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Feedback potpourri
Already Frightening
One Paseo has been bitterly opposed by many in Del Mar, Carmel Valley, and Solana Beach for a few years. While a small amount of funding and support has come from Donahue Schreiber, most of the support is from the community. Kilroy is planning on building a multi-use complex, three times what the area is zoned for on Del Mar Heights Road, which is already often a traffic problem.
Carmel Valley has no public transit and the bike lanes on Del Mar Heights Road are already rather frightening. Del Mar Heights Road has three high schools, one elementary school, and, soon, a middle school and another shopping center to be added. The fire department which services Carmel Valley and a portion of Del Mar is also located on Del Mar Heights Road.
I’m very disappointed in the San Diego City Council for this decision. I really feel like they are setting a precedent against neighborhood planning just to line their own political war chests. See whatpricemainstreet.com.
- Liz Shopes
- Del Mar
Visual Contradiction
If we are in an epic multi-year drought or megadrought/climate change, why are we adding large commercial and residential developments?
This week, State of California again says we must cut back urban/residential water. Yet we see massive local construction developments in planning or construction which will require lots of water.
So, what is going on? Is there a drought in San Diego? Do we have so much water we don’t need to worry about it?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who is confused and concerned by the visual contradiction. From the construction and developments I see, there must not be any need to be concerned about water shortage, drought or climate in San Diego.
Do you agree?
- Name Withheld
- Normal Heights
Happy 1000th
Re: “A Thousand Overheard Conversations”
Truth is stranger than fiction, and it’s often funnier. I love Overheard in San Diego. Happy 1000th anniversary, Jay Allen Sanford!
- Andy Robinson
- La Mesa
The Best in Years
The feature article by Tam Hoang (“When Vietnamese People Say American They Always Mean White,” March 12 cover story) was the best in years. It shed light on questions I have not been able to get answers to about the effects of the Vietnam war, and is an example of the best kind of teacher/teaching. Thank you.
- Denise Sellers
- via email
The Reality of the Vietnam Veteran
I am so in awe of Tam Hoang’s ability to so perfectly articulate his insights and experiences (“When Vietnamese People Say American They Always Mean White,” March 12 cover story), that I am moved to recall one of my own.
In the mid-’60s I read of the Communists chopping off the arms of polio-vaccinated children to warn their families not to take medicines from aid groups. I enlisted in the Army, determined to help stop the atrocities. I served 2-1/2 years in Vietnam, was wounded, etc. Having developed an admiration for the Vietnamese people, I helped many get settled in the U.S. though the late ’70s.
At a party at one of their houses, on the holiday to remember the deceased, we ate and drank heavily. It was becoming a boisterous event, when one man stopped the revelry and looked at me (the only non-Vietnamese veteran present) and somberly saluted me, then said, “We feel sad for you. We have a country we may dream of returning and belonging to; you, however, do not.” He had, of course, eloquently revealed the reality of the American Vietnam veteran.
As it was for Tam, others, even “white people,” often exist in the in-between; and, like him, a fortunate few find comfort residing there, versus being carried in oft-mindless froth pushed forth by the waves.
- Name Withheld
- Golden Hill
Can’t Read the Darn Thing!
I have a complaint about your Neighborhood News section of the March 12 Reader. You have an item about San Onofre and the clowns who are trying to put a toll road there (“Surfriders Ready to Fight.”). They’ve been trying for a long time, which would really screw things up for everybody in general.
You’ve got a map there measuring 3-3/16” wide by 1-11/16” high. The darn thing’s illegible! I’m looking at it with a magnifying glass, and I’m trying to read the comments in the boxes. I cannot read the legend of the map. I can’t read the names of the towns, or anything else. For one thing, it’s a bit blurry. And for another thing, even with a strong magnifying glass I can’t read the darn thing! I can’t make any sense out of it.
For some reason Interstate 5 cuts toward the northeast around San Juan Capistrano. I don’t know if it does that now, or if it will do it if the clowns get their toll road. It makes no sense.
In other words, why didn’t you print that map about twice as big so people could read the thing and make sense out of it?
I wish good luck to the Surfriders on this matter, but I’m against them when they’re trying to ban plastic bags.
Don’t you have a proofreader who checks these things and says, “Hey, we’d better enlarge this map. It’s much too small!”
I’m not lying. I have a magnifying glass and I can’t even read it. It’s too small and blurry. Get a proofreader and check some of this crap!
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
By the Boatload
This is a comment on your article, “A Scheme to Lower Engineers’ Wages” (City Lights). That sort of thing has been going on in San Diego for at least 40 years.
