Shame on Alameda Magazine for promoting vandalism and overlooking AHS.

Graffiti Is Vandalism

I wanted to comment on your “People” article regarding John Francisco [“Keeping His Dream Alive,” May 2014]. I find it sad that people want to somehow glorify vandalism. Perhaps my dismay comes from the hours I have dedicated to scrubbing graffiti off of my own property or wishing people would remove it from theirs. Do you think it makes Oakland a more attractive place when you drive down 880 and can’t even read the signs because they are covered with “art”? No, I cannot feel much sympathy for someone who has made a career out of defacing either private or public property. Surely your columnist Tara Taylor could have found someone a little more deserving to write about.

Mark White, Alameda

Missing AHS

In “An Opinionated Bunch” [May 2014], I was disappointed and frustrated that 19 seniors were featured, seven from Alameda schools and none from Alameda High School, which services close to 2,000 students, by far the largest high school in town. I was completely astonished, as were other parents. There was much disappointment this year with no mention of AHS senior students.

It seems as though what you printed in Oakland Magazine was likely the same as what you printed in the Alameda Magazine regarding this feature article. Oakland and Alameda are two very different places. Alameda does have a small-town feel. Reading this article, which not only did not feature any AHS students, but focused the majority on Oakland students, did not give off a feeling of it being Alameda Magazine.

Ann Wlad, Alameda

Editor’s Note: Alameda and Oakland Magazines do share some content, including the story you alluded to. Our writer did contact Alameda High School twice for recommendations of students to query, but received no response.

South Shore Observation

We are a beach community. Have you ever seen the houses around the Mediterranean, or Panama City? COLORFUL. Blues and pinks and yellows. And although South Shore Center is incredible compared to what it used to be, I really wish they had painted the storefronts in beautiful colors. Or even the white and blue of Greece.

—From the comments section of the online Best Of ballot

“I am truly disgusted that you would include Best Teacher. … Getting a child her hearing aids made me a better teacher, not being politically correct enough or pushover enough to win a popularity contest.”

— Also from the comments section of the online Best Of ballot

Correction: The captions associated with our cover story on Alameda’s School Smarts Program [“What If Parents Need Some Classes, Too?” May 2014] misidentified the family in the photographs. The subjects were Carrie and Steve Sheret and their daughter, Adele.

This article appears in the July 2014 issue of Alameda Magazine
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