Another political party

The Gonzalez vs. Newsom race is a perfect illustration of why we need a third (or at least second) party in this city. Were this race Newsom vs. another Democrat, we would never have seen the self-serving nature of the people in power in the San Francisco Democratic Party. While most city voters are making their choice based on the merits of the candidates – and choosing Gonzalez – many erstwhile progressive "leaders" have come out in favor of the Republican-lite Newsom, just to maintain their party's lock on power. It is becoming clear who cares only about power and who actually cares about the issues at stake.

Tony Brasunas,
San Francisco

Newsom against neighborhoods

I am surprised that Supervisor Ma or anyone who values San Francisco's neighborhoods would support Gavin Newsom for mayor. Mr. Newsom is on record as supporting the Workforce Housing Initiative, a misbegotten initiative for ballot-box "planning" that insults the future we neighbors crafted for our neighborhood in hard deliberations to complete our Central Waterfront Better Neighborhoods plan.

In informed deliberations, we agreed to accept 1,500 new houses in our neighborhood. Newsom's rich developer friends – who never participated in this open public planning process – now say we who live here are simply wrong, that they know better about how our neighborhood should grow and change, and that we must accept FOUR TIMES MORE HOUSING than we think appropriate.

The Workforce Housing Initiative that Newsom supports would utterly destroy my neighborhood. Spurred on by zealot developers, his support for this ill-informed initiative against our neighborhood – and against our wishes – very clearly shows his absolute disdain for neighborhood values, and makes clear that he is in the pockets of developers, who appear to be more from Oz than from San Francisco.

Say no to the Newsom-Brown steamroller. Don't let his rich machine buy your neighborhood at the expense of its livability. Let's use this election to kill the Willie Brown developer machine for good!

Anita Bennet,
San Francisco

A teacher for Newsom

After much soul-searching, I have come to the conclusion that the lesser of the two evils in San Francisco's mayor's race is Supervisor Gavin Newsom. I believe that the strengthening of the Green Party in San Francisco, and in California, can come only at the expense of the Democratic Party. Therefore, voting for any Green candidates will only assist the Republican putschists who have seized the governorship in this state.

Additionally, as an educator in San Francisco schools, I have seen that on the one issue which directly affected teachers, students, and parents (the Ammiano Schools Charter Amendment), Supervisor Matt Gonzalez voted against those interests. Small wonder that not one significant education organization has endorsed his campaign. And, in an issue directly related to the interests of teachers, Gonzalez's Green allies on the San Francisco Board of Education (Commissioners Sanchez and Lipson) voted to deny teachers a raise that was negotiated by the teachers union and agreed to by the district's bargaining team.

Vince Quackenbush,
San Francisco

Baby bullet misses target

Amid several successful projects and changes that should make any Caltrain employee proud, there is reason to worry that the new and exciting baby-bullet train will miss its target. In the spring of 2004, Caltrain will introduce the long awaited train that makes very few strategic stops and overtakes other trains for quicker travel. It has been promoted and marketed for being able to reduce the round trip travel time for long-haul riders (to/from San Francisco and Silicon Valley) from 112 minutes to 86 minutes. However, a recent preliminary plan released by Caltrain reveals not-so-strategic stops that are not consistent with Caltrain's own survey of station popularity, can hardly bring in new riders, and result in increased riding time for about a quarter of the existing long-haul riders.

In the proposed plan, the baby bullet only serves the 4th and King end station in San Francisco. The baby bullet then skips the other San Francisco stops (bypassing a large pool of current and potential long-haul riders) going directly to Millbrae and then Hillsdale, both located approximately midspan, hence breaking up the long-haul trip before going to Silicon Valley. The location of the San Francisco stop forces current and potential long-haul Caltrain riders in the area to connect to the baby bullet by means of other public transportation, as parking is very limited at 4th and King.

The time savings that the baby bullet can offer on long rides is very compelling, and can attract the new riders that pay for long-haul trips. However, to fully tap into the available pool of long-haul riders, Caltrain has to add at least one more San Francisco stop that gives an opportunity for those without quick and convenient connections to 4th and King to park their cars and get on the bullet train.

In addition, Caltrain should use an asymmetrical schedule for the baby bullet as it currently does successfully for its "express" trains. In such a plan the baby bullet coming from Silicon Valley in the morning does not need to stop at 22nd Street; instead Caltrain should add a bullet stop in Silicon Valley to pick up more long-haul riders.