“Coalition Seeks Oakland ID Card,” News, 9/17
I’ll Be Over Soon
In your recent article on the plan to have Oakland pay for IDs for everyone in the city, you quote Maria Dominguez as saying: “If you live in Oakland, you should have the right to be called an Oakland citizen.” I’m not going to discuss Locke, Adam Smith, and the Federalist Papers on rights and citizenship, and won’t put too much emphasis on President Lincoln’s observation that calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it one. If Ms. Dominguez sincerely believes that living in a place confers the right to consume its resources, please publish her address so that people can break in her windows and insist that she feed them and provide them with free health care.
David Altschul, Berkeley
It Must be the Water
I have a great idea. Why not let ICE hand out the new IDs and anyone in this country illegally be put on the big white bus and sent home, at once! Where do these people get off aiding and abetting criminals. The feds should immediately remove all federal funding from any city, county, or state that promotes this kind of behavior. I bet then you would see our laws being enforced. Idiots! Is there something in the water in California that is causing people to become bleeding-heart liberals that don’t know the difference between legal and illegal? For crying out loud, grab a dictionary and look it up!
Bobbie McLaughlin, Myrtle Beach, SC
“The Science of Play,” Ideopolis, 9/24
You Don’t Have Kids, Do You?
Susan Kuchinskas used an interview with Stevanne “Dr. Toy” Auerbach for the following excerpt: “Auerbach thinks it’s a shame that there are more than two hundred children’s museums in the country, but none in the East Bay. She dreams of a venue like the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito, which is less about looking at exhibits and more about hands-on science and art projects, cultural festivals and performances.”
MOCHA, Museum of Children’s Art, located in downtown Oakland is not only committed to ensuring that the arts are a fundamental part of lives of all children, but additionally, MOCHA is getting ready to celebrate its 20th-anniversary serving Bay Area children.
Since 1989, MOCHA has encouraged hands-on learning in the arts and has promoted art as a way to help children of all backgrounds develop as healthy, resourceful, and involved citizens. More than 20,000 Bay Area children participate in MOCHA programs annually, ranging in ages from eighteen months to eighteen years, from all economic and ethnic backgrounds. MOCHA has been recognized both locally and nationally for our program excellence and has established a reputation for quality, sustainability, and dedication. MOCHA is one of many outstanding East Bay children’s museums, and we welcome the opportunity to introduce your readers to the programs offered in our dynamic, Old Oakland studios. (www.mocha.org)
Jessica Yarris, Marketing & Communications Coordinator, Museum of Children’s Art, Oakland
Not Even One, Huh?
I’m sure it was an oversight that your reporter failed to mention Habitot Children’s Museum (Berkeley), the East Bay’s ten-year-old discovery museum that recently won “Best Museum for Little Kids in the Bay Area (2008)” by Nickelodeon’s ParentsConnect.com. Dr. Toy (Stevanne Auerbach) has also served on Habitot’s Advisory Board for years. Over 750,000 people have visited Habitot, which celebrates unstructured play for children with hands-on exhibits, lots of loose parts and art materials in an interactive space. A core part of the museum’s mission is to engage parents and other other adults in playfulness with their children. In fact, Habitot cosponsored the January 2008 “Play Around the Bay” Symposium which attracted almost a hundred play leaders, recreation planners, museum people, educators, and others who are working to address this issue. In fact, the issue of children’s play may be one of the most overlooked aspects of our disintegrating social structure. I’ve heard of professors at prestigious engineering schools who bemoan the incoming graduate students because they have never held a screwdriver or taken anything apart. The creativity and ingenuity of the US, once our longest and strongest suit, is in decline because this kind of open-ended play is now so rare. Incidentally, Habitot has been seeking a larger and more accessible facility, with parking and outdoor space, for several years, and is eager to work with any community group in any East Bay city eager to make this happen.
Gina Moreland, Founder & Director, Habitot Children’s Museum
A Plea for Play
I couldn’t agree more with you, Dr. Toy. Not only are kids scheduled from dusk till dawn, many parents, especially working parents, share the same fast-paced lifestyle. Oftentimes parents involve their kids in activities in which the kids have no interest, however it consumes those free-time hours out of the day in which the parent knows their child is being watched.
The unfortunate net result is the fact that children are not being forced to use their imaginations and creativity. Recognizing the problem is one thing, bringing a solution is quite another. Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer, but whatever it takes to force children to use their own minds rather than simply following along I’m all for!
Steve Cohen, partner, ZinkoTek Toy System, Scottsdale, Arizona
“Peralta’s Nigerian Scam,” Full Disclosure, 9/24
Cute But Offensive
At one point or another, we’ve all opened a news publication to find stereotypical, demeaning, and culturally insensitive material. Last week it was in your pages. Although your use of “Nigerian scam” to draw our attention to Peralta’s alleged scamming of a Nigerian gentleman was somewhat cute, it was outright offensive and condescending to Nigerians and Africans in general.
I don’t know if it has been definitively established that the e-mail scams you spoke of have their origins in Nigeria, but even if you were correct, it would be unfair to call the fraud Nigerian. There are people from other countries who engage in similar scams. Two years ago in Nairobi, Kenya, I sat in an Internet cafe behind a man composing one of those e-mails. He had $15 million worth of gold stuck in Kenya and was looking for help smuggling it out. And long before the “Nigerian scam,” American senior citizens were sending out their life savings after being deceived to think they had won millions of dollars in sweepstakes.
Nigeria is a nation of 150 million people and most of them are honest people. You don’t believe me? Look in universities across America and you will find that some of the most distinguished professors hail from that country. To associate these exceptionally intelligent people with fraudulent schemes run by a minority of their countrymen exhibits inter-cultural incompetence of the highest order — the kind we expect from mainstream media.
