By Civility of letter questioned

There is no better illustration of the tragedy that has befallen Los Altos Hills than two recent letters to the Town Crier. In a July 10 letter, Bill Downey legitimately questions the wisdom of building a new town hall with voluntary contributions after an earlier city council had set aside $750,000 to cover a majority of the costs. In a July 17 response, while extolling the new spirit of “civility and teamwork,” Mayor Toni Casey makes a personal attack upon Mr. Downey. Apparently the civility and teamwork extend only to Casey supporters. This fact was driven home last year when the new Casey council purged the town committees of all members who did not share her views, effectively disenfranchising the 49 percent of the town’s citizens who did not vote for her candidates.

The major accomplishments of the present city council have been to approve special interest requests for megahomes. The recent slope-density legislation underscored this reality by dramatically increasing the allowable development area, and hence the water runoff and flooding risk.

Casey is correct on one point. Citizen comments are falling upon deaf ears. Unfortunately those deaf ears belong to the city council..

Jim SteinerLos Altos Hills

Kinder, gentler approach needed

Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey is on firm ground when she advocates asking residents to contribute individually towards the construction of a new Town Hall building and is not thereby creating a precedent. When the Town was incorporated in 1956, the first mayor donated the land which is still the Town Hall campus, one family donated $18,000 to pay for the building, and the architect donated his services.

Nevertheless, I was dismayed to read Mayor Casey’s vitriolic comments towards Bill Downey, who wrote in the previous week with a fairly mild criticism of her plan. Letters to the Editor are a traditional means for citizens to let off steam about elected officials’ actions and policies. The officials must understand that the general public does not have the bully pulpit or the ongoing press coverage, so they should engage in civilized debate when their positions are challenged by their constituents.

When Steve Finn, whom Toni succeeded as mayor last month, took up his appointment a year ago, he expressed a desire to promote conciliation and cooperation between Town Hall and the residents. Toni would do well to continue this intent and approach her critics in a gentler manner. Who knows, if she were to do this really well, she might even have Bill Downey cutting a small check to support her project. Well…maybe.

Bob Johnson

Los Altos Hills