September 2007 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

Reverse the Google Commute

Editor:

In reference to your article about Google's noisy bus service between Noe Valley and its Mountain View headquarters ["Google Buses Rankle Jersey Street Residents," by Corrie M. Anders, July/August 2007 Voice], we seriously need to consider why so many people are willing to commute like this. I confess that I am bitter, having moved to San Francisco in order to live in the city as an underpaid artist, that I have to compete with well-remunerated Google employees for housing.

If Google only attracts workers living in Noe Valley, then it should move its offices here. Conversely, Mountain View and other Silicon Valley cities also need to rethink their development plans. The situation extends beyond Google to numerous Silicon Valley companies.

The city planning and development implications of this situation are far deeper and more disturbing than a few corporate buses.

Yours truly,
Tom Busse
Market Street

Shuttle No Worse Than Stroller Brigade

Editor:

My partner and I read the recent article about the shuttle service provided by Google for its employees, the impact on the neighborhood, and the solutions members of the community are working together towards. We applaud the parties seeking a working solution to this situation.

We laughed together, though, as we agreed we are less likely to be run down by a Google shuttle bus on 24th Street than by a latte-drinking, iPod-listening, mobile-phone-talking, stroller-pushing, dog-pulling Noe Valley housewife, walking alongside another gear-intensive parent also situationally unaware that anyone else exists.

In Humor, But in Truth,

Kent W. Bloom
Via e-mail

Iraq Moratorium Echoes Vietnam Protests

Dear Noe Valley Neighbors:

Occasionally, I do antiwar tabling on 24th Street in Noe Valley, and people are often very positive about signing postcards, writing letters, and, in general, showing their disgust with the Iraq War. Like me, they are sick and tired of watching our government spend $10 billion a month in Iraq -- money that would be better spent on bridge repairs, health care, education, veterans' care...the list goes on.

Now I would like to ask my neighbors to join a new campaign, the San Francisco Iraq Moratorium. This is a project that takes its name from the Moratorium of 1969, which swelled protests during the Vietnam War. Its goal is to end U.S. military involvement in Iraq and to bring our troops home safely.

The plan is simple: On Friday, Sept. 21 (International Peace Day), and on subsequent third Fridays of each month, we're asking people in communities across the country to break from their daily routine and take some action where they live, work, or study.

An action could be making a call to Congress demanding that the war no longer be funded and that human needs in this country be a top priority for a change. Other steps might be holding a vigil or religious service, reading the names of the Iraqi and U.S. war dead, or visiting or writing an elected official.

Many of us will be wearing black armbands or ribbons, as a symbol of mourning for all those who have died in this illegal and immoral occupation.

The Iraq Moratorium is not an organization. Rather, it is a project that will strengthen the work of peace and democracy in our country. For more information, e-mail sfbay_iraqmoratorium@yahoo.com. Or you may leave a message at 415-861-1438.

Someone somewhere said, "We are not all guilty, but we are all responsible."

Peace, hope,

Kathy Lipscomb
Cesar Chavez Street