Letters Letters (February 11, 2005)

Make council members complete their terms

Editor,

Through good luck and some good planning, the city of Pleasanton has maintained a budget surplus for the past few years. Two recent developments require the city to rely less on luck and more on planning to avoid a budget deficit. Those developments are 1) the acquisition of PeopleSoft by Oracle, and 2) the cost overruns and likely delayed opening of Callippe Preserve Golf Course.

Now is the time to curtail some of the free-spending habits Pleasanton has fallen into, such as: 1. $200,000 in modifications to Val Vista Park to placate a park neighbor (who no longer lives next to the park). 2. Overzealous installation of traffic signals. 3. $30,000 for a Bernal property block party. 4. Studies and analyses that often lead to no decision or re-study and re-analysis. 5. Financing of unnecessary special elections.

The $100,000-plus upcoming special election demonstrates how the city can take straightforward action to reduce unnecessary expenditures. City Council members are currently allowed to run for mayor before they complete their council terms. If the city eliminated this option, some special elections would be avoided. The political ambitions of council members would not be impeded since the mayor's seat comes up for election every two years.

I urge city leaders to be open-minded in examining how they can be more fiscally responsible given recent events that threaten the budget surplus. Jeff NarumPleasanton Lack of coaches pathetic

Editor,

My children are involved in sports, as are most kids in Pleasanton. Season after season, my husband and I get an e-mail or phone call that there are not enough coaches to handle all the teams. Why? Whatever the sport, there are parents that sign their kids up for the activity. Why aren't you parents offering to give some time for these sports? For instance, we signed our daughter up for softball, rec division. There are nine coaches and 12 teams. Twelve kids per team, approximately, each with a parent or guardian, times 12 teams, that equals 144 adults able to coach and only nine willing to volunteer. Pathetic!

I know nothing about softball but, of course, I will volunteer to coach if this means my daughter will get to play. Is this beneficial to the girls? I wouldn't want to discourage any child from a sport they want to play, especially if a coach isn't available. We parents are all very busy. This is no excuse for lack of coaches.

It's the same people season after season that are coaching sports. These same people pay the same fees for their kids to play as you do. I'm not sure why some of you adults feel that you don't need to get involved. If you expect a team for your kids to play on, then you should expect to help out. Call Pleasanton Parks and Community Services at 931-5340 to volunteer your coaching interest and get involved. Sharol CheneyCamelot Court ACE station should move to Bernal property

Editor,

Your article "Bernal Park plans going to commissions" (Feb. 4) is very one-sided with the "not-in-my-backyard" opinions getting most of the airtime. Union Pacific owns the right of way, and Altamont Commuter Express has permission to operate its trains over the UP tracks. Federal law requires that all trains blow their horns when approaching a railroad crossing and undercrossing. There is no law requiring the trains to blow their horn while entering a station.

It may sound like I am blowing my horn, but I have lived in Pleasanton since 1987 and have seen many changes, some good, some bad. Until recently, I was a regular rider of the ACE train. One inconvenience I always put up with was the co-location of the station with the Alameda County Fairgrounds. I understood that ACE was a "squatter" on county property and shared the parking lot with all those Fair activities. Part of the rationale for placing the new ACE station behind the schools is this idea of sharing. During the evening and on weekends, the sports park users could use the parking lot.

The horn blowing is a safety feature because the average citizen could not be trusted to use common sense around railroad right of ways. Moving the ACE station would alleviate more problems than it would create, especially since the ACE trains spend very little time in the station or on the surrounding tracks. It sure would be nice to have adequate parking next to those long overdue sports fields. Robert FlockPayne Road

E-mail a friend a link to this story.