What Morgan Hill Needs

Re "Making Morgan Hill" (Cover Story, Aug. 20): Thank you for your bullish article on downtown Morgan Hill. It takes a lot more than a couple of cute restaurants and bars to make a vital and vibrant downtown.

There are several serious obstacles to the successful revitalizaton of the area:

1. Downtown Morgan Hill floods out almost every winter causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to private property annually. It appears the city and county refuse to fund the SCVWD flood control plan.

2. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial buildings are vacant and empty in north Morgan Hill, including the former Thomas Kinkade's Media Arts. Too many empty building lower the values of all properties.

3. Draconian residential development rules (2 percent max growth) prevent homebuilders from constructing affordable housing or even keeping up with the natural birth rates (about 4 percent). Major companies or employers cannot move to Morgan Hill because there is no place for their managers and employees to live.

4. Speed bumps, rocky islands and a veterans memorial in the middle of the primary roadways prevent vehicles from comfortably driving downtown. Traffic signals are not timed and coordinated.

Reid Lerner

Morgan Hill

There's No Theremin There

Re "Into Orbit" (Music, Aug. 13):

I believe something was lost in translation or editing in Mr. MacClelland's latest review of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

True, I did perform the theremin on Saturday night's concert; however, it was scored in John Corigliano's The Mannheim Rocket and is not part of the instrumentation for John Adams' Dr. Atomic Symphony.

Ella M. Fredrickson

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Scott MacClelland responds: Mea culpa and apologies all round. New music excites me so much that adrenaline sometimes takes over. Kudos nonetheless to Fredrickson for her exquisitely ethereal performance.

Shaken, Not Mixed

Re 5 Things (Aug. 20): A properly made caipirinha is shaken, not "mixed."

Phil Gomes

Chicago, Ill.

Impressed But Disappointed

Re "Saving Mountain Winery" (Cover Story, Aug. 6): After reading the article about the Mountain Winery, I am impressed (about the upgrade) and disappointed (about the process and the owners) at the same time. There were inaccuracies and things the public should know about before plunking down upward of $50 bucks plus $15 for parking at the Winery. One of the inaccuracies is that Mr. Hirschman and the winery owners did not work with all the affected neighbors with many issues and has refused to be friendly or work with those neighbors. And one major thing the public should know is that the County Fire Marshall has done very minimal fire prevention and safety at the winery. You should know that if there is a fire storm or major catastrophe, you will be required to "hold in place," which means, you stay your behind up there (like you're really gonna go anywhere fast with one way in and one way out—no other emergency exit, folks. Hmm—how did such a large venue get away with that one?) So, for all you folks complaining about the $15 parking fee, maybe you oughta ask (or require) that the Mountain Winery and the County Fire Marshall also provide you with a gas/fire mask so that you don't choke/die of smoke inhalation while "holding in place"!

Tina A.

San Jose

Time After Time

Re "Once Upon a Time in China" (MetroArts, July 9): And once again Marianne Messina finds a fresh way to tell the story. The article she wrote about Ballet San Jose's Goodwill Tour to China so perfectly distilled many different elements of that trip into just a thousand well chosen words. Five weeks of challenges, eight cities, tens of thousands of miles, visa problems, mechanical failures and so much more, told through the eyes (and ears) of a writer who truly cares about the essence of the tale. We so appreciate her work. Thank you, Metro. Thank you, Michael Gant. Thank you, Marianne.

Lee Kopp

Ballet San Jose

Latest Twist?

Re "All Over Twist" (MetroMenu, Aug. 30, 2006): Your review did not match at all the experience I had dining there last week. If your review is old (maybe when the restaurant opened), you need to go back and retake the experience. Lots of things have changed, I didn't see nearly half of the stuff you mention on the menu.

Minal

Via email

Yes, that review is from almost two years ago, not long after it opened. All of our previous reviews archived online feature the date of publication displayed above them.—Editor