What is the cost of Alamo incorporation?
Dear Editor:
In reference to Smitty Schmidt’s letter Oct. 3: At the LAFCO meeting Sept. 18 I saw all of the percentages from various taxes that would revert to Alamo if it incorporates. I have yet to see dollar figures, actual costs of all the services and buildings, police cars, city hall, etc., etc. I feel she should perhaps let me know what the costs of incorporation will be. I am going to list all my concerns and perhaps she will let me know. I am not interested in percentages; I’m interested in what incorporation is going to actually cost.
Let’s start with the police department – cars, police station – salaries for mayor and council members, medical insurance, city hall, maintenance yard, vehicles for maintenance personnel, wages for 12 maintenance workers, planning commission, bonuses and pension plans, meeting hall, and you say by 2018-2019 the Town of Alamo would have a healthier than average nest egg. I don’t even buy green bananas any more, let alone wait for 2018-2019.
I’m just asking for the figures.
Tony Carnemolla, Alamo
Lost and found
Dear Editor:
Lost: Obama-Biden posters from front yard of Livorna Heights Road properties (didn’t know it had legs – had staked it to the ground)
Please return to owners – no questions asked! (No charges will be pressed for stealing/trespassing/censorship.)
And, by the way, Joan Buchanan for Assembly signs were also removed – though at least one was left on the street.
Jenny Caulfield, Alamo
Prop 8 does discriminate
Dear Editor:
Mayor Candace Andersen’s letter (Oct. 3) stating “Under California state law the rights and privileges are essentially the same” between “marriage” and “civil unions” is wrong. When you’re married and your spouse is sick or hurt, you get into the ambulance or hospital room with no questions asked. In everyday life, and especially in emergency situations, domestic partnerships are simply not enough. Only marriage provides the certainty and the security that people can count on in times of greatest need.
Also marriage conveys immediate tax benefits that domestic partnerships do not. As domestic partners (which we were) if I died tomorrow my partner of 21 years would have to pay inheritance tax on the home we bought together six years ago. However, as a legally married couple (which we now are) he will automatically be granted full title without having to pay a cent.
David and I got married at San Francisco City Hall on June 25, then celebrated the blessing of our vows July 24 in a deeply moving religious ceremony at St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church where I both worship and work. This ceremony was attended by 200 friends and members of our parish, many of whom said it was one of the most wonderful expressions of love they had seen in years. I find it ironic that the cover of the issue with Andersen’s letter had a bold red headline, “Love of a Life.”
If the mayor believes her statement, “I do not believe that anyone in our community should be discriminated against based upon his or her sexual orientation,” then she should VOTE NO on Proposition 8.
Pat Parr, Associate for Music Ministry
, . Timothy’s Episcopal Church
McNerney good candidate – for Berkeley
Dear Editor:
While I question the propriety of the Danville Weekly printing what is obviously a thinly veiled campaign advertisement for U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney (Howard T. Goodman’s letter, Oct. 10), I feel obligated to respond in kind. Goodman would have us believe that McNerney’s actions in the House of Representatives reflects the majority of the 11th District. I have found otherwise.
Notwithstanding Goodman’s kind words for McNerney, there can be no question that the 11th District has different values than the liberal Democratic areas such as San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. Furthermore, McNerney has met with and received support from such left wing groups as Code Pink and MoveOn.org. Code Pink is a notorious, extreme left wing group that has engaged in such despicable acts as parading coffins outside of Walter Reed military hospital while calling wounded US soldiers “terrorists.”
The liberal Democratic advocacy group “Americans for Democratic Action” gave McNerney a “Liberal Quotient” (the percentage of votes for liberal causes) of 95 percent. That is higher than notoriously liberal House members such as Barbara Lee, Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey (and even Ted Kennedy!). McNerney would be a fine Representative for Berkeley but he’s out of touch with the 11th District.
It’s no secret that McNerney came to office riding a wave of liberal money and influence from outside of the 11th District. He’s done an admirable job of paying back that constituency, but he’s so far out of step with the typical 11th District resident that even a disappointing candidate like Dean Andal is a better choice than McNerney.
Marc Greendorfer, Danville
