Support library parcel tax

Jane H. Turnbull
president,

Our libraries are an incredible local resource. All of us can be proud that our library system is considered one of the best in the nation, thanks to the diligence of our librarians, our library commission and many community volunteers.

I am writing on behalf of the Los Altos-Mountain View Area League of Women Voters to ask for your support on Measures A and B, very modest parcel tax bills that will maintain our excellent county libraries.

The league is a nonpartisan organization. We don’t support or oppose candidates. But this doesn’t mean we are not political - when we have studied an issue and believe the situation calls for us to take a position on it, we do. And we have a strong position on “the support of funding for local libraries sufficient to maintain essential services.” Loss of 20 percent of the operating budget in June would mean the loss of essential library services. This would be an enormous loss to our communities.

Measure A simply extends the current parcel tax, $33.66 annually. Measure B would increase that amount by $12 per year, enough to let libraries that have already had to cut back to restore their hours and services. These small sums will give us all continuing access to a great wealth of information, valuable services and an amazing assortment of books, books on tape, videos, CDs and periodicals. I hope you will vote “yes” on both measures.

Library parcel tax helps community

Ivan Rusch

Voters will have an excellent opportunity to serve the community this month when they vote on the library parcel tax. The Los Altos libraries are operating with reduced services and hours of operation. I have noticed that many young people use the libraries. They are the future as productive taxpayers.

Please help yourselves by helping the people who are interested in self-improvement. There are many patrons who use the computers at the library. It is possible the library is the only means of access some of them have to computers and other self-improvement sources.

I realize that the community is leery of tax dollars being spent or diverted from their intended use. In this case the funding is specifically earmarked for the Los Altos libraries.

Benz owner should set up cart patrol

Patti McClelland

I just read with fascination and amusement about the Trader Joe’s “mystery shopping cart on the loose” caper (Town Crier, March 30). I am hard pressed to believe that this owner of an E-Class Mercedes-Benz would actually believe Trader Joe’s should be responsible in any way for the dent in his car from the runaway shopping cart.

Mr. Grant, did you ever stop to consider the bigger picture here? I am not unsympathetic to your wish for a resolution to this “dangerous” slope and unbumpered cart scenario, as these shameful carts have a tendency to stray from their intended spaces. But I think you need to blame the many people who shop at Trader Joe’s who are just too busy with their day, shopping, talking on their cell phones, making deals, and talking to their nannies to worry about whether your Benz, Jaguar or BMW is going to be run into by the cart that they so carelessly leave wherever it lands.

Maybe you could form a cart police patrol and pay special attention to those very fancy vehicles in the parking lot, to make sure they don’t get dinged.

Whether you are at Trader Joe’s, Albertson’s or Safeway, the parking lots are not safe. Many people just plain don’t care about you or your car, and then there are just as many people who do. I am afraid it is what we call the luck of the draw. To think that an obviously intelligent person would blame a business for the carelessness of a patron (and yes, they have many) is beyond the scope of reality.

Living on Briones lands

Jeanne Farr McDonnell

Regarding the Anza article (Town Crier, March 23), many people in Los Altos live on land that once was the property of Juana Briones y Tapia de Miranda. The Tapia part of her name was her mother’s family name, and that family was part of the Anza expedition. Ysadora Tapia was 4 years old at the time. The house of Juana Briones is still on Old Adobe Road that is now part of Palo Alto. Her children’s names were Miranda, like their father’s, and live on in Miranda Avenue, Miranda Green and Manuela Avenue. Manuela was Juana’s daughter who married a Mesa.

Right a wrong by reopening Bullis

Michael J. and Jolon M. Wagner

We feel compelled to write to express our wish that the Bullis-Purissima School site should serve as our community school once again. We respectfully ask that you either reopen our school and/or allow Bullis Charter School to operate, indefinitely, at this site.

Your decision to close our local school was like a kick in the stomach to our community - especially after parents had worked so hard to help get the bond measure passed for improving district school sites and considering that it was the only remaining school in the Hills. Because of these and other factors, there has not been a single convincing argument given by the Los Altos School District board that adheres to common sense in order to answer the question of why you took this action.

The toxic fallout from your decisions - to not only close Bullis-Purissima School but to continually refuse Bullis Charter School’s requests to use our local school site - continues to affect even more innocent persons from not just our community but others, including yours. As you must know, the charter school has requested use of a public recreation and Open Space site at Purissima Road, which would mean the loss of the town ring and at least one baseball field/diamond. Residents of both our towns either board or own horses in Los Altos Hills, and many use the town ring for training and recreation. Children of both communities play baseball on the fields at Purissima and gather there for related activities.

It’s time to do the right thing by assuming responsibility for solving multiple problems that with one obvious solution. Re-open our community school. You have an opportunity to change the way many folks view the LASD board, and you might even convince some that you are heroes for ending the controversies.