the county. Does Guardino think we don't have traffic on the Peninsula? Has he not seen the mess of the Highways 85/101 interchange? I also feel that his actions reek of corruption and hypocrisy, and I don't believe he's pushing so hard solely out of a love for "the voters."

Remember that many of the voters who passed the measure in 2000 did so while they were still making decent salaries (as opposed to wages). Given the current state of the economy in California, I think the majority of voters would agree that Greg Perry and the other VTA board members are right to reevaluate the proposal and look at alternatives to keep costs down.

Most everyone in Santa Clara County would agree that connecting BART to VTA is a good thing. Certainly, the Warm Springs Extension is much needed. From there, I think we should focus on bringing BART down to Milpitas where it can connect with VTA and leave it at that until money starts flowing back into government budgets. And, no, I will not approve an additional tax for such a shortsighted plan. At least, not under the current administration. Keegan L. Patterson Bonita Ave.

Don't build athletic fields at Shoreline

Editor:

Are you ready for another invasion of the Shoreline Recreation Wildlife Preserve? How about an athletic field?

A few years ago the city of Mountain View wanted to put a dog park in the middle of a wildlife area. They failed to get that done and put it just outside of the area. Now the parks and recreation commission wants to put an athletic field next to the burrowing owl habitat and other small animal and bird homes at Shoreline.

There are athletic fields all around the city. There is only one wildlife area near the city. These city planners will not rest until they have wiped out all of the wildlife, small animals and birds in that small piece of ground. There already is too much recreation in that wildlife preserve.

In addition, this plan is against the master plan for Shoreline at Mountain View. Vada N. Williams Space Park Way

No hunting at Shoreline

Editor:

Andi Sandstrom (who wrote a Letter to the Editor last month) is correct: "Hunting doesn't make sense at Shoreline." Two personal run-ins with hunters' bullets will make me vote against hunting on or near Shoreline.

One hunter's bullet hit my dog, barely missing vital spots in his head. This caused pain and a trip to the hospital for my dog, and many dollars in expenses could not be avoided.

The second incident: A hunter's bullet from the marsh came through my roof, ricocheted and landed two feet from my head as I lay in bed. The police agreed I was lucky; the bullet missed me.

We are stakeholders in these lands. Let us not allow hunting so close to children playing. Thomasyne Lightfoote Wilson East Palo Alto

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