Letters to the Editor, June 1 - 4

Readers weigh in.|

Squeeze play

EDITOR: My letter is in response to Friday's 'Glass Full/Glass Empty' piece (in which Sonoma resident Audrey C. wrote in about a local accordion busker who plays along to a recording). Tell Audrey she really hasn't been 'had' by the accordion busker. I, too, wondered what was up with him and since I took a few accordion lessons as a kid I kinda knew what to look for. So what I saw what he's doing is: he is playing the accordion keyboard (right hand) but not the bass (left hand with 120 buttons) with some prerecorded accompaniment. And from what I could see, he's playing pretty nice chords. So that counts in my book. And actually I think it's the bass that gives the accordion its bad rep – i.e. oohm-pah-pah oohm-pah-pah polka sound. So maybe he's better off without it. But, on the other hand (no pun intended), you really aren't playing the accordion if you can't play the bass.

D. Salomon, aka Madhatter

Sonoma

Highway 37? More like 'hellscape 37'!

EDITOR: I'm writing to urge all of my fellow voters to vote 'yes' on Regional Measure 3 on the June 5 ballot.

The health of any community relies on its roads and the ease of transportation and our community has a serious arterial blockage going on in the form of Highway 37. This is a hellscape if you are unfortunate enough to be on it anytime in the afternoon to evening.

The backup is so bad that it has spread to Adobe and Stage Gulch roads in Petaluma during commute hours with people trying desperately to find some quicker way through. The back up every weekday now includes miles of Adobe Road to 116 all the way into Sonoma and the intersection of 121 and 116. It's appalling.

No one wants to leave the 'island' of our town if you have to use 37 to get back home before 7 p.m. Pity the poor commuters whose commute to San Francisco used to be one hour and is now two, for a big wasted four hours of each day making an eight hour day now a 12 hour day with one third of that day wasted sitting in traffic burning fuel and daylight, when that person should be at home with their children. It's disgraceful, and it's fixable with a 'yes' vote.

This traffic situation affects everyone's quality of life who lives here, don't let it deteriorate further, let's pull together and fix this now. Vote 'yes' on Measure 3!

Anne Petersen

Sonoma

Sad fate of SDC residents

EDITOR: I'm writing regarding the Sonoma Developmental Center and its planned closure by the end of the year. I also attended the legislative meeting, which was attended by Susan Gorin, Mike McGuire, Bill Dodd, Richard Dale of the Ecology Center and John McCaull of the Sonoma Land Trust, among others. The meeting's purpose was to celebrate and thank all the above elected officials for their efforts on behalf of SDC.

The meeting was more like a memorial service than a celebration and the transfer of its remaining residents to individual homes in the community is not the bright solution to the care and housing of these patients with multiple physical and mental disabilities.

There is no way that putting five or six patients in a small home with maybe one and a half caregivers is going to be an improvement over having them under the care of a professional staff that provides the services these delicate human beings need.

The firm Wallace, Roberts and Todd was awarded the $2 million contract to prepare a report that does not cover plans for the needs of the remaining residents, only what are the best uses of the property.

It is indeed sad, if not criminal, to view the current nationwide status of how we care for our neediest and most fragile population. The regional centers and small homes are not the total answer. Some will survive with this type of are, but others will not.

Helen M. Rowntree

Sonoma

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