I came here a bit longer ago than that as an engineer with an engineering degree and a graduate degree — two degrees and 20 years’ experience. I worked here in the aerospace engineering and marine engineering fields. That’s the first thing I noticed when I got here — a lot of foreign engineers working. When there would be layoffs, I noticed a lot of the American engineers would be laid off, but the foreign engineers never would be.
Companies would lie, and say they couldn’t find any qualified American engineers. So, they needed to hire foreign engineers. It was a bunch of baloney. It was just to keep the salaries down.
Somebody I worked with back then got laid off here, went up to Los Angeles, and tried to form an association of American engineers to fight this baloney where they would lie and try to get foreign engineers here under H1B. It was bullshit. There were oodles and oodles of American engineers out of work back then.
I don’t know how well he succeeded. Evidently, not very well. He’d be in his nineties by now. If you’re still out there, James, lots of luck!
I tried to help him out. He came down here, and I helped him with his mailing efforts and all that. I don’t think much ever came of it.
But, to get back to the point, this has been going on for years and years. In the fields where you need a security clearance, I noticed there weren’t too many foreign engineers. They worked in fields where you didn’t need a security clearance. Then they’d have them in by the boatload!
My younger son had an aptitude for engineering. He was very bright, and had an interest in things like that. But he kept out of it —not under my influence, just by his own choice. He was enrolled in a local university and he noticed all the foreign students. He said, “I don’t want to go into engineering. There’s too much competition from foreigners who would work dirt cheap.”
I have gone on job interviews and noticed a lot of foreigners there. They would sometimes interview a bunch of us at the same time, and I’d be sitting there with some Arabs, or some Chinese, or whatever. I was the only native American there.
What’s going on? I don’t want to name any companies, but you named some of them in your article.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
Wanted: Pet Section
Just wondering why the San Diego Reader doesn’t include a pet section? People in San Diego love their dogs! A directory of pet events, news, pet-friendly merchants, restaurants, adoptions, etcetera would be fabulous!
- Casey Jones
- Encinitas
Just Asking
Are hipsters really so endlessly fascinating that they need an entire column devoted to answering questions about them every week? How about a weekly column called Ask a Baby Boomer? That would be a far more interesting endeavor.
- Thomas Quigley
- via email
Here's something you might be interested in.
Feedback potpourri
Feedback potpourri
Already Frightening
One Paseo has been bitterly opposed by many in Del Mar, Carmel Valley, and Solana Beach for a few years. While a small amount of funding and support has come from Donahue Schreiber, most of the support is from the community. Kilroy is planning on building a multi-use complex, three times what the area is zoned for on Del Mar Heights Road, which is already often a traffic problem.
Carmel Valley has no public transit and the bike lanes on Del Mar Heights Road are already rather frightening. Del Mar Heights Road has three high schools, one elementary school, and, soon, a middle school and another shopping center to be added. The fire department which services Carmel Valley and a portion of Del Mar is also located on Del Mar Heights Road.
I’m very disappointed in the San Diego City Council for this decision. I really feel like they are setting a precedent against neighborhood planning just to line their own political war chests. See whatpricemainstreet.com.
- Liz Shopes
- Del Mar
Visual Contradiction
If we are in an epic multi-year drought or megadrought/climate change, why are we adding large commercial and residential developments?
This week, State of California again says we must cut back urban/residential water. Yet we see massive local construction developments in planning or construction which will require lots of water.
So, what is going on? Is there a drought in San Diego? Do we have so much water we don’t need to worry about it?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who is confused and concerned by the visual contradiction. From the construction and developments I see, there must not be any need to be concerned about water shortage, drought or climate in San Diego.
Do you agree?
- Name Withheld
- Normal Heights
Happy 1000th
Re: “A Thousand Overheard Conversations”
Truth is stranger than fiction, and it’s often funnier. I love Overheard in San Diego. Happy 1000th anniversary, Jay Allen Sanford!
- Andy Robinson
- La Mesa
The Best in Years
The feature article by Tam Hoang (“When Vietnamese People Say American They Always Mean White,” March 12 cover story) was the best in years. It shed light on questions I have not been able to get answers to about the effects of the Vietnam war, and is an example of the best kind of teacher/teaching. Thank you.
- Denise Sellers
- via email
The Reality of the Vietnam Veteran
I am so in awe of Tam Hoang’s ability to so perfectly articulate his insights and experiences (“When Vietnamese People Say American They Always Mean White,” March 12 cover story), that I am moved to recall one of my own.
