Letters to the editor

Editor,

The Sierra Club’s Sustainable Land Use Committee has been asked to evaluate the two developments proposed for the Hayward Park Caltrain Station area. We are proceeding with representation from the19th Avenue/Park Neighborhood Association. Our committee has toured the site and looked at the Station Park Green and Hines Project plans. We were most impressed with the transportation demand management strategies for the two developments. As Rafael Reyes noted in his letter in the Aug. 11 edition of the Daily Journal, office workers will receive free Caltrain passes. In addition, there will be a free shuttle to downtown San Mateo for both projects. Tom Elliot is correct in his letter in the Aug. 19 edition of the Daily Journal that "it’s not all about transit.” We would argue that it’s not all about density. Elliot referred to Station Park Green as being "extremely high density,” when it is in fact less than the zoned density for that site. Rather than decreasing housing values in that neighborhood, we suspect it will be just the opposite. Almost anything would be an improvement from a largely vacant, big box site dominated by Kmart. We agree with Sue Lempert’s column in the July 27 edition of the Daily Journal that states the goal should be an attractive, walkable community offering neighborhood services and ensuring the long term survival of the Hayward Park Caltrain station. It is for these reasons that the Sierra Club is in the process of evaluating these two proposed developments to ensure that they add to both the quality of life in the neighborhood and sustainability of region.

Bonnie McClure

Chair of Sustainable Land Use Committee, Sierra Club, Loma Prieta chapter

Gladwyn d’Souza

Member of Sustainable Land Use Committee, Sierra Club, Loma Prieta chapter

Irvin Dawid

Member of Sustainable Land Use Committee, Sierra Club, Loma Prieta chapter

End-of-life discussions

Editor,

I learned from your Aug. 14 newspaper that the recent uproar over health care legislation has caused Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, one of the six lawmakers negotiating on the Senate health care bill to drop the mandatory, every five years, end-of-life discussions required by doctors. The discussions will now be considered voluntary.

As an older American, I was pleased to learn this new information until I was reminded of a recent interview of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, where he pointed out that our government considers income tax to be voluntary.

Robert Parkhurst

Redwood City

Down the wrong

path as usual

Editor,

The Speier town hall meeting looked like a poorly staged production again ("Congresswoman hears it on health care” in the Aug. 21 edition of the Daily Journal). Why would you look for leadership here? Her answer when gas was at $4 a gallon was to mandate a national speed limit of 60 mph. Is she channeling Nixon or what?

Steve Seitz

San Mateo

Perspective for

lawmakers on health care

Editor,

There is a very simple way to fix the U.S. health care problem: Take the taxpayer-sponsored health care away from all politicians and public employees without compensation. Let them shop and pay for their own insurance, just like the rest of us. You will be surprised how fast there will be a consensus on the subject in Washington to provide each citizen with adequate care.

And those dimwits who insist that the health care system in Germany does not work should use their insurance coverage to get professional help. I am German, and I know the system works. Of course there is always room for improvement, but the United States should be so lucky to get one comparable to the social (not socialist) systems in Europe.

Franz J. Kemper

San Carlos

A message to Senator Boxer

Editor,

Can U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer please join us and change your health care and pension plan to ours? It would show us all your leadership; after all don’t we all live in the same country?

We can’t wait to hear from you, the great news of being the first elected senator to cancel your health and pension plan; the reason being that ours is much better. So, hop aboard with the rest of us for the finest medical care in the world. Maybe the rest of the senators will follow your leadership. I am sure that the House Speaker Pelosi will be the first to support your decision.

What we need is a change, so we are all in the same boat, wouldn’t that be the American way?

John Chiappe

San Mateo

Health care contradiction

Editor,

What is missing in the health care debate is the realization that the Republicans are arguing out of both sides of their mouths. It is not simultaneously possible that private health care insurance is superior to a public insurance plan and at the same time unable to compete.

The right has long been fond of the argument that private companies can cut costs and deliver better service than government which is saddled with bureaucracy. But when threatened with a public option, they make an about-face and stridently complain that no private company can compete against the cheaper government plan.

This contradiction proves the point that the Republicans are merely arguing to argue and are not interested in constructively helping the people.

So be it. The Democrats have the numbers to plan a quality Democratic health care reform package if they turn the screws on the Blue Dog Democrats. Since the Republicans want to sit this out, let’s make this a real Democratic plan. Let’s strip out all Republican amendments, make the public option a simple expansion of Medicare and let’s pay for it by taxing the top 1.5 percent.

This is our bailout, the answer to the complaint by the average citizen: "What about us?”

Dani Weber

San Mateo