LETTERS LETTERS (January 25, 2006)

Strong reason to save Belle Haven child care

Editor:

I recently was privileged to hear a highly diverse panel of students at Menlo-Atherton High School discuss various school-related issues being addressed at the school.

At one point the five students on the panel were asked about their motivations for attending and continuing in high school. One young man, a sophomore, began by saying that he had severe struggles with reading. He went on to tell us that only one person in his extended family had ever graduated from high school, but that he was absolutely determined to break the family pattern.

In response to another question he indicated that he received no homework help from anyone in his home, and that he relied on the Boys and Girls Club, which he attended from after school until 8 p.m. when it closed.

He went every day despite the fact that his profile as a high school student meant that he was older than most of the other kids in attendance there. At one point, he had to travel to East Palo Alto from his Belle Haven home because the Belle Haven Boys and Girls Club was under construction; still, he persists in his determination against increasing odds.

Recent research has highlighted the critical importance of pre-school to the success of children in school. In my wildest imagination I cannot think how the city can contemplate pulling funding from the Belle Haven Child Care Program, or changing its status to that of a drop-in center.

No platitude or budgetary argument can offset the fundamental need of this community for strong, focused and fully funded child care. And once it is gone the expense and time involved in re-instituting the program or dealing with the learning consequences would far outstrip the few dollars the city will save by shutting it down now.

All of our Menlo Park children deserve the best education we can provide from the earliest time they can attend school. Allowing even one child to be given less than the very best we can do is an unconscionable action for the city to take. Please, ask your City Council representatives to think of this young man struggling against all odds when they move to vote on this part of the budget.

Kathleen Walkup

Marmona Drive, Menlo Park

Outrage after PG & E's apology for blackout

Editor:

After a cold, dark four-day holiday without electrical power, we now have our intelligence assaulted by a letter of apology from PG&E.

They did not apologize for the fragile condition of the electrical distribution plant. They did not apologize for the diversion of profits to Central American ventures as opposed to being used for plant improvement.

They did not apologize for not realizing that there are storms in Northern California every winter, and they did not improve the plant to better withstand the storms.

They did not apologize for the 36-hour shifts for the repair crews because they reduced their work force to unreasonable levels before the storm.

They did apologize for not being more accurate in estimating how long you were going to be in the dark. You could always call them on the phone wires (same poles and routes - hmm?) to insert numbers into the computer, if you could hold the flashlight in your teeth.

Portola Valley is the seventh most expensive town in the United States, and we have a power distribution system that is antiquated, failure prone, and only envied by the Third World. We need to look at our neighboring towns and cities and those to the north in Oregon and Washington. They have their own municipal utilities, and thus can set priorities for service and costs that meet their needs.

We should do the same thing. This last storm was not Katrina. Think about it the next time you are pouring gasoline into your generator by flashlight in the rain.

Bruce D. Campbell

Santa Maria Avenue, Portola Valley

Ashfield Road area residents say thank-you

Editor:

This year has been a challenging one for the residents of Atherton who live in the vicinity of the Town Hall.

The home at 50 Ashfield Road was razed and a heritage oak felled before the neighbors realized it would be replaced by a three-house development that had been issued a certificate of compliance despite nonconforming lots.

The Almanac has accurately reported the saga as the neighbors have expressed their dismay at City Council and Building Commission meetings (Almanac issues of August 3, September 28 and October 26 in 2005). The members of both bodies spent a good deal of time listening to our grievances.

However, it was council member Kathy McKeithen who seemed to have thoroughly studied the documents, distilled the facts, considered the issues carefully and led her fellow council members to act courageously and uphold an appeal by the neighbors of the Planning Commission's earlier approval. We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for Mrs. McKeithen's efforts to improve the character of the three homes that are being built on Ashfield Road. Patricia Engasser Ashfield Road, Atherton And nine other nearby families

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