San Diego Magazine / April 2004 / Letters

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Letters

"I know your magazine is no dating service. I just wanted to thank you and Margie Farnsworth for bringing to light for us single ladies of San Diego that there is hope out there!"

Lovelorn

After reading the article “Great First Dates” [by Margie Farnsworth, February], I found myself asking this question: Where are the Kassim Osgoods and the Jason Austells in San Diego? Better yet, where is Kassim Osgood? His story really caught my attention. It is refreshing to hear that a man, 23 years old and a NFL player to boot, can be so valiant.

I, too, am twentysomething (24, to be exact) and single in San Diego, and I’m certain I’m not the first to tell you that a “great catch”—a good man—is pretty unattainable. You try everything: nightlife, community events ... no luck. I’ve been on so many dates that just didn’t work out. Where did chivalry go?

With Kassim, it was not his success in his profession that caught my attention but his description of the perfect first date—one date I must have missed along the way. It’s hard to believe this guy is single. Kassim certainly doesn’t need any coaching in the romance department. However, I seem to need some coaching on where to snag this complete gentleman’s attention.

I know your magazine is no dating service. I just wanted to thank you and Margie Farnsworth for bringing to light for us single ladies of San Diego that there is hope out there! There are good men, be it on the football field, at the supermarket or even way up in the blue skies of San Diego in a helicopter.

Jennifer Huffman
Coronado

Local Treasures

Robert Mosher and Homer DelawieSan Diego Magazine has, from its inception, embraced the creative community in San Diego and appreciated the unique talent found in its architects. Over the past half-century, it has on many occasions directed attention toward talented local architects and extended itself to preserve the architectural treasures that ennoble our region.

San Diego’s rich architectural heritage makes living there a distinct experience. Over the past century, a remarkable pool of talented architects has created this treasure trove of structures. From Irving Gill, Richard Requa and William Templeton Johnson to Hal Sadler, Homer Delawie, Frank L. Hope (Senior and Junior), Dick Bundy and Rob Quigley, these talented people have added luster to this area’s natural assets.

This pool of talent was diminished substantially in January when William J. Watson, 88, and Roy Drew, 90, passed away. They were principals in Mosher, Drew, Watson & Ferguson, and for many years used Irving Gill’s Green Dragon Colony in La Jolla for their office.

They loved their community and fully shared their perspective and talent as they gave leadership to many worthy community organizations, often with little recognition. I worked with Mr. Drew on the Community Planning and Design Center (a notable attempt to create a nonprofit organization to extend architectural and planning skills into San Diego’s overlooked neighborhoods). And I worked with Mr. Watson during the many years he was a member of the board of directors of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce.

When a community loses two giants of this stature, within three days of each other, it should pause and reflect on the contributions they made to this region we love. From university campuses to military facilities, and from Balboa Park to the farthest reaches of North County, their gifts are present. Their influence will continue to shape San Diego and make it a distinct place.
Lee Grissom
Gold River

The Lesson

As budget cuts at San Diego City Schools escalate and controversy over Superintendent Alan Bersin’s reform package continues, I was prompted to reread the series of excellent articles on education you ran last year [“The Learning Curve,” February, March and April 2003].

I remembered a lengthy section on how the business community supported the Blueprint for Student Success because they felt they needed better graduates entering the workplace. It also mentioned the achievement gap between white students and children of color, and how Mr. Bersin’s plans to close this gap were crucial to providing capable graduates for San Diego’s growing high-tech and biotech business communities.

As your article reported, “When you look at potential employees, increasingly, businesses are going to have to look at people of color. If those children aren’t succeeding in school, they’re not going to make good employees in anything other than low-paying jobs ... [and] there’s a need for people with more than the bare-minimum education that a lot of our kids had been getting.”

In a vote on March 2, the Board of Education approved the elimination of many professionals who work directly with students, including 11 library media teachers. The district administration has insisted it will keep the cuts as far from the children as possible and protect teachers and core services. But as schools slash their budgets, what is not being protected is something most agree is the heart of every school and the great equalizer of the masses: the library.

Voters clearly showed their support for improved school library services when they passed Proposition MM. Although the bond measure provided only for the buildings, voters assumed there would be staff in the library teaching students and managing the library program. Mr. Bersin and the school board have proudly attended many grand openings and ribbon-cuttings as these facilities are completed. How ironic that they have now voted to gut these programs, eliminate credentialed teachers from these new facilities and leave them to gather dust as little more than storage rooms.

Library media teachers are classroom teachers who support not just their own classrooms but their entire schools. The library media program is essential to provide guidance and assistance to all students, many of whom come from families where literacy skills are low, books are rare and a trip to the public library is unheard of. These cuts will further widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, something Mr. Bersin has been working so hard to close.

