February 18, 2000
....The Public Forum
On "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert (NBC) George W. Bush repeatedly talked about others "subscribing" to him viewpoints which were not his. Obviously he meant "ascribing" viewpoints to him… He also talked repeatedly about "Checehnyans," when he meant "Chechens."
George W. Bush makes it clear that the level of reading and writing in our schools needs to be raised dramatically.
So while improving the reading and writing skills of our kids, I suggest we must also improve the geography.
Kwame Mbutu
(Obviously Mr. Bush didn't pay much attention while in school.)
Ways to Celebrate Cesar Chavez Day
Regarding your Feb. editorial "Cesar Chavez Legacy Betrayed" commenting on the California Senate -approved measure to create a paid holiday honoring "Cesar Chavez," who led the struggle to bring justice to the farm workers of California. Proposing "60-100" MILLION dollars in tax dollars in salaries to be paid to state workers for the day off instead should be used to upgrade the lives of the working underclass of this state!
Another practical way to celebrate the memory of Cesar Chavez would be, for example, for the state to allocate funds to the city of San Diego for resurfacing portions of University Ave. and El Cajon Blvd. in the North Park-East, San Diego districts, that are so badly in need of repairs.
I'd wager the farm that if Cesar Chavez were alive today he would approve of such beneficial, practical measures to honor him instead of with a "meaningless symbol" as a paid state holiday, as La Prensa suggests.
Ray Gardner
San Diego
(Glad to see you understood the gist of the editorial. Unfortunately, some of our readers misread the editorial and understood it to mean that La Prensa was opposing the state making Chavez's birthday a state-wide celebration in honor of his achievements and accomplishments. Readers of La Prensa San Diego well know that La Prensa has honored Cesar Chavez, since his death, on his birthday, with stories, pictures and recollections of his contributions to the farm workers of America. He truly was an icon of his time. What we objected to was making it a paid holiday for hundreds of thousands of state workers that would have cost the taxpayers millions of dollars. Millions of Mexican-Americans, Filipinos and working class people will still honor Cesar on his special day with or without being paid for it. Use our tax dollars to help his people achieve a better standard of life, better health, education and working conditions.)
FALSE CLAIMS OF BALLPARK MANDATE
There have been a lot of false statements and statistics bandied about by promoters of the downtown ballpark i.e. 63% of the people of San Diego voted for the ballpark plan. I thought that was high so I looked up the figures ( from the City of San Diego, San Diego County Registrar of voters, and SANDAG)
The Facts: Out of 1,224,848 people in San Diego 195,272 wanted this deal enough to vote for it! This less than 16% of the people in San Diego!
FACT: Out of 550,032 registered voters in San Diego, 195,272 voted for Prop C! This is less than 36% of the registered voters of San Diego!
So even before the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was breached by increasing the city's share of cost by $74 million dollars- there still wasn't a real majority of the people of San Diego supporting it.
Fairness requires that the city, team, & contractors abide by the original MOU or send the new MOU to the people of San Diego for a vote. Of course, we can't expect those who would bond us all with the "mandate" of 16% of us, to be concerned about fairness.
J.R. (Nobody) Graham
San Diego
(What say ye; Mayor Susan Golding, Council Persons Juan Vargas, George Stevens, Barbara Warden, Christine Kehoe, Byron Wear, Judy McCarthy, Valerie Stallings, Harry Mathis???? Was it the higher math that got to you?????)
PROP 26 Will Open Flood Gates of Spending
Prop 26 will open a flood gates for a new wave of spending by government… The problem with funding public schools, or any other state-run entity, is not how much is spent, but rather how it is spent. Local spending per student has risen from around $6,500 to over $8,200 in the past 4 years!
Remember Prop MM? The State Lottery? We were going to save our schools with that money. In 1913 the income tax rate was 1% of earnings over $39,000 and Medicare was never going to exceed $9 billion. Where are we at now?
Long term debt should be incurred only with an overwhelming majority of the vote. As the 2/3rd requirement. Anything else will only mean an ongoing parade of new debt and Hugh taxes, Vote No on 26.
Larry Rosner
Santee, Ca.
El Grupo Sin Nombre del Condado del Norte
Election 2000 Candidate Forum will be held on Sunday, February 27, from 4:00PM-6:00PM, at the "Casa Linda Restaurant," 721 S. Santa Fe Ave, Vista. Ca. El Grupo Sin Nombre, a coalition of Latino Organizations, will be sponsoring the event. Candidates who are running for office in the North County have been invited to attend. All Latinos are invited to attend and ask the questions that are important to your community. For further information call Luis at 1(760)743-0382 or 480-0091.
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