The Sunnyvale Sun
Letters & Opinions
Speak Out
Public safety officers
commended for action
My next door neighbor experienced a fire in his house Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. A little unnerving.
Fortunately, the Sunnyvale police and fire arrived in minutes and contained the fire very quickly. I watched them, in that they were beside my back yard.
They worked well with each other, were very professional and seemed well trained.
Thanks to all of them for making Sunnyvale one of the safest places in America.
Mike Lindsay
Sunnyvale
City doesn't protect
mobile home parks
Sunnyvale's safety rate slippage, reported in the Nov. 8 issue, pales in comparison to the disgraceful mobile home park closure rate.
The recent announcement of yet another mobile home park closure--Taylor Street Park--the second closure of a mobile home park in Sunnyvale in less than a year, and the fifth in the last 10, must be an absolute record for any California city of comparable size.
This is a dismal record for loss of affordable housing in any city. The displacement of people, mostly seniors, and the ease and manner with which Sunnyvale permits these parks to close is disgraceful.
The arithmetic for compensation to these seniors for loss of their homes is miserably unfair.
In pre-election quotes, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber loudly and frequently proclaimed she would be dedicated to protecting these same senior residents of mobile home parks, and yet when Oasis mobile park in Sunnyvale applied for permission to close last year, and evict all senior residents, Sally Lieber refused to attend even one of the many meetings.
While it is difficult to close a mobile home park in most California cities, Sunnyvale appears to be a glaring exception with little or no real effort at opposition to park closures and very little support for park residents receiving fair reimbursement for loss of affordable housing.
Al Stuetzle
E. El Camino Real
This council perk
just too expensive
I find it appalling that council members in Sunnyvale have not taken action over the past year to eliminate lifetime medical benefits for council members. During the last city council election, both the Mercury News and The Sun editorialized, saying that eliminating this costly perk should be the new council's first action.
No one running for council endorsed this perk, but when it was raised several months ago by a member of the public, the council decided only to consider it as a possible study issue next year. This is a matter of principle; there is nothing to study.
This costly perk should be eliminated immediately.
Yolanda Risch
Mangrove Avenue
Allow left turn from Kaiser for safety
It's an illusion to think that forcing folks coming out of Kaiser to turn right will decrease traffic on to Homestead. I live in Sunnyvale near Wolfe Road, so coming out of Kaiser I have to turn right on Homestead, then go down to Lawrence, make a U-turn on Homestead to get back to Wolfe in order go get home. You can imagine that this brings up a certain amount of frustration in me each time I have to do it.
I do not "break speed limits and run through stop signs," as a previous writer suggested.
The wisest thing would be to simply allow the left turn from Kaiser onto Homestead. It's a natural traffic flow.
Jane Kroll
Sunnyvale
Sculptures at mall
out of proportion
In reference to the Cherry Glen Plaza shopping mall at El Camino Real Mathilda Avenue, I have to congratulate Sunnyvale for approving this project that is not the typical strip mall.
The awnings are very colorful as are the different textures in the buildings. The landscape is wonderful, until they installed the oversized sculptures.
While I appreciate the historical aspect of the sculptures, they are totally out of proportion to the walls they have been mounted on. They are totally out of place and should have been half the size.
Glenis Koehne
Sunnyvale
