Letters to the Editor

Likes city council meetings on SVTV

(Editor’s note: This letter originally was sent to the Sonoma City Council.)
Editor: I really appreciate being able to watch the Sonoma City Council meetings televised on Channel 27 SVTV.
This is a great opportunity to observe council members debating their positions on issues and making decisions.
I feel better informed. Thanks.
Loretta Carr

Try public-domain Frankenstein film footage

Editor: I enjoyed Daedalus Howell’s June 28 Nomaville column.
As a former make-up artist from Hollywood and a lover of all-things-Frankenstein, I know the problems with trying to license Boris Karloff or Frankenstein likenesses from Universal Studios or from Sara Karloff.
Most of my friends have just gone ahead and used whatever they have wanted, never hearing a cease-and-desist order. Like the old saying, “Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
On the other hand, if you every have looked at the Discovery, A&E or the Biography channel, they don’t have the budget to fill an hour show with licensed clips. So, when they need clips, they look for old movie trailers, magazine articles with pictures, advertising materials or posters. Most or all film clips in these shows are from public-domain preview trailers from old films. Try looking there if you’re still interested in a Karloff clip for your (film) short.
Alan Friedman

Opposes Fifth Street West parking lot for Montini

(Editor’s note: This letter originally was sent to the Sonoma City Council.)
Editor: As you know, it took nearly seven years to complete the preservation of the Montini Ranch, including the cow pasture on Fifth Street West. The Open Space District has proposed the creation of a parking lot, pedestrian path, and gated access to Fifth Street West; the path is currently planned to cut across the middle of the pasture and lead to a hiking path system that provides public access to the land. I support providing public access, but I do not support the Fifth Street West plans.
When the ability to preserve the cow pasture was developed, it was with consideration that 4 acres of the original 14 would be developed for housing, which the O’Brien Group created. The “quid pro quo” was that the remaining pasture would be preserved. This was the intent of the city council when the acquisition was proceeding; there was never any discussion of a trail across the pasture, or a parking lot.
The city’s contribution of $1 million was also based upon the ultimate transfer of the cow pasture into city hands. Accordingly, any plan for that pasture should be subject to the specific policy direction of the city council, and not city staff alone. I urge you to place this matter on the council agenda as soon as possible, and suggest to the Open Space District that they suspend any planning for that Fifth Street area until the city council has determined what the city of Sonoma would like to do. This is in the spirit of the negotiated purchase, and in the best interests of the citizens of Sonoma.
Larry Barnett

Infineon not green enough for
Green Award

Editor: The singularly superlative satirical song writer Tom Lehrer, when asked why he stopped writing the comic songs with the brilliant lyrics that he became famous for, is said to have said: “When Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize it was the death of satire.”
Not of the same depth of depravity or height of head-scratching, jaw-dropping wonderment, but ironically bewildering nevertheless is Infineon Raceway awarded for being an outstanding green business. Think about that one, folks:
Not to worry though, they do a bang-up job recycling their garbage, we’re told, and their local corporate management showers the local charities with funding, all the while cultivating the town’s prominent set.
Whether one likes or dislikes auto racing is irrelevant. What is relevant is that giving Infineon Raceway an award for being green, while not Kissingerian, is like awarding a kid for good spelling in his graffiti. Maybe it’s a cost/benefit thing. Yes, they pollute the heck out of the planet, especially the Sonoma County corner of it, but look how much pleasure they bring to millions. And not to overlook the benefit to the county in tax dollars.
Simply put, it’s good that they do good things, but they’re not green by any reasonable measure of the scales.
The Benzigers have won this award and they well deserve it. If you need an example of a bona fide green business, use that as your template, Sonoma Economic Development Partnership.
Will Shonbrun