Deal cut in OMVNA election?
Editor:When people talk about “preserving the character” of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, I hope they will consider honesty and integrity as important parts of that character.
There were some parts of the Old Mountain View Neighborhood Association election process that don’t seem to be getting much coverage. Apparently, MiRNA (the group opposed to a proposed development on the Minton’s property) approached the outgoing OMVNA Steering Committee during the nomination process and negotiated to name half of the slate: Kim Copher (vice chair), David Lewis III (community liaison), Becky Reyna (at large No. 1), and Jack Perkins (at large No. 2).
That’s the reason MiRNA didn’t mount a write-in campaign against these candidates; they had already been nominated by MiRNA and put on the ballot through pressure exerted on outgoing OMVNA Steering Committee members.
This is my understanding, but I would like to see a few people from both groups going on record about this process so that it can be more transparent.
Ronnie Falcao
Vincent Drive
Neighbors helped with MVPD toy drive
Editor:As in past years, Jim and Lenora Bonandar, managers of the Sunset Estates mobile home park, organized a Christmas Tree Decorating Party on Dec. 13. Those park residents who came to the party brought toys to be given to Mountain View police for their annual toy drive, which gives toys to many children in our city. Three police officers picked up approximately 100 donated toys at Sunset Estates this year. The officers were Ron Cooper, who coordinates the toy drive, Steve McCoy and Jennifer Crist. They saw that the toys were given to children in Mountain View on Saturday, Dec. 19.
Charlie Larson
Sylvan Avenue
Thanks for nothing, Wells Fargo
Editor:So now Wells Fargo, along with Citi and other big banks, is now quickly paying back its TARP loan extended by our government. Are they doing this because they are in such good financial shape and will be more willing to loan money?
Don’t count on it. The major motivation, which they’ll never admit in a million years, is to get rid of the limits on their paychecks. They want their obscene paychecks more than anything else.
And how did they manage to make this payment? By simply selling more stock and diluting the value for all existing shareholders. The CEO statement that it “was in the shareholder’s interest” is appalling. It was in their personal compensation interest more than anything else.
What they did is equivalent to individuals paying their credit card bills by getting other banks to loan them money using their existing homes as collateral — when the home is already fully mortgaged! It’s actually hard to conceive of someone trying to pull such a stunt, but that’s just what they did. You can tell them “thank you” the next time you walk into their Castro branch office.
Allen Price
Fairmont Avenue
The Twelve Days of Eating
Editor:On the neighborhood e-mail list for the section near the downtown, I posted positive experiences from Sakoon. A neighbor from London said she had good experiences too, but it’s not like London where fine cheap Indian fare abounds. I responded asking if her London neighborhood had — here I quoted the striking variety of restaurants within a few blocks in downtown Mountain View.
Another neighbor quipped that it was almost like The Twelve Days of Christmas. So here you are. (Sung to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Lyrics by Max Hauser, after a suggestion by Joy Chase.)
In the Moun-tain View down-town, what rest’-raunts did I see?
Twelve Eur-o-pe-an,
E-lev-en Chi-nese,
Ten south-east-Asian,
Ten o-ther A-sian,
Nine bev’-rage places,
Eight bake’-ry-delis,
Six tacquerias,
Four ice-cream parlors,
Three pizzerias,
Three pub-lic hou-ses,
[Slower] Ten Jap-a-nese,
Fil-i-pi-no grill,
Three fast-food,
Two A-mer-i-can,
And sea-food with three big-screen tee-vees!
Max Hauser
Loreto Street
