Lost opportunity to teach the students
Editor:I was saddened to read in your article, “Full parking lots, happy students,” in the March 24 issue, that the senior administrators and teachers at Mountain View High School are losing an opportunity to teach good citizenship to their students.
I’m sure the principles of citizenship are being taught in an academic setting in the classroom, but, when the chance to put them into effect in everyday life is lost, education loses much of its value. Instead, students are apparently being allowed (encouraged?) to ignore the concerns and rights of local residents, to consume rather than conserve in their driving habits, to avoid exercise when commuting even short distances, and to break accepted parking regulations.
This is surely sowing the seeds of future personal and environmental disasters.
Roy G. Hayter
Yale Drive
A good idea for the train depot
Editor:As reported last week, the city council is deliberating about what to do with the train depot building. Well, have they considered using it as a train depot?
A train depot should have a waiting room, restrooms, news stand, snack bar, and other amenities for passengers who are waiting for the train. It seems odd that the city went to the trouble and expense of building this shiny new transportation center without providing proper passenger facilities.
Edward Taft
Eloise Circle, Los Altos
Other side to Grant Road farm deal
Editor:I was ashamed of one person’s letter in the Voice this past Friday (“Livid over Grant Road farm deal,”) and would hope that not everyone is so quick to judge.
We will all miss the farm, probably not as much as the girls that grew up there. I went to school with one of the girls. Had the original owners wanted to preserve the farm for future generations they would have set something up so their wish, as it is put, could be realized. However, had the price been to the liking of the past owners, the farm would have been gone long ago.
So shame on you for blaming someone who wasn’t to blame in the first place. Did you get some actual facts or did the devil fill you in? The girls have more to deal with than anyone could imagine, and maybe a thank you for allowing us to enjoy the farm for as long as we have is in order. Also a thank you to the people who have made it a working farm.
Marcia Vierra
Mountain View
