LETTERS LETTERS(February 16, 2005)

Lynch case highlights need for donors

Editor:

Kudos for the articles about the Lynch family's efforts to get a transplant for Heather. The important work of the National Marrow Donor Program is underreported.

I hope that through your articles you have encouraged more people to sign up as potential donors. My husband is being treated for leukemia and a transplant is a possibility at some point.

Here are several things we have learned through the process:

-- Don't give up if your chosen institution turns you down. As Heather discovered, each institution has its own treatment protocols and there is always NCI to consider.

-- Because it can take up to four months to search the donor database, the sooner a patient starts the search, the greater the chance that that treatment option will be available when the times comes.

Again, thanks for your coverage.

Claudia Newbold, French Court, Menlo Park

Disappointed in Gibson's vote

Editor:

I was disappointed to read that San Mateo County Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson voted against a proposal by her colleagues, Mark Church and Rich Gordon, to reform the process by which appointments to the SamTrans board are made.

Supervisors Gordon and Church recognize that fair representation on county boards is necessary to assure that the interest of all the districts in the county are met. The north, south, central and coastside districts deserve equal representation in all aspects of county government. For too long, the North County -- specifically Daly City -- has controlled transit decisions.

Supervisor Gibson, who is supposed to represent District 4 (East Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Redwood City), voted to appoint a Daly City resident and greenhorn supervisor to the SamTrans board despite experienced Supervisor Gordon's expressed desire to serve.

When Supervisors Gordon and Church asked for her support to reform the selection process of public seats on the SamTrans board, Supervisor Gibson dodged the decision by clouding the issue with a discussion of diversity. Ms. Gibson's logic seems to be that her first responsibility is to vote for a woman and that guaranteeing representation for her district is secondary.

This is a slippery slope. Gender politics and racial politics should not trump open government and fair representation. It muddies the water, and is an especially irritating canard when the original issue is one of geographic diversity on the SamTrans board. As a woman who was elected fair and square to the Menlo Park City Council (not appointed as Ms. Gibson originally was), I find this tactic a feeble style of governing.

Mary Jo Borak Former Mayor, City of Menlo Park

Why closing Hetch Hetchy makes sense

Editor:

Recent press reports indicate San Francisco intends to increase water rates to its customers in Alameda, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to cover $700 million in cost overruns for repairs to the Hetch Hetchy water system.

These cost overruns, and delays in the rebuilding process, have resulted from San Francisco's own poor planning. Our organization, and others, have made detailed engineering proposals to replace the water storage facility in Yosemite National Park's Hetch-Hetchy Valley with a more reliable plumbing system.

We propose that the costs be paid for by all the people in California and across the nation, because the entire country would be getting a new valley comparable to Yosemite Valley. These proposals are not inconsistent with completing the necessary repairs to the water system, repairs that should move ahead as quickly as possible.

We invite people in all communities of the Hetch- Hetchy water service area to look carefully at our "win-win" proposal for restoring Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley and providing a clean and reliable supply of water.

For more information, please see www.hetchhetchy.org.

Imagine the opportunity we Americans have to allow nature to re-create another Yosemite Valley. There is no other opportunity like this anywhere else on Earth.

Ron Good, exec. director, Restore Hetch Hetchy, Sonora

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