Go-cart track and options for teen entertainment a plus for Gilroy

Letters on the go-cart proposal, Teresa Alvarado’s bid for
supervisor, the desires of space aliens, fear in American society
and the Republicans who just don’t understand
Go-cart track and options for teen entertainment a plus for Gilroy

Dear Editor,

After reading the article “Go-cart track at former Wal-Mart”, I am glad to hear that something may finally happen with the old Wal-Mart building. It’s just been sitting there, doing no good for the city and wasting a ton of space, space that could be used to benefit both the city and its inhabitants.

A recreational center, such as the one Brian Bradshaw proposes, with a go-cart track, paint ball, laser shows, and live music would help the city by bringing more people, revenue, and attention to Gilroy. A center such as this would also give kids and teenagers more options, because there really isn’t that much to do in Gilroy. 

A place like this could help keep a lot of kids out of trouble and help boost the city’s economy.

Chrissy Allen, Gilroy

Alvarado ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest of the candidates

Dear Editor,

Last Saturday, I turned to the editorial pages in the San Jose newspaper and I was very happy to read of the endorsement of Teresa Alvarado for Santa Clara County Supervisor District 1 which covers South County. I have been involved with community issues for years and have worked on and with many candidates. Some of the best elections I have been involved in include Former Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy, Assemblyman Bill Monning and Congressman Jerry McNerney. I have also served on a city commission, and have been vocal about the flooding issue in Morgan Hill, the lack of an air quality monitoring station, and I serve on the Perchlorate Community Advisory Committee.

So, when a great candidate comes along for an important position, I pay attention. I really got to know Teresa Alvarado at the last very successful wine stroll. We were able to sit down and talk about the issues facing the county in general and South County in particular. Teresa blew me away! She knows in detail the issues that South County voters are facing. She answered all of my questions and I found her to be very intelligent and educated in many facets regarding the environment, public service and local issues. As the endorsement stated, “Alvarado has the right blend of fiscal responsibility tempered with understanding to help guide the county through exceptionally perilous times.”

I could not support a candidate that has the backing of big labor and developers looking at South County like it is a gold mine. Teresa is for sensible yet controlled growth. Her opponent Forrest Williams, (a nice guy) tried to push Coyote Valley Development and did not fulfill a promise that the City of San Jose made to place an air quality monitoring station downwind of Calpine Energy Center. She is of course a champion of our Hispanic Community, as her tenure as chief executive officer of the non-profit Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley proves. I encourage all of you to attend the candidates forum on May 4 at the Morgan Hill Playhouse and get to know Teresa, and you will understand why she is “head and shoulders above the rest.”

By the way, she is the only candidate to blast the fact that Morgan Hill’s downtown floods nearly every year, and called it a travesty. She will have my vote! 

Swanee Edwards, Morgan Hill 

Leave us ‘space aliens’ be – we’re ‘productive citizens of Earth’

Dear Editor,

So Mr. Hawking, you say it’s “too risky” to contact beings from other planets? You must be thinking about moving to Arizona because of your anti-alien rhetoric. We don’t like being called “space aliens.” We see ourselves as “Citizens of the Universe.”

We need to stop listening to racist pigs like Stephen Hawking. If we are going to get along in the universe we have to stop judging people be the color of their skin or what planet they were born on. For years people from other planets have become productive citizens of Earth.

While it is true that we have taken jobs in the computer design and software development industry, we only design the chips and write the software that no one else wants to do, working for free in an open source world. I know many of you are afraid that we are just here to breed your women and use our mind control powers to make you vote for people who no one had ever heard of like Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. But we just want to be treated like people no matter if our skin color is white, brown, black, yellow, invisible, or green.

We should not be forced to carry identifier chips to be scanned by police robots to prove that we are legally allowed to be here on this planet.

Marc Perkel, Gilroy

Trip to passport office prompts a few thoughts on fear in society

Dear Editor,

I was in a strange country today and visited a store. As I walked in, there were four or five very stern uniformed guards. One barked that I should empty my pockets and step through the metal detector. I emptied my pockets, and as I walked through the detector I worried whether I had forgotten anything.

A guard poked at my wallet, unfolding it to make sure it was safe, and carefully inspected my belongings. They X-rayed my backpack to make sure I wasn’t carrying anything that their X-ray machine might detect. After passing the tests I collected my coins, wallet, keys, and phone and proceeded into the store, feeling pleased that everyone knew that I posed no threat.

Inside I was surprised to see that all the employees of the store were enclosed in inch-thick bulletproof glass with only a narrow slit to allow interaction. It was difficult to hear them though the barrier, but we managed. The employees were pleasant and otherwise seemed like normal people – people similar to us customers. But the space was divided – a large area for us customers, and a strongly protected smaller dominion for the employees of the store. They must be very afraid of us – what is going on?

This is the passport office at 95 Hawthorne St. in San Francisco. If you ever need a passport on short notice you will meet these frightened federal workers and get to have muffled conversation through their slits. What is going on? If you walked into a Starbucks, Wal-Mart, or even Wells Fargo Bank and saw this situation, you might conclude that you were in a really bad neighborhood, or that the company only hired cowards, or perhaps something else. But cowardice is not quite the right word, since cowardice can include a profound debilitating fear of a real danger – this is much more like the fear felt by small children – fear of the dark and monsters – bogeyman fear. Children need adults. Where are the adults? 

In contrast, as I sat near the Moscone Convention Center waiting for my passport officials to do their official magic, I overheard a troubled homeless man sitting nearby. He was having an angry, loud, and sometimes vulgar argument with someone only he could see or hear. Nobody nearby seemed the least bit worried or surprised by his behavior – and all I could feel was pity that there was no help for him. There were no stern guards or metal detectors or fear. 

Later, while walking on the crowded streets toward lunch, a young woman handed me a card informing me that for $45 I could get a one hour “therapeutic message” from “young Asian girls” – including a shower. I had a shower a few hours earlier, and the therapeutic value of “young Asian girls” was unknown to me. But there was no mention of narrow glass slits.  There was no hint of fear in the young woman, or the brisk crowd, or even the restaurant patrons where crowds of people mingled and occasionally brushed against one another – there was no fear – I was clearly among adults.

The world has bifurcated. We need to comfort and educate the frightened children of the world and not let them be in charge?

Jon Ebert, Gilroy

Those silly Republicans who can’t seem to see the political irony

Dear Editor,

Oh those Republican Congressmen

They are a funny bunch

When it come to ethics

They always seem to be out to lunch

Like passing healthcare

For the common man

They’ve got theirs

So everyone else be damned 

Everyone with health insurance

In our great land

Is very dangerous

And a socialist plan

But when big banks

Or Wall Street hollers

They’re right there

To shell out our dollars 

When the Democrats want to regulate

And change some legislation

They won’t even listen to

Some pertinent information

Tom Engebretson, Gilroy