Tech bond could provide tech tools in P.G. school
As a longtime science teacher at Pacific Grove Middle School, I have vicariously experienced the excitement of hundreds of adolescents as they learn to master spreadsheets, edit videos, find an earthquake”s epicenter using online simulations, or create their own interactive maps. The technology we use at school is a wonderful tool to help young people fall in love with learning and develop skills needed in the future. Still, at our site, there aren”t enough computers and I have had to jettison several activities that I know work well due to limited availability. Many of our computers are old, broken and frustrating to use.
Recently, we lost an opportunity to pilot a free cutting-edge science curriculum because our computer to student ratio was too low for us to participate.
The proposed tech bond in Pacific Grove is well thought out, costing the average property owner less than $100 a year. Kids today are the adults of the future, and their needs are not, in the words of James Willoughby (Aug. 28), “non-essential tax burdens on the property owners of this city.”
— Kelly Terry, Pacific Grove
Concerns about the Recreation Trail
I am writing in reference to the Pacific Grove Traffic Safety Commission”s decision to have the paved portion of the Recreation Trail to be labeled for bicycles only. I walk my dog on the trail frequently and have also ridden my bike on it.
I find most bicyclists and pedestrians to be respectful of each others” space. Dangerous conditions occur when bikers are speeding along the trail and people with strollers, walkers or wheelchairs are going along slowly. Dogs on leashes also stray into the lane as well as children and tourists.
If cars are permitted to drive 25 mph on Ocean View Boulevard, why are bikers allowed to ride more than 30 mph on the Rec Trail?
The Recreational Trail was built with our tax dollars and designed for everyone to enjoy delights of living in such a beautiful area. It was not meant to be a raceway or for bicycles only. Aren”t there bike lanes for that on the roads?
Many of us enjoy using the trail and would like it to remain a safe and fun asset of our community.
— Judith Clark, Monterey
Unused Pacific Grove police cars visible daily
The Aug. 20 Herald article about Marina and Seaside needing more police cars caught my eye.
Why don”t the police of those towns come over to Pacific Grove and buy its surplus cars. Every day we have many idle cars in the police parking lot in plain view.
While on the subject of local police, it would give me some peace of mind to see bicyclists ticketed for blowing through stop signs, riding on sidewalks and not signalling. With schools in session, I hope the police would be more diligent. I have not seen a policeman on duty before noon for several months. Maybe my suggestions are just wishful thinking.
Finally, I moved from my Pacific Grove neighborhood after three daytime burglaries occurred within a block from my house. I feel more secure in my current location.
Sleep tight Pacific Grove, your police cars are rusting behind the police station.
— Michael Kelly, Pacific Grove
Must work to express our sense of morality
On Aug. 27, Wayne Farber wrote, “For nearly 200 years what made the United States unique was a sense of morality, dignity, and civility.” He wrote that a culture of relativism, beginning in the 1960s, is at the root of the increase in violence he asserts we are currently experiencing and that our “anything-goes” society has cost America its position as moral leader of the world.
His contentions regarding increased violence are arguable. What is not arguable is our long history of violence toward each other: The violence experienced by African-Americans during slavery and after emancipation, violence experienced in our country during the Civil War and aftermath, violence experienced by Native Americans, violence experienced by women and children, immigrants and the ill. We have honored morality, dignity and civility more in speaking than doing.
Those affected by violence are probably less concerned with our moral ranking and more concerned with all of us taking the profound opportunity we have in this country to work together to express in action our collective sense of morality, dignity and civility.
— Art Schuller, Carmel Valley
