LETTERS LETTERS (June 29, 2005)

PTA got plenty of help from Carol Ivie

Editor:

For the last 25 years or so, I had the pleasure of working with Carol Ivie.

In the early 1980s, the PTA at Woodside High helped promote an event called Futurama. I was in charge of publicity and Carol truly helped me along.

Then again in the late 1980s I was working with the Menlo-Atherton PTA. It was our first Pumpkin Lunch-Fashion Show, and there was Carol with her camera and pencil.

Forever after, I called on Carol and her camera for nonprofit coverage numerous times. The Almanac was always our best reference.

Carol contributed time and talent to her job of serving the community with her photo-journalism. I will always have wonderful memories of the Almanac and the lovely lady who enjoyed her career to the utmost. She will be dearly be missed.

Sandy Ferrando

Co-President of the Atherton Dames

Shocked at reversal on single story zoning ordinance

Editor:

I was shocked to learn from the Almanac letters (June 8) that on May 23 the Planning Commission reversed its April 25 compromise recommendation after receiving a letter from Mayor Winkler which urged reversal.

I attended the April 25 meeting, and was one of the nine speakers at the public hearing that night, all opposed to the draft zoning change. I advocated for the compromise of administrative review because it preserves neighbor input and protects residents from the ill effects of speculative development. With the public watching, the Planning Commission voted that night to recommend this very compromise.

I watch the public hearing notices in the newspaper to stay informed. Since the May 23 reconsideration was not publicly noticed as a public hearing, it is not surprising that not one of the April 25 speakers attended. What sneaky conduct by the Planning Commissioners and Mayor Winkler. At least the reconsideration should have included a Public Hearing. This under-handed decision-making at City Hall must stop.

Judy Morley

Santa Cruz Avenue, Menlo Park @walhd:

No basis for council member's ethics charge

Editor:

Apparently, Menlo Park City Council member Kelly Fergusson and her allies are no longer satisfied with merely making baseless ethics charges against her council colleagues; they now extend their abuse to volunteer city commissioners as well.

In the latest episode, Ms. Fergusson publicly accuses Mayor Mickie Winkler of coercing Planning Commission members into reconsidering their recommendations on zoning rules, even though they had decided to revisit the question over a week before Ms. Winkler's letter on the subject was sent to them.

In a blatant demonstration of hypocrisy, Ms. Fergusson herself has made several communications to the commission on the very same subject. Going even farther, her public statements slander the Planning Commissioners, calling them "rubber stamps," incapable of independent action.

The reality is that the commissioners are volunteer citizens, who work diligently to guide the city on issues of planning and development. The ones who I know personally are forceful, independent thinkers and it is laughable to suggest that they would kowtow to anyone. It is an extreme disservice to the residents of the city when Ms. Fergusson resorts to these sorts of unseemly tactics to undermine a publicly appointed body.

Frank Tucker

Politzer Drive, Menlo Park

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