Edwin O. Okong’o, Alameda
Domestic Scamming
Not only are they SCAMMING the Nigerians, they are scamming the American students as well, especially those in the Registered Nursing Progam at Merritt College! They are misusing specific grant money as well as state funding that is geared toward retaining students and decreasing the attrition rates at their institution! The chancellor is responsible for overseeing that the grant money is spent accordingly to the agreement of the grants which are specificially designed to increase student success! The current attrition rate for the first year students of fall 2008 is 70 percent!
Janessa Barnave, San Leandro
Editor’s Note
See this week’s news story.
“Meet the Mayor,” Feature, 9/17
Leadership, Not Reform
Yeah, term limits, there’s the answer. After all, inexperience and ideological “maniacism” have nothing to do with the state budget crisis.
If you put in term limits, the only people that will know how to run the city’s policy functions will be the council aides and the lobbyists, not the folks who will be held accountable by the vote. The idea that the more experience you have as a politician, the less qualified you should be to hold office is one of the most ridiculous myths of the neo-reform movement.
The fact is that Oakland is one of the few cities in the state with a strong mayor form of government and it is the mayor that should be held accountable for the success or failure, or lack, of programs and policies. The council holds the purse strings, but if no one at the top is taking visible leadership on specific policies — or pulling council and residents together for specific programs that cut across council boundaries — then ya can’t blame the councilmembers for prioritizing services within their districts — and getting those resources into their districts by any means necessary.
It is a misdemeanor for a council member to tell a day-to-day staff person what to do. They can in no way hire, fire, or punish them. That would be a crime. The best they can do is phrase their orders in the form of a question, because they are allowed to make informational inquiries of day-to-day staff. If staff aren’t performing, about the only council option is to do something dire to the entire department’s budget — it’s been done, but it is the political equivalent of swatting a fly with a nuclear weapon.
Oakland doesn’t need reform. It needs leadership.
Jay Leonhardy, Berkeley
“Local Licks: Astralingua’s Contact EP,” Music, 9/24
Cool and Worthy
I have to disagree Nate. Yes, there are a lot of different styles blended together in these songs, but they work together beautifully! The accordion, the jungly-Latin vibe, the shimmering harmonies — all very graceful and well-executed, and totally unique. I’m not even sure who to compare Astralingua to (Pink Floyd lost in the Amazon somewhere?) but they are definitely worth checking out (try “This Song” and “Contact”). There are so many layers to these compositions, and at least MY ears, mind, heart, and soul are all left satisfied. The music is honest, eerie, psychedelic … very cool and worthy of a serious listen.
Isabel Taylor, Berkeley
“An Oversize Talent,” Music, 9/24
No Jive
There’s not much more than I can say about the great Kenny Washington’s talent. Kenny has that rare gift of projecting a very deep soul through his singing with no pretention. He touches your heart. There’s no jive in Kenny. He’s the Real Thing. Go hear him and bask in the light in a true and rare artist.
Tom Marcello, Webster, New York
“There’s Just One Tree Left,” Seven Days, 9/10
Lacking Moral Fiber
The above column deserves much praise. Thank goodness for Chris Thompson! The five segments in the column only serve to demonstrate the moral fiber that seems to be lacking in our “leaders.”
Most disturbing of all is the fiasco between Don Perata and Arnold over the state budget. Why have a law on the books that no one is going to honor? Most budgets are for accountants, financial gurus, and housewives who understand the need for them.
Equally disturbing is the moral turpitude of Stephen Wesley, formerly of the Emery School District, over the lapses in his résumé. Didn’t anyone verify his background before he took office? In spite of his “faux pas,” wasn’t he doing a credible job? A “sheepskin” on a wall does not a degree make. Don’t you know that there are at least twenty major universities and forty two-year colleges that are unable to verify education credentials in this country? Even if Mr. Wesley had attended any one of them, they could not confirm his educational claims!
Perhaps “Barry” Obama can save us all! We certainly hope so! The Bobsey Twins who occupy the oval office are killing us all.
Joseph M. Palomba, LL.M., Oakland
Miscellaneous Letters
Politics as Usual
I received a very sweet email this morning from Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, reminding all of us of his many green accomplishments and celebrating the Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex. What Tom failed to mention (while he was busy naming the complex after himself) is that just across the highway there is a foundry called Pacific Steel Casting, that has been poisoning West Berkeley and Albany for more than seventy years and Tom and the rest of the Berkeley City Council have been unwilling to do anything about it. Would it surprise you to learn that Tom’s former employee Dion Aroner is now in the PR business and has gladly taken on PSC as its client? Politics and business as usual. Disgusting.
Andrew Galpern, Albany
Here’s a Way to Save Some Money
Just how more dysfunctional can it get? On October 1, same date as many other OUSD parents, I received a mailer from OUSD (mailed by them on September 30), inviting my family to participate in “right-sizing” discussions, taking place September 18-September 30 in various Oakland locations. They called it, hear this, “Community Engagement Meeting Schedule.” Ironic, hah? Is this a joke? Translated into all possible languages, an announcement that is not even sent out till the last one of the meetings is over?! Inviting me to participate? Paid for with my tax dollars? Prepared by the people whose salaries are paid — for doing this kind of a job — while my children’s schools are underfunded? If the person in charge of this mailer were to be fired, we could save:
The dysfunctional employee’s salary
Lots of paper
Lots of postage $$
OUSD face??
Note: I sent this letter to both Ms. Mayor and Mr. Matthews and received read receipts from each within thirty minutes and no reply of any kind.
Maria Ku, parent, Oakland
