Letters to the editor Letters to the editor (April 15, 2005)

Mourning Pope John Paul's ideals

Editor: People of good will are mourning the death of Pope John Paul II. While he never wavered in his support of the basic moral tenets of his church, he also moved to update many outdated beliefs during his tenure.

He stated that Judaism was the "elder brother" of Christianity and deserved respect as a valid and complete faith. He apologized (after 500 years) for the church declaring Galileo a heretic for believing that the Earth traveled around the Sun.

It is ironic that the Catholic Church is moving in the direction of increased tolerance and acceptance of divergent beliefs while our country and its Republican leadership seems to be moving swiftly in the opposite direction. Ed Taub Devoto Street

Punish school board, not students

Editor:

What's an appropriate punishment for the administration that recommended the expulsion, the superintendent of the high schools that "rubber stamped" the expulsion and the Mountain View-Los Altos school board that was "caught," "using prejudicial abuse of discretion" when it chose to expel four boys from Mountain View High School?

I would like community to comment on this issue. Or is it o.k. when adults who have the high privilege and responsibility of shaping our youth make a terrible decision that blatantly disregards the state education code and destroys four months of the boys' lives? Muriel Sivyer-Lee Velarde Street

Praise for rotating mayors

Editor:

In regard to the story, "A push to elect the mayor" in your April 8 edition: I believe City Council member Mike Kasperzak's dream of holding a citywide election in lieu of the council itself naming the presiding mayor on a routine, yearly basis is a bad idea whose time has not come.

If ever the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," is valid to a situation, it is Mountain View's form of governance. It does not need to be fixed.

This city, in which my wife and I have enjoyed residing for 15 years, has done very well under the management of the seven-member legislature in which each at-large member has equal jurisdiction or decision-making power.

Assigning the electorate to choose a mayor would diminish the democratic operation of the council. An elected mayor who would claim to represent the wishes of the people better than the other six members who were elected at-large, would be virtually, if not technically, changing the number of council members to eight: seven, plus giving additional power to the elected mayor that would equate to having two seats on the council.

Right now our city council's constituency actively monitors its deliberations and speaks up on the major issues during the meetings of the commissions and the council. That is the kind of democratic guidance from which the council benefits.

Please, let's not putter with our city's engine that is running quite well. Fred Duperrault W. Middlefield Road

More ink for local schools

Editor:

I was disappointed in your coverage of Williams-Bubb this year at Bubb Elementary School. Although the picture on the front page looked nice, it seems a shame the Voice didn't write any kind of article about it.

They never mentioned the 13 colonial shops the students set up and ran, like the apothecary where attendees were leached (by black gummy worms) to get well. Or about any of the debates heard between the Loyalist and the Patriots. Or when a patriot, Hannah Devaurx, was put in the stocks and pillory by Thomas Jefferson for promoting a women's right to be a delegate. Students learned so much about history by doing this re-creation. This is real learning, and not by sitting in some room taking a test.

The highlight of WilliamsBubb was the building of a replica of a 40 foot colonial privateer ship out of wood with a working 20 foot mast and riggings by the students and Mr. Poling. The ship, The Michelle, got a standing ovation and admiration from the 62 colonial students, 25-plus adult volunteers and over 400 attendees. Nothing was said about this noteworthy achievement. Other schools, such as Castro, took school-time to come and learn. This was truly a community-wide educational event.

If an article was not written due to time constraints, then I would have held the printing of the picture to make a proper article. The community missed out on not just Bubb's event, but also a similar event at Landels. Sport scores and games, reported on weekly in the Voice, are not the only interesting newsworthy events that happen in our Mountain View schools.

It makes me think that it would take a lot less effort to get these school bond/parcel tax measures passed and give a better informed choice on these measures if the rest of the community could see and read of the positive learning opportunities that their money provides for in our schools. Kimberly Zarmer Begen Ave.

A rose by any other name

Editor:

The El Camino Hospital District Board seems to be sending the following message to hospital vendors: "The best way to sell your products or services to the hospital is to offer CEO Lee Domanico a position on your board payable by stock options."

Most lawyers would call this a kickback. Apparently the lawyers for the El Camino Hospital District call this "standard business practice." John Niemic Latham Street

Perry defends vote on Devonshire Park

Editor:

Last week's letter "Why won't Perry back Devonshire Park" misrepresents my position.

I do back Devonshire Park. I was the one who first proposed using CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funds for park construction. Without those funds, the park would not be getting built. I also pushed to get the park included in the capital improvement program, another necessary step towards building the park.

I did not support spending $660,000 on construction costs because I believe we can build an equally nice park for closer to $200,000. The remaining $460,000 should be used to help buy the adjacent parcel to make a larger and more useful park at Devonshire. Greg Perry City Council member

More questions about hospital CEO's contract

Editor:

Your editorial last week did a fine job laying out the case regarding the Lee Domanico (CEO of El Camino Hospital) compensation matter.

Yes, those truly accountable are the members of the El Camino Hospital board of directors. They have a fiduciary responsibility to oversee the actions of their CEO and to allow the citizens of the district to examine the financial records of the hospital. Freedom of Information Act requests should not be needed to get all the information rightfully available to the citizens of the district.

Unfortunately, you did omit several other unresolved matters. First, we have not been informed of the details of the stock options received by Mr. Domanico from a major vendor to the hospital. How much does El Camino Hospital pay to Sensitron annually? What is the value of stock options received by Mr. Domanico? What are the future contractual commitments made between the hospital and the company? Was the company chosen to supply products to the hospital under a competitive bidding process, and does the company have any other relationship with Mr. Domanico, his family or other hospital executives?

Also, the audited financial statements for the hospital fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 indicate two executives received loans. What are the details of the other loan?

It has been reported that Mr. Domanico has in place some sort of quarterly "bonus pool" for hospital managers who beat their budget projections. It would seem to me that while the hospital is very profitable, this "bonus pool" just encourages managers to continue to cut patient services and the related costs while enriching themselves and senior management at the expense of patient services.

And, we still have no accountability regarding expense account reimbursements for senior hospital management and the district board of directors. The hospital needs to make available all financial records to the citizens who reside in the district.

Now is the time to clean up this financial disclosure mess and move on with the rebuilding of the hospital. If the district board cannot handle this problem, maybe it is time the citizens of the district elect some new board members. William L. Teglia, Jr. S. Gordon Way Los Altos

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