Letters to the editor

Editor,

I was saddened to read on the cover of the San Mateo Daily News that April 4 was their last issue to be published that covered the city of San Mateo in favor of its markets to the south. This reduction in competition will no doubt will provide a benefit to the Daily Journal as a boost in advertising rates. I would hope that the Daily Journal uses this opportunity to expand its coverage of San Mateo and provide even more in depth reporting. As everyone knows, San Mateo is a vibrant community with newsworthy events and people throughout. With the loss of the Daily News, it will become that much harder to learn about and appreciate those stories that affect us all.

Joshua Hugg

San Mateo

No war on Muslims

Editor,

So Obama says to Muslims "No U.S. war on Islam?” (”Obama to Muslim world: No U.S. war with Islam” in the April 7 edition of the Daily Journal) Of course not. Bush said the same thing. But maybe someone ought to tell Islamists they shouldn’t make war on America.

Scott Abramson

San Mateo

It takes a pillage

Editor,

There are several reasons to oppose the San Carlos Measure B school tax proposal.

1. The avowed goal of the new tax is independence from fluctuations in state funding. But taxpayers would still have to pay state and local taxes.

2. Measure B is stealthy. Voters receive a mail-only ballot. Why wasn’t this tax put on the statewide ballot in May? Is a targeted turnout desired? And fliers for the vote stealthily omit saying yes means a $78 tax increase for six years.

3. This campaign harasses. Almost the same proposal was voted down just this past November. In 2003 a similar tax was passed, and it still has two years to run!

4. The first purpose some material lists is to "retain” teachers. Remember the AIG "retention” bonuses? Paying incumbent teachers more does not make them better or produce smarter students. Besides, where will the teachers go in the current job market if not "retained?” California teachers are among America’s highest-paid. San Carlos schools are mid-range in total funding in a county with some of the wealthiest towns in America, hardly providing balanced statistics.

5. This proposal demonstrates terrible timing. California unemployment is more than 10 percent, the state has raised sales taxes, it has doubled car taxes, it has increased income taxes, the feds recently raised one tax and may have to raise more, the county just tried to create two new taxes and the city is looking at possible new taxes/fees, but these people want a new parcel tax!

6. As Dr. Phil says, "Money problems are not solved providing more money; they are solved by personality change.” Let’s change something in the schools or the board. Perhaps we should do what HP did: Cut salaries by 5 percent. No one resigned at HP. Measure B supporters apparently echo Hillary Clinton: "It takes a pillage.” Schools should live within their budgets. When the last tax was proposed, voters were told that the schools would be in financial crisis without it, yet non-parcel tax revenue after the election went up, not down.

7. There are no local residents named on the flier I received. The second signer in the pamphlet? The president of the San Carlos Teachers Association. People favoring B usually have children in the schools. They, like "Octomom,” have a vested interest in extracting money from others to support their children.

Darwin Patnode, Ph.D.

San Carlos

Parents break traffic laws for school

Editor,

Thanks for your "Common Sense” guest perspective from Linda Koelling in the March 31 edition of the Daily Journal. She illustrated the potential overcrowding school problems and the parent’s method of "dropping” there kids at the schools in Foster City.

Another issue I would like to raise is the blatant disregard for traffic laws many parents have speeding with their kids towards the Elementary School on Gull Ave. The cross walks mean nothing to some parents. If they see you walking toward a cross walk, they will speed up. I cannot count how many times one of these "parents” have ignored me while waiting to cross Grebe at the corner of Marlin. On one occasion I was already in the street crossing, and a "Mom” careening around the corner almost hit both my dog and me. The funny part is that some of these "parents” give me dirty looks because they have to stop to let a pedestrian cross. Maybe we have discovered why teen drivers have so many accidents. They recall their mommy’s and daddy’s reckless driving on the way to school. The apple won’t fall far.

I guess it would be better to look at it this way: Imagine you are driving your child to school, you are a little late. What would be worse: Being late or explaining to your child why there is a person lying in the street because you mowed then down? Being late or having to be led away in handcuffs because you killed someone while ignoring traffic laws?

Phyllis McArthur

Foster City

California should follow Iowa with gay marriage

Editor,

I was very sad when I read about Iowa legalizing gay marriage ("Iowa Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage” in the April 4 edition of the Daily Journal). I was not sad about the decision, for I am in full support of equal rights and gay marriage. But, I was sad that the people of Iowa could see the unconstitutionality of denying an entire group of people a basic right, and yet the voters of California denied this same right with the passing of Proposition 8. California has always been a leader in social change, and yet we now need to follow. We need to follow Iowa’s lead, the first Midwest state to legalize gay marriage. To deny gay people the right to marry is to deny them of their fourteenth amendment rights and to say that domestic partnership should be enough is to give the gay population a second-class citizenship is wrong. Defining marriage as between a man and a woman is not protecting the traditional family or our children; it is keeping families apart by denying same-sex parents the right to be married. I hope that possibly the media coverage of California’s battle over Proposition 8 brought awareness to other states, including Iowa, about the need for equal marriage rights, and so we influenced social change in that way. However, I think it is time we take the reigns of the future and ban together to protect the equal rights of all our residents.

Kate Goethals

San Mateo