Mar 7, 2008

Letters

Skatepark proposals

Dear Editor: Thanks to city employees Scott Ferris for accurately assessing the tremendous use our skatepark receives and Yolanda Huang for noting the "prejudice against skateboarders." It is encouraging to know that skaters have these allies in city government and that these professionals recognize skateboarders as a legitimate parks user group. I am a Berkeley taxpayer, voter, and regular user of the park (with my son, and with friends of all ages). My suggestions:

1) Relax a little. We've always had cracks. They are avoidable. Accidents can happen with no cracks.

2) Use the expert design-build skatepark contractors based in the Pacific Northwest for consultancy on this matter. (San Francisco is working with one now on its forthcoming park.) Cement contractors who are not themselves skaters do not have the same expertise. A suboptimal solution will cost more in the long run.

3) The best long-term solution is for a new park, much bigger than the current park. Perhaps the new park can be built by the marina, and the current park left open during the interim? If no park is available, a subset of the "20,000" skaters cited in a recent article will undoubtedly skate on campus, downtown, etc.

4) New park or current park, the best solution to vandalism and graffiti is to light the skatepark and leave it open 24 hours, so the police can easily check it while driving by. This is standard practice for many of the newer municipal skateparks in Denver, Louisville, Oregon, etc.

Mike Papciak,

Berkeley


Pitfalls of greed

Dear Editor: Gordon Gecko in the movie "Wall Street" uttered the famous phrase "greed is good." We can now see in the clear light of hindsight that it ain't necessarily so.

Greed has caused those with the most to demand ever more: more tax breaks for the rich; more money for overpriced health insurance; more predatory mortgages; more money just to fill our gas tanks and heat our houses; and nothing whatsoever to repair the damage caused by their greed.

The Democratic candidates are trying to undo the greed-induced excesses of the last seven years. Republicans have conned us long enough with the myth that "we rich people" don't need a government that cares about our nation's real needs. It really is "time for a change."

Ed Taub,

Mountain View



More hot air

Dear Editor: A small statistic just surprised me. I'm not a fan of John McCain, but thought, "Well, at least he's concerned about global warming. And he's one of those rare principled politicians."

Then the League of Conservation Voters' scorecard - ranking senators on their environmental votes last year - came out. McCain got zero percent. It turns out he failed to show up for any of the key environmental votes this year. In at least one of the votes clearly key to the fight against global warming, he could have been the pivotal vote to change the outcome:

"The provision to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for oil companies and put the funds toward clean, renewable energy fell one vote short of the 60 votes needed in the Senate." (League of Conservation Voters' Web site)

In case you're wondering, Clinton and Obama both voted for that provision, and have scores of 73 percent and 67 percent respectively. I guess McCain is just blowing hot air when he talks about his environmental principles.

Helena Birecki,

Palo Alto



Contract dispute

Dear Editor: I have always believed that journalists and their papers are foremost after the truth and are in the frontline of defending our freedom of speech. And yet as the registered nurses of Mills Peninsula Health Services and other Sutter facilities have gone on two strikes in October and December, we have yet to see an impartial article about the issues we are fighting for.

Registered nurses are fighting for the best care for their patients oftentimes to the detriment of the nurses' own health. Now, we are fighting for our patients and ourselves, for who else would take this on?

Recently, the Family Birth Center at Mills Peninsula has a guard 24/7 to monitor and intimidate activist registered nurses from communicating with other registered nurses in the facility and limiting our access to our labor representative. It makes me question, "Am I living in a democratic country?"

I challenge you to come and seek the truth and let the public know what is going on.

Mary Jane Gregory,

Family Birth Center,

Mills Peninsula,

Burlingame