Just say no to downtown park
I totally agree with those who wrote the letters to the editor in the Sept. 10 Town Crier. There is no reason to have a downtown park. It will take away parking, which will impact businesses. Let’s put this project on the November ballot so Los Altos residents can vote for or against it.
Also, the proposed underground parking garage will be super expensive. When I go downtown, I want to park nearby the store I’m going to. I’ve rarely found that problematic.
Rita Cartalano
Los Altos
Thanks to Bruce Barton
On page 3 of the Aug. 27 Town Crier, I took notice of editor Bruce Barton’s low-key retirement notice. I’d like to thank Bruce for his 32 years of serving his readers. Bruce was always generous in publishing local art receptions and events in the Community section and calendar listings. The emotional tone of the Town Crier has always been upbeat and shone a light on local talent. Thanks for celebrating the local Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View communities in print and for your friendly and accessible demeanor.
Robert Schick
Los Altos
Faulty financial scam avoidance advice
Thank you for raising awareness about financial fraud in your recent article, “In Los Altos, financial rip-offs a key trend in elder abuse – police” (Sept. 3). However, in the “Education” section of the article, you offer an incorrect method of verifying a caller that will lead to more people being ripped off: Googling a number given to you by the caller, or Googling the number that appears on your screen for the originating call.
In dealing with callers, you should never ask the caller for a callback number, or use the number appearing on your phone for the originating call, or use any information that you haven’t independently obtained, and think that you can verify that with Google. Please see the New York Times article “I’ve Written About Loads of Scams. This One Almost Got Me” (Sept. 19) for how scammers set up a website with the fake number for you to find with Google.
This actually happened to my son a few years ago (he was then a high school student), but thankfully he was not scammed in the end. My son Googled the number left in a voicemail by somebody claiming to be from First Republic Bank and saying he was a victim of fraud. His Google search turned up a website that indicated that the number was from the bank. When my son called that number back, I could hear the “on hold” music and told him to hang up immediately because no bank would use that music. He then did what he should have done the first time and dialed the number for First Republic on his debit card – unsurprisingly, the real First Republic Bank said they had no indication of any fraud on his account.
Given the large elderly population in Los Altos and rising incidence of financial scams on elderly people in our area, I hope you will do more than issue a small correction. I think you should note your prior error and make an article out of what is good security.
Good security would include:
• Don’t answer calls from numbers you don’t know. Let the caller leave a voicemail if it’s important. Then, you can evaluate and verify the information without being rushed into anything.
• Do not give any information to anybody over the phone unless YOU called them.
• Only call vendors using a number you obtained independently, perhaps from the business website or from a billing statement or other material (debit card, insurance card, etc.) from the vendor. Do not call back using the number used to call you, or any number left in your voicemail or otherwise given to you by a caller.
Thank you for helping our community to avoid these scams.
Danielle James
Los Altos
Editors note: The tip James referred to was provided by the Los Altos Police Department.
