Letters

Editor,

The Aug. 14 edition of the Daily Journal discusses Proposition 86 but fails to mention the increase in crime that will very likely result. We are very poor at noting the unintended results of actions.

The price of cigarettes will kick off a boom of smuggling cigarettes from other states. I watched this happen a couple of decades back when I lived in New York state.

R. Dean Harman

San Mateo

Not just safety reasons?

Editor,

I am writing to express my views on your article regarding the Peninsula interchange ("City attempts to calm property seizure fears” from the Aug. 15 edition of the Daily Journal.

While the city keeps saying that a decision is years away, we were not given an opportunity to have any input on the widening portion of the Peninsula overpass prior to approval. I have continually asked to see more specific plans and whether there will be any kind of landscaping so that we, the residents, do not have to look at a concrete retaining-wall. I have expressed my concerns regarding the problem with graffiti and also included a series of photos with examples of soundwalls in Burlingame and San Mateo showing the great differences between planting a vine crawling greenery versus having a blank wall. I had sent a letter with the photos to the mayor and all council members and Mr. Larry Patterson as well. As yet, I have not received a reply.

How can we trust a city that cannot even give us an answer on such a simple request? We, the residents, are beginning to feel there are other motives at work in regards to expanding this interchange other than safety reasons.

Joanne Bennett

San Mateo

Slope density

requirements needed

Editor,

Slope-density is essential for all our hilly areas of Belmont! In answer to Warren Gibson’s Aug. 15 letter to the editor against extending the slope-density formula throughout Belmont, what he didn't mention is that he was a leader and the treasurer of the campaign against Measure F.

Measure F passed with over 73 percent of the vote while Mr. Gibson, together with a developer who wanted to develop part of the San Juan Canyon, worked vehemently against it. What is interesting is that Mr. Gibson at another time actually helped draft the slope-density formula for the San Juan Canyon.

This is what slope density means:

When a developer wants to take his parcel and subdivide it, the number of lots he can get out of it depends on the size and the slope of the parcel. That kind of subdivision is permissible in our western hills and the San Juan Canyon. Measure F, additionally ensures that if a developer wants to subdivide their parcel into more lots than are allowed by the slope density formula, it would go to the vote of the people for approval.

Coralin Feierbach

Belmont

The letter writer is a member of the Belmont City Council.

Clean money

means fair elections

Editor,

Special interests, lobbyists, pay to play ... If you’re sick of politics as usual, then Proposition 89, the Clean Money and Fair Elections Act is for you.

Proposition 89 gives candidates a choice in financing their campaigns: Either do what they do now, which is solicit large donations from wealthy individuals and corporations or, collect only small donations and receive public financing. This proposition gives us voters a choice too: We will be able to vote for candidates who spend their time begging for campaign money from those who demand expensive favors in return or for candidates who do not.

The "Clean Money and Fair Elections Act” is a dividing-line issue pitting the extremely rich, who want to keep politicians in their pockets against the rest of us, who want our representatives free from their control.

Of course, corporations are investing tens of millions of dollars to crush Proposition 89. To combat their propaganda, we all need to be active participants in this election. Talk it up at work and with your friends and relatives. Join or start a Clean Money group in your area. Google "clean money” to find out more.

Mike Kirchubel

Fairfield

Numbers killed in fighting

Editor,

It is interesting to observe how subtly our news is slanted. For example, this sentence quoted in several newspapers — undoubtedly pulled from a news source such as AP: "Over 800 people have been killed in the month-long conflict in Lebanon.”

For one thing, the word "conflict” is much nicer than "invasion.” But, more importantly, such descriptions of the death toll are meant to include Israeli deaths; but one is left to just guess as to how many of the larger number would be Israelis.

Actually, the figure quoted has now climbed to over 1,000 deaths of just Lebanese men, women and children — many more women and children than men. Readers might be interested to know that according to a recent authoritative report heard on KPFA on Aug. 10, the number of Israelis killed is 121. That would include civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets as well as soldiers killed in action. Of course, all these deaths are regrettable, but I would just suggest that we may be getting a somewhat distorted picture of which side is causing most of them.

Don Havis

San Mateo<