Dec. 13
No to Whole Foods store
Traffic congestion continues to be one of the results of development in Santa Cruz County which impacts all of us. It overwhelms our streets, highways and, in the case of Whole Foods, our neighborhood.

Whole Foods wants to move into the small shopping area at the corner of 17th Avenue and Soquel Avenue where Staples and West Marine are currently located. Soquel, at this point, is a two lane frontage road along Highway 1 between the Soquel and 41st Avenue overpasses. Both overpasses are extremely congested with traffic already, and Soquel is a very busy secondary road trying to handle the increased traffic already on Highway 1 and Capitola Road. 17th Avenue is also a busy two-lane road. When Green Acres Elementary School lets out in the afternoon, there are many children trying to make their way home along 17th, Paul Minnie Avenue and Rodriquez Street. All of these streets would see an increase in traffic with a supermarket in that area.

Retail development, i.e., a magnet store such as Whole Foods, that would draw people from a large part of Santa Cruz city and County does not belong in a neighborhood of streets never designed for business traffic, which is already having trouble coping with the current traffic load.

Mary Ann Leer

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
Selfish desires destructive
Recently our District Attorney Ron Ruiz was quoted as suggesting a “genuine” attraction existed between a 13-year-old boy and Laurie Flower, a 37-year-old woman. This supposed attraction was behind the reason Ms. Flower received only a one-year jail sentence along with some other inconveniences. Whatever happened to the universal responsibility of adults protecting minors? I understand this minor now has a drug problem, too.

It is clear that in the name of personal freedom, adults, including our own district attorney, persons in authority, have caved in to the selfish desires of others, to the neglect of protecting and providing for innocent and developing young humans. This includes protection of the unborn. Thank God my mother chose life even though she was not ready to get pregnant. Regardless of science, such as ultrasound, in our culture you do not exist because you can’t be seen. Selfish desires lead to destruction,

When will our community in Santa Cruz County wake up and stop pandering to the weaknesses of adults and begin to take responsibility for protecting the innocents entrusted to our care? Plan accordingly on Election Day.

Mark Vanderhoof

Scotts Valley

Dec. 13
Stop promoting project
Are we in for another saturation bombing from your editorial staff on the benefits of big box stores?

For example:

Dec. 8 Sentinel headline article: “Home Depot works on opposition — retailer promises to solve traffic problems, protect habitat.”

Dec. 8 letter to the editor from Home Depot employee Dan Evans (Coordinator Santa Cruz County Home Depot Project), touts Home Depot as a provider of good paying jobs and free money for the public libraries.

Dec. 9 Sentinel editorial, promotes Home Depot and complains about “anti-growth rhetoric.”

I have news for you, Mr. Editor. Promoting a big box store at 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive is irresponsible. We now sit in stop-and-go traffic on Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Aptos during most of the day and evening hours. The hundreds of commuters who try to beat the traffic by using Soquel Drive or frontage roads are finding the same problems. This is not “anti-growth rhetoric,” it’s called gridlock.

While big boxes buy volumes of advertising in newspapers, they buy grief for those who live here. There is no way another traffic-generating business such as Home Depot should be built at the proposed location. Please stop promoting this ill-conceived project.

Paul Elerick

Aptos

Dec. 13
Activism group diverse
And I quote “ ... the kind of people who have time for environmental activism usually aren’t struggling single parents trying desperately to find baby-sitters.” Does the author of Dec. 9’s As We See It column know any activists? I am a member of the Live Oak Neighbors Against Sprawl. We are a diverse group of 100 men and women, with and without children, rich and poor alike who give up our time to protect our quality of life from intensified developments like Whole Foods and Home Depot.

A group of us meets every two weeks to discuss the problems associated with Whole Foods. A lot of these problems focus on protecting our children from increased traffic around Green Acres Elementary School and the damaging fumes those extra cars bring to the neighborhood. And do you know what? Some of us bring our kids with us to those meetings. Some of us take time off work and our busy schedules to protest this planned development. A diverse coalition of people from the Live Oak community and throughout the county are struggling to preserve our quality of life.

The editor also mentions later in the article that Santa Cruz needs to find ways to make child care more affordable. Who would disagree with that? But I fail to see the connection between big box stores and affordable child care. What we need is smart, well-planned development. We need to create opportunities for ourselves and our children to be successful in our economy. A Whole Foods development does not bring those kinds of opportunities, but rather jobs that pay just above minimum wage.

Amber Anneson

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
Uninformed reporting
With dismay I read your editorial on the Gray Whale Trails Advisory Committee.

As a member of that committee, it is clear to me you have little idea of what the group’s mission is, or what is currently going on within it. Surely it would have behooved you to either come and observe even one of our monthly meetings, or at least interview a cross- section of the membership before issuing such an opinion. You clearly did neither and have thereby denigrated the hard work of a lot of good people trying to grapple with and do justice to a complex undertaking. The group in question, and the entire community, deserve deeper and more informed reporting, and wiser and more responsible opinion. I truly hope you’ll try to do better in the future.

Paul Hostetter

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
Activism group diverse
And I quote “ ... the kind of people who have time for environmental activism usually aren’t struggling single parents trying desperately to find baby-sitters.” Does the author of Dec. 9’s As We See It column know any activists? I am a member of the Live Oak Neighbors Against Sprawl. We are a diverse group of 100 men and women, with and without children, rich and poor alike who give up our time to protect our quality of life from intensified developments like Whole Foods and Home Depot.

