Letters to the Editor

Thanks

Dear Editor:

Thank you to all the individuals and friends who encouraged and supported me in my run for Town Council. It is my hope that the new Town Council will be successful in these difficult times.

Kirk Stapp
Mammoth Lakes

Me, too

Dear Editor:

I’m very grateful to have been selected to be able to serve the citizens of Mammoth Lakes for another four year term. I’m energized by the voter’s selection of Mathew Lehman, Rick Wood and myself. And I look forward to addressing some of the very difficult budget decisions, starting this month.

My deep appreciation goes to my many supporters, including individuals like Steve Searles, Vikki Bauer and Bill Sauser. I would not have been successful without their help.

I am particularly pleased with the passage of Measure U, and the bright future it’s passage will mean for our citizens.

I hope to gain Town Council support to begin the funding of U during the coming 12 months, with the excess revenues and deposit money from the expiring utility user tax. We have an opportunity to jumpstart Measure U by funding projects a full year early, so let’s do it.

John Eastman
Mammoth Lakes

Developers must develop

Editor:

In one of the better Star Wars films, George Lucas shows us chilling scenes of a spacecraft hovering over a completely developed planet. Every bit of it had been developed. No parks. No open space. No bell-shaped parcels. Nothing remaining but building after building after building. As a person fortunately raised in the country, I will never forget the surreal feeling of disassociation I had trying to imagine this horrible notion. A completely developed planet!

Developers must develop. It’s how they make their living. It’s how they amass their wealth. It’s how they control entire communities. Good times. Bad times. There’s no stopping them. Developers will give you countless reasons why development must never cease. Developers always get what they want. Always. As a down-south owner of several properties here in Mammoth once told me, “Sooner or later every square inch of available land in Mammoth will be developed.”

It seems to me that until it is 100% illegal for an elected official to accept one thin dime from any source (development companies included), the system you have in place will be a corrupt one.

Dennis Kostecki
Mammoth Lakes

Be consistent

Dear Editor:

I appreciate the in-depth coverage which the Sheet and other media outlets in the Eastern Sierra have provided with respect to recent budget and school closure issues within the Eastern Sierra Unified School District (ESUSD). Covering these stories has required your staff to travel long distances, sit through lengthy meetings, and digest and understand complicated budget scenarios and information. Well done.

I found Geisel’s article in the June 5th edition particularly thorough and informative. However, I am writing to clarify a comment attributed to me in that article, in which it appears that a term was mis-transcribed, to the effect that a sentiment quite the opposite from my own was reported. Specifically, I am quoted as saying that “we should have gone further with consolidation of Lee Vining H.S. and Eastern Sierra.” I believe that an accurate paraphrase of my comments would be that “we should have gone farther with administrative consolidation between ESUSD and the Mono County Office of Education.”

Indeed, my actual point to the School Board was that the cautious and planned approach to administrative consolidation between the ESUSD and the Mono County Office of Education (which was cited by the Superintendent and Board as justification for not further consolidating administrative functions and thereby saving more teaching positions) appears to contrast sharply with the hasty and unplanned consolidation which the Board also approved that day between Lee Vining High School and Eastern Sierra Academy. In my view, when determining the future of our schools and our children, we should follow at least the same rational, planned, and thoughtful process which the Board apparently saw fit to to adopt in the case of a consolidation affecting its own administrative staff.

Stacey Simon
ESUSD parent

Nice job

Mr. Lunch:

The way you described your respect for Judge Forstenzer (Sheet editorial, May 15 issue) in the context of how he ruled against you was a moving—and unfortunately rare in mainstream press—piece of journalism.

Gary Katz
White Plains, New York

Tourney cancelled

Dear Editor,

We are writing this letter to get the word out that the 12th Annual Summer Solstice  Tennis Tournament held at the Mammoth Lakes Community Courts has been cancelled this year.

As most of the tennis players in town are aware, the Mammoth Lakes Community Tennis courts have been under repair by the Public Works Department. What is probably not well known is that the repairs will not be completed until the end of June at the earliest due to the Town not getting the bid package for resurfacing the courts out to contractors in a timely manner. The bid and scope-of-work package was just sent out on June 9.

The actual patching of the cracks on four of the tennis courts was finished on June 2 by Public Works and the Park Maintenance staff has opened the bathrooms and repaired the fences. If the bid package had been out to the resurfacing contractors a month ago, the final repairs could have been completed a week before our scheduled tournament date of June 19-20. As it stands now, the earliest date for completion is probably June 25.

I apologize to all our local and out-of-town tennis players who have been looking forward to our tournament. I have been receiving many calls and e-mails from our out-of-town visitors who are now cancelling their vacation reservations due to us not being able to hold our tournament. Needless to say, Russ Chessler’s Town clinics and lessons and the MLTC free Saturday Morning Socials are also on hold until further notice.

Gail Lonne
MLTC President