This is in response to Dee Tolles Oct. 11 guest opinion in the Almanac.

I take exception to the reference to me as a part of a slow-growth majority -- or to any other majority. I voted the issues as I saw them and as I thought best for Menlo Park.

Dee makes much of the success of Collier's (Barrone's and Kepler's) project, a project which I approved of during my second term on the City Council. But the city gave up public land to that developer for which they should have been compensated.

Any actions taken by the 1992-96 City Council in connection with the general plan couldn't have been too onerous, because the current council majority brought the Derry project to the approval stage before many citizens knew what was happening.

I spent my professional career, as president of JTA Engineers and Planners, representing developers. Among our projects was the 1,000-acre Harbor Bay Isle community in Alameda, now the site of 3,000 beautifully landscaped homes, colorful lagoons, a local shopping center and a business park. But my client had to give some to "git" some. Bargaining is part of the game.

This council majority tends to jump into projects without giving them adequate study.

Cal Jones, former mayor

City Council 1984-90, 1992-96