A group of us meets every two weeks to discuss the problems associated with Whole Foods. A lot of these problems focus on protecting our children from increased traffic around Green Acres Elementary School and the damaging fumes those extra cars bring to the neighborhood. And do you know what? Some of us bring our kids with us to those meetings. Some of us take time off work and our busy schedules to protest this planned development. A diverse coalition of people from the Live Oak community and throughout the county are struggling to preserve our quality of life.

The editor also mentions later in the article that Santa Cruz needs to find ways to make child care more affordable. Who would disagree with that? But I fail to see the connection between big box stores and affordable child care. What we need is smart, well-planned development. We need to create opportunities for ourselves and our children to be successful in our economy. A Whole Foods development does not bring those kinds of opportunities, but rather jobs that pay just above minimum wage.

Amber Anneson

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
No to Whole Foods store
Traffic congestion continues to be one of the results of development in Santa Cruz County which impacts all of us. It overwhelms our streets, highways and, in the case of Whole Foods, our neighborhood.

Whole Foods wants to move into the small shopping area at the corner of 17th Avenue and Soquel Avenue where Staples and West Marine are currently located. Soquel, at this point, is a two lane frontage road along Highway 1 between the Soquel and 41st Avenue overpasses. Both overpasses are extremely congested with traffic already, and Soquel is a very busy secondary road trying to handle the increased traffic already on Highway 1 and Capitola Road. 17th Avenue is also a busy two-lane road. When Green Acres Elementary School lets out in the afternoon, there are many children trying to make their way home along 17th, Paul Minnie Avenue and Rodriquez Street. All of these streets would see an increase in traffic with a supermarket in that area.

Retail development, i.e., a magnet store such as Whole Foods, that would draw people from a large part of Santa Cruz city and County does not belong in a neighborhood of streets never designed for business traffic, which is already having trouble coping with the current traffic load.

Mary Ann Leer

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
Stop promoting project
Are we in for another saturation bombing from your editorial staff on the benefits of big box stores?

For example:

Dec. 8 Sentinel headline article: “Home Depot works on opposition — retailer promises to solve traffic problems, protect habitat.”

Dec. 8 letter to the editor from Home Depot employee Dan Evans (Coordinator Santa Cruz County Home Depot Project), touts Home Depot as a provider of good paying jobs and free money for the public libraries.

Dec. 9 Sentinel editorial, promotes Home Depot and complains about “anti-growth rhetoric.”

I have news for you, Mr. Editor. Promoting a big box store at 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive is irresponsible. We now sit in stop-and-go traffic on Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Aptos during most of the day and evening hours. The hundreds of commuters who try to beat the traffic by using Soquel Drive or frontage roads are finding the same problems. This is not “anti-growth rhetoric,” it’s called gridlock.

While big boxes buy volumes of advertising in newspapers, they buy grief for those who live here. There is no way another traffic-generating business such as Home Depot should be built at the proposed location. Please stop promoting this ill-conceived project.

Paul Elerick

Aptos

Dec. 13
Selfish desires destructive
Recently our District Attorney Ron Ruiz was quoted as suggesting a “genuine” attraction existed between a 13-year-old boy and Laurie Flower, a 37-year-old woman. This supposed attraction was behind the reason Ms. Flower received only a one-year jail sentence along with some other inconveniences. Whatever happened to the universal responsibility of adults protecting minors? I understand this minor now has a drug problem, too.

It is clear that in the name of personal freedom, adults, including our own district attorney, persons in authority, have caved in to the selfish desires of others, to the neglect of protecting and providing for innocent and developing young humans. This includes protection of the unborn. Thank God my mother chose life even though she was not ready to get pregnant. Regardless of science, such as ultrasound, in our culture you do not exist because you can’t be seen. Selfish desires lead to destruction,

When will our community in Santa Cruz County wake up and stop pandering to the weaknesses of adults and begin to take responsibility for protecting the innocents entrusted to our care? Plan accordingly on Election Day.

Mark Vanderhoof

Scotts Valley

Dec. 13
Uninformed reporting
With dismay I read your editorial on the Gray Whale Trails Advisory Committee.

As a member of that committee, it is clear to me you have little idea of what the group’s mission is, or what is currently going on within it. Surely it would have behooved you to either come and observe even one of our monthly meetings, or at least interview a cross- section of the membership before issuing such an opinion. You clearly did neither and have thereby denigrated the hard work of a lot of good people trying to grapple with and do justice to a complex undertaking. The group in question, and the entire community, deserve deeper and more informed reporting, and wiser and more responsible opinion. I truly hope you’ll try to do better in the future.

Paul Hostetter

Santa Cruz

Dec. 13
Ringing for the needy
I had a chance to ring a bell “to keep the pot boiling” for the Salvation Army this week. It was a delightful two hours, and the experience was worth sharing.

It was impressive to see so many people put a dollar or two into the kettle. I didn’t ask them to, I stood there and rang a bell. A sign said, “The Salvation Army thanks you.” That so many people know what the Salvation Army is and what it does, is worthy of note. And that so many people wanted to help is very reassuring.

It was especially heartwarming to see the number of young parents teaching their children the act of giving. I didn’t get to hear the parent-child conversations, but it was evident that something had been said, as the children would leave their parents in the background, step forward and drop their gifts into the kettle.

What a wonderful time and place to teach this lesson! It is a credit to the thoughtfulness of the parents who seized the opportunity. It is a credit to the Salvation Army for its efforts to provide for people who are hungry and cold this winter, and for arranging this method where anyone may help.

It honors the Giver of Life when any one of us recognizes and responds to our neighbors’ needs.

Larry Collister

Santa Cruz