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Speak Out
Community colleges are for everyone
In The Campbell Reporter's Jan. 16 issue, Cheriel Jensen of Saratoga urges a "no" vote on Measure E. One of her reasons is that 40 percent of the district's students "are from outside the district, not even our responsibility."
Apparently, Jensen is unaware of a change in the law many years ago that allows any California resident to attend any community college in the state.
Especially in Santa Clara County, where there are four community college districts and seven community colleges, student bodies of all colleges have a high percentage of non-district residents. This did not, however, keep the Foothill-DeAnza and San Jose-Evergreen College Districts from recently passing bond elections.
I have been a resident of the West Valley-Mission District since 1958 (before it was formed), was a full-time district employee for 16 years, am a graduate of West Valley College and an elected member of the board of trustees since 1988.
Joy Atkins
Salice Way
College district board doesn't care
On Jan. 17, I attended a West Valley-Mission Community College District Governing Board meeting to hear what the board planned to do about the tons of waste concrete the college dumped into Vasona Creek.
Instead of proposing a plan to clean up the mess board members illegally created, they simply bemoaned the high cost of such a project while attempting to pass the buck of responsibility for cleanup onto the community.
Case in point: Frank Jewitt, a governing board member, said that if members of the community are so concerned about the damage done to the creek and the danger to downstream properties, "maybe you could take out your checkbooks tonight and write a check to help us with the costs." Uh, excuse me? Why should we pay to clean up a mess that the college created? And how is it that one of our elected officials has the nerve to take such a contemptuous and insulting tone with members of the community that they have wronged?
The fact that West Valley College tried to get away with trashing a beautiful creek and endangering downstream residents is despicable, but then for them to suggest to the community that it should help pay to clean it up is completely outrageous.
I have heard in the past that this board was arrogant and condescending to the community but that they were attempting to be more responsive and cooperative with the college neighbors. If Frank Jewitt's comments are the result of them trying to better their relationship with the community, maybe they should go back to simply ignoring us.
Dionne Niemi
Joseph Avenue
Innovative Funding
The West Valley-Mission Community College District has developed an innovative new method of public funding. The district has placed a $268 million bond issue on the March 5 ballot known as Measure E.
A careful review of the bond project list reveals that more than $22 million of the bond proceeds are slated to pay off the district's past long-term debts. Let's see.The district hasn't been able to live within its budget in prior years so why not ask homeowners to retire its debts by paying extra property taxes?
Measure E requires residents to pay $3 in new property taxes for every dollar it receives. If Measure E passes, it will cost us $66 million to pay off $22 million of the district's existing debt.
The entire $268 million bond issue will actually cost us $715 million and we will have to pay for 38 years. What an outrageous burden for district taxpayers.
Jeffrey Becker
Saratoga
Chancellor resigns
Chancellor Linda Salter's abrupt resignation is another important reason not to vote for Measure E, the West Valley-Mission College District's bond issue that will cost voters $715 million in new taxes.
Salter's resignation, while necessary, underscores the management instability that has plagued the college district for a number of years. Salter's replacement will be the fourth chancellor in four years, and there have been three presidents at Mission College and three vice chancellors for business services in that same time. Does this sound like an organization that will make good use of hundreds of millions of dollars of additional revenue?
Vote NO on Measure E in March.
Don Whetstone
Saratoga
Constantin was wrong
Victor Monia's letter in the Jan. 9 issue of The Campbell Reporter urged voters to oppose Measure E, the West Valley-Mission Community College bond issue that will cost taxpayers in the district $715 million. Monia wrote that the district's academic performance has been deteriorating, as measured by criteria established by the state community college chancellor's office. He also wrote that the district has a recent history of fiscal irresponsibility.
Finally, Monia's letter pointed out that the district bond measure would require voters to pay $3 in extra taxes for every dollar that the college district receives.
One of the district trustees, Chris Constantin, published a response saying that Monia's letter was inaccurate. Under the guise of setting the record straight, Constantin made arguments in favor of the bond measure.
The most telling part of Constantin's letter was what he was unable to write. He was unable to say one word challenging Monia's facts about the district's deteriorating academic performance, its record of fiscal irresponsibility or that taxpayers would pay $3 for each dollar the bond measure generated. Constantin also failed to mention that the bond measure includes $5.5 million for a football stadium at West Valley College, and he forgot to mention that, at the governing board meeting when he and the other trustees voted to put the measure on the ballot, they agreed to change the language of the bond project list to disguise the fact that the West Valley College stadium would be one of the funded projects.
So much for setting the record straight.
David Yancey
Saratoga
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Campbell, California
