Weathering storms

“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot, a notorious sourpuss who wrote this sentence as the opening line to an epic poem titled “The Waste Land.” I get it. April is a time of hope and new growth and the stirring of dormant feelings, and it can be said there is a cruelty to getting your hopes up, knowing that winter awaits.

There are plenty of reasons for thoughts of cruelty. This is a place that can be unfairly and unreasonably difficult.

A recent report from Joint Venture: Silicon Valley shows a profound economic inequity in Silicon Valley, defined as Santa Clara and San Mateo counties: the top 1% of households hold 48 times more of the region’s total wealth than the bottom 50%.

Incredibly, Joint Venture’s chief executive Russ Hancock, who is good-hearted and well-meaning, was quoted in the Daily Journal saying something that seems neither: “We live in a capitalist system that is based on markets. There’s rules to the game; the rules are fair.”

Well, no, not really, not when some people get a head start before others have gotten in the game. But these are ruminations for another day.

Today, quite simply, quite wonderfully, the promise of spring will not be denied. So, we step out of our homes and into the sunshine. We walk the streets and climb the hills and hike the trails. A few minutes from the redwoods. A few minutes from the ocean. A few minutes from the comforting embrace of a world still beautiful, and still full of promise.

For a moment it is clear that this is, indeed, a special place to be. This is a good place to be.

HEARTFELT THANKS: A few weeks ago, I wrote about Tiffany, the mobile resource center for Bay Area Cancer Connections, that had been stolen and badly vandalized. Since then, there has been a heartening outpouring of sympathy and support — more than $80,000 in donations has poured in, enough to repair Tiffany and restore all the materials and resources housed there that are deployed to support women facing breast and ovarian cancer.

Initially, it was pretty deflating to see this kind of malevolent behavior. But it has been more than overridden by the kindness of so many people. On behalf of BACC, thank you.

A FEW MORE WORDS ON FC: Last week’s thoughts about the very public discussion and ultimate decision to oust Evan Adams from the Foster City Planning Commission, focused quite purposefully on what the episode said about life in the social media world, and not on Foster City’s unique brand of eat-the-wounded politics.

The cross-currents of Foster City factionalism are churning waters best avoided.

But my thoughts prompted a lengthy response by former Councilmember Sanjay Gehani — you can see them in their full length in the comments beneath the online version of last week’s column.

In essence, he noted that three councilmembers — Mayor Jon Froomin, Stacy Jimenez and Art Kiesel — are deserving of praise for their conduct concerning a matter in which the city’s Indian community felt insulted and marginalized by Adams.

Gehani applauded Froomin for bringing forward the special session in which Adams’ behavior was discussed. Kiesel, Gehani said, “should be recognized for stating he was committed to thousands of us and not committed to Mr. Adams alone.”

Councilmember Jimenez should be recognized, Gehani said, not only for her thoughtful and eloquent remarks in support of Adams’ removal, but for speaking first in circumstances when other councilmembers clearly were waiting to hear what others might say.

Gehani dismissed the comments of Patrick Sullivan and Sam Hindi as confusing and not in apparent agreement with their subsequent vote to remove Adams.

“Council had no business opining on whether Mr. Adams was a racist or not or whether he should be forgiven or not. Mr. Adams’ character should not have been the focal point of any councilmember’s comments,” Gehani said.

“Mr. Adams has not been excommunicated from society,” Gehani added. “He has been removed from the Planning Commission. Mr. Adams can continue to ask for forgiveness and take this time to heal the ‘disconnect’ between his brain and his fingers, which according to him, led to a bigoted tweet.”

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.