Certainly this vote affected not only librarians but also counselors, media specialists and special-education personnel. Many administrative and peer coach positions were protected, while teachers who meet with and work with students on a daily basis were eliminated. The real losers will be the children, especially the children whose only access to books, computers and the expertise of a librarian is in their own school.

Arlene Spaniol
Library Teacher
Foster Elementary School

Flashback

Just read Tom Blair’s I on San Diego [“Yours for a Song...,” February] and the paragraph on Pete Rose and Jerry Coleman (one of the all-time greats). My old sports director at KFMB-TV, Jerry Gross, used to cohost a radio show with Pete. I think it was based in Florida.Gross had incredible talent as a sportscaster and play-by-play guy. I lost track of him several years ago.

For those who’ve lost track of me: I am working as an anchor and reporter on the Fox-owned station in Kansas City—which is remarkably like San Diego, except for the lack of ocean, mountains, restaurants [etc.]. Every day, I think about San Diego. If you have any ideas for ridiculously high-paying jobs, let me know.

Tom Lawrence
Kansas City

Jerry Gross, a freelance sportscaster these days, does play-by-play for University of San Diego basketball games on KCBQ radio.—Editor

Game Plan

Robert Billburg, former San Diego County probation officer, is absolutely correct [“Burning Questions” by Thomas K. Arnold, Front Pages, January]. Back in the mid-1970s, when I was a San Diego County supervisor, the Probation Department operated a number of honor camps that accomplished a great service to the county taxpayers in clearing brush and building fire breaks. A subsequent Board of Supervisors, with prodding from the sheriff (who didn’t like the Probation Department running honor camps), abolished them, a prime example of being penny-wise and pound-foolish. San Diego County and city have now paid the price for that dumb move.

San Diego Fire Chief Jeff Bowman and Councilman Michael Zucchet have lamented the need for additional fire engines. Well, I know where they are; they are at Qualcomm Stadium. [With the] $6 million paid to Alex Spanos for six years [through the ticket guarantee] to subsidize the Chargers, many fire engines and crews could have been acquired.

So the firemen, carrying their fire axes, fire hoses, lights, bells and sirens, should go to the Chargers games, sit in sections painted red, and sound the sirens and the bells every time the Chargers make a touchdown. At the end of the season, the equipment would be returned to the firehouse in slightly used condition. On second thought, don’t bring the fire hoses to Qualcomm. The San Diego taxpayers have already been hosed!

Lou Conde
Pacific Beach

Weighty Issues

Kudos to Margie Farnsworth for her excellent article on the epidemic of obesity in children [“Obese Kids: Bearing the Weight of Adult Diseases,” Health, March]. She correctly describes the lack of physical activity as one of the leading causes of obesity and notes that nine times out of 10, the obese child will have at least one overweight parent—clearly not a positive role model.

Unfortunately, the percentage of adults who exercise in this country has remained unchanged at less than 10 percent during the past four decades despite all the media attention about the importance of physical activity in our lives. We have become a nation of couch potatoes waiting for medical science to discover a magic pill that will give us the perfect body without lifting a finger. Wishful thinking!

James M. Evans
Ramona

It Doesn’t Fly

A letter to the editor by Leon E. Campbell of the Airport Trust in your March issue contained factual errors and misrepresentations. The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority has declined to examine the Airport Trust’s yet-to-be-disclosed potential airport site for two very strong reasons.

First, Mr. Campbell has insisted the site be looked at behind closed doors. It is not in the public’s best interest to review this or any site without the benefit of public input. From the very beginning, we have said the search for a new airport site is, and will continue to be, conducted in an open and transparent manner, with ample opportunity for public comments.

In addition, the Airport Authority Act requires that examination of potential airport sites be done in public. The Ralph M. Brown Act, the California Environmental Quality Act and the Public Records Act also require public access to the examination process.

Mr. Campbell wants to be compensated for the airport authority to look at the site, citing it as a form of intellectual property. He wants the greater of either 5 percent of future airport revenues or $10 million annually for the next 95 years. This would violate federal law regulating use of airport revenues.

For the reasons above, we believe that Airport Trust does not have a right to the legal action it now seeks in Superior Court.

Thella Bowens
President and CEO
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority

Letters Welcome San Diego Magazine invites letters from its readers. Send comments to Letters to the Editor, San Diego Magazine, P.O. Box 85409, San Diego, CA 92186-5409 or to tblair@sandiegomag.com (e-mail) or 619-230-0490 (fax). Letters must be signed to be considered for publication. Please type or print your name, as well, and include a daytime phone number. E-mail should include the writer’s full name and city. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and to excerpt them.