In the mid-’60s I read of the Communists chopping off the arms of polio-vaccinated children to warn their families not to take medicines from aid groups. I enlisted in the Army, determined to help stop the atrocities. I served 2-1/2 years in Vietnam, was wounded, etc. Having developed an admiration for the Vietnamese people, I helped many get settled in the U.S. though the late ’70s.
At a party at one of their houses, on the holiday to remember the deceased, we ate and drank heavily. It was becoming a boisterous event, when one man stopped the revelry and looked at me (the only non-Vietnamese veteran present) and somberly saluted me, then said, “We feel sad for you. We have a country we may dream of returning and belonging to; you, however, do not.” He had, of course, eloquently revealed the reality of the American Vietnam veteran.
As it was for Tam, others, even “white people,” often exist in the in-between; and, like him, a fortunate few find comfort residing there, versus being carried in oft-mindless froth pushed forth by the waves.
- Name Withheld
- Golden Hill
Can’t Read the Darn Thing!
I have a complaint about your Neighborhood News section of the March 12 Reader. You have an item about San Onofre and the clowns who are trying to put a toll road there (“Surfriders Ready to Fight.”). They’ve been trying for a long time, which would really screw things up for everybody in general.
You’ve got a map there measuring 3-3/16” wide by 1-11/16” high. The darn thing’s illegible! I’m looking at it with a magnifying glass, and I’m trying to read the comments in the boxes. I cannot read the legend of the map. I can’t read the names of the towns, or anything else. For one thing, it’s a bit blurry. And for another thing, even with a strong magnifying glass I can’t read the darn thing! I can’t make any sense out of it.
For some reason Interstate 5 cuts toward the northeast around San Juan Capistrano. I don’t know if it does that now, or if it will do it if the clowns get their toll road. It makes no sense.
In other words, why didn’t you print that map about twice as big so people could read the thing and make sense out of it?
I wish good luck to the Surfriders on this matter, but I’m against them when they’re trying to ban plastic bags.
Don’t you have a proofreader who checks these things and says, “Hey, we’d better enlarge this map. It’s much too small!”
I’m not lying. I have a magnifying glass and I can’t even read it. It’s too small and blurry. Get a proofreader and check some of this crap!
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
By the Boatload
This is a comment on your article, “A Scheme to Lower Engineers’ Wages” (City Lights). That sort of thing has been going on in San Diego for at least 40 years.
I came here a bit longer ago than that as an engineer with an engineering degree and a graduate degree — two degrees and 20 years’ experience. I worked here in the aerospace engineering and marine engineering fields. That’s the first thing I noticed when I got here — a lot of foreign engineers working. When there would be layoffs, I noticed a lot of the American engineers would be laid off, but the foreign engineers never would be.
Companies would lie, and say they couldn’t find any qualified American engineers. So, they needed to hire foreign engineers. It was a bunch of baloney. It was just to keep the salaries down.
Somebody I worked with back then got laid off here, went up to Los Angeles, and tried to form an association of American engineers to fight this baloney where they would lie and try to get foreign engineers here under H1B. It was bullshit. There were oodles and oodles of American engineers out of work back then.
I don’t know how well he succeeded. Evidently, not very well. He’d be in his nineties by now. If you’re still out there, James, lots of luck!
I tried to help him out. He came down here, and I helped him with his mailing efforts and all that. I don’t think much ever came of it.
But, to get back to the point, this has been going on for years and years. In the fields where you need a security clearance, I noticed there weren’t too many foreign engineers. They worked in fields where you didn’t need a security clearance. Then they’d have them in by the boatload!
My younger son had an aptitude for engineering. He was very bright, and had an interest in things like that. But he kept out of it —not under my influence, just by his own choice. He was enrolled in a local university and he noticed all the foreign students. He said, “I don’t want to go into engineering. There’s too much competition from foreigners who would work dirt cheap.”
I have gone on job interviews and noticed a lot of foreigners there. They would sometimes interview a bunch of us at the same time, and I’d be sitting there with some Arabs, or some Chinese, or whatever. I was the only native American there.
What’s going on? I don’t want to name any companies, but you named some of them in your article.
- Name Withheld
- via voicemail
Wanted: Pet Section
Just wondering why the San Diego Reader doesn’t include a pet section? People in San Diego love their dogs! A directory of pet events, news, pet-friendly merchants, restaurants, adoptions, etcetera would be fabulous!
- Casey Jones
- Encinitas
Just Asking
Are hipsters really so endlessly fascinating that they need an entire column devoted to answering questions about them every week? How about a weekly column called Ask a Baby Boomer? That would be a far more interesting endeavor.
- Thomas Quigley
- via email