›› LETTERS Circ de so local I’m writing in regard to Novato City Councilwoman Pat Eklund’s objection to Circle Bank moving off of Grant Avenue to its new desired location in a vacant building at the corner of Grant and Redwood. While I do not live in Novato, I operate two businesses here and am a customer of Circle Bank. A fair percentage of our household expense is spent in Novato. I am a very active, vocal Rotarian in Ignacio. I should also tell you that my extensive background includes nearly 20 years as a professional on the political side of government. I am an economist by education. Ms. Eklund’s stated objections, I hope, will be reconsidered for a number of reasons. ● The huge national banks such as Chase, BofA, Wells, etc., are not helping our communities, as they might and should be. They are incapable since (said as a former New Yorker) their perspective does not really cross the Hudson. (Maybe being in Charlotte is the reason BofA is having such difficulties.) You should encourage Circle’s growth for your task in making Novato more vibrant. ● We need a more vital downtown. Banks are not traffic builders and especially not on the weekends when so many of us enjoy shopping as a family. ● The large banks do not lend locally very much. ● Local banks know their customers, not only from a business viewpoint, but from church, school, service clubs, even city council meetings, as well as the shopping areas where we greet each other, etc. We are true neighbors. ● Circle is a local bank, run and owned by life-long Marinites. They are good, caring,
6 PACIFIC SUN FEBRUARY 19 - FEBRUARY 25, 2010
contributing members of our fluid society. ● San Francisco realized it had to cut down a few trees to make Doyle Drive safer. Your job as councilperson is to make Novato more vibrant, livable, and handy, so cutting down a single oak (which dies in all events soon enough) should be no reason to halt the economic recovery and progress of our Novato. Councilwoman Eklund, I would hope that you would reconsider your singular (I believe wrong-headed) stand and weigh the reality, rather than the dream of a non-humanimposed-upon scene. We are all very proud to call Novato home. Let us do something positive for our city. David Kurland, general manager, Mill Valley Bamboo
Let’s compare fledgling county agency to largest federal bureaucracies! Is MEA an exploding bureaucracy? As Parkinson’s Law demonstrates, bureaucracies inevitably expand, adding more personnel, requiring more intermediate supervising managers, and bigger facilities. Examples: ● Defense Department, created to coordinate the armed services. ● Energy Department, created in 1977 to “lessen dependence on foreign oil.” After 33 years, with an annual budget over $24 billion, it has 16,000 federal employees plus 100,000 contract employees—and we’re more dependent than ever! The 3-2 vote committing Marin Above, a projected rendersupervisors to ing of the Marin Energy underwrite the loan Authority circa 2015.
›› TOWNSQUARE
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Your soapbox is waiting at ›› pacificsun.com to MEA’s bureaucracy also makes taxpayers de facto loan co-signers. The vote passed only because Supervisor McGlashan hubristically ignored his gross conflict of interest in voting taxpayer support for a bureaucracy that he presides over. Whose transmission lines will MEA use to receive and transmit its electricity? At what cost? If MEA local service power lines suffer outages, whose “storm warriors” will restore power? MEA’s? Royal Dutch’s? PG&E’s? And who pays? Fielding Greaves, San Rafael
School lunches to include venison dipped in bitter I would like to comment on the Ross Valley School District’s plan to build a new school at Deer Park. I am a recently retired educator of 28 years. I feel strongly that a good student-to-teacher ratio is an essential component of a quality education. Though I have questions about the number of future students projected by the district, I acknowledge the present overcrowding in the schools. I think we should take serious action to ensure that students have classes of no more than 20 to 22 students. Although I am not wealthy, I am happy to pay higher taxes to make this happen through appropriate expansion, improvements, and possible redistribution of grades on the different campuses. However, I feel so strongly that Deer Park is the wrong site on which to build, that I would vote against any bond measure that proposes this, or that fails to define a specific site or plan. Deer Park is the wrong site for the following reasons: ● Poor water pressure and limited access roads make it a serious fire hazard ● Breaking ground on this pristine site would be a blight on the environment ● The small daycare center that exists there would be displaced ● The district anticipates far higher costs than the proposed bond would cover ● Putting a school there shows enormous disrespect to the residents in the Deer Park area. There are 1,345 registered voters who would be held captive twice a day, every day, throughout the school year by inevitable traffic snarls that would spill out into Fairfax
proper. Any new school would adversely affect far more residents than the number of students it would serve. There are many other options. None of them is perfect. But they are all better than building at Deer Park. They include using the site at Red Hill, or upgrading the existing campuses equitably to make sure that all students benefit from these tax dollars. Redistribution of grades on the different campuses should also be examined. All of these are less costly options. The plan must be safe, democratic, and extend consideration to the community at large. It must also take a realistic view of any potential dip in future numbers—even as it covers the projected rise. I know many others who feel as I do. The Ross Valley School District risks losing this bond measure if it proposes building at Deer Park. Such a move would be irresponsible on their part, and leave our children at a disadvantage. Roberta J. Anthes, Fairfax
No, but we’ll try to keep you plugged in... Can someone tell me how I can tell when EEStor will market its Ultra Capacitor [a capacitor they claim can store enough power to revolutionize electric cars]. I have tried to email several people like President Obama, Sen. McCain, Charlie Rose, etc., with no response. Who do I contact to get an answer? EEStor doesn’t have a website and Richard Weir, CEO of that company, is keeping quiet. Do you have an answer? Ted Van Ogle, Corte Madera
No, but we think Slim Whitman looks like Joseph Conrad... Did you notice that Meg Whitman looks like a female William Conrad? Craig Whatley, San Rafael
Whitman and Conrad also both had hits with ‘Secret Love.’