Friday, May. 09, 2008
John Spevak: The readers' turn
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ReprintReaders have been responding in the last few weeks to various columns I have written, so I thought it's time to give them a chance to be heard, or rather read, today.
Sometimes, it seems, the ideas and opinions of readers are more interesting than mine. But that's all right, since I have just enough self-esteem to be able to cope with that reality.
Let's begin with a letter that comes all the way from Tennessee, electronically, about last week's column:
Hello, John,
Just read your kudos to two of the finest people in Los Baños, Joe Mello and Bill Stenberg. Both are such wonderful people. Even though Joe has passed away, so much of him will live on in the future of the place he called home. Both he and Irene contributed so much to community life and helping others.
As for Bill, I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful person he is and how much I have missed the visits to Los Baños Drugs. Both he and Mel always had a smile and a kind word, even when they were overwhelmed with work. I could always depend on getting prescriptions delivered to me when I wasn't able to pick them up.
When I lost my husband in 2003, I moved to and lived in Las Vegas for four years, but I now reside in Chapel Hill, Tenn., about 40 miles south of Nashville.
If you should be in the drug store, please say "Hello" to both Bill & Mel.
Sincerely, Geri Wellman
Dear Geri,
Thank you for your kind words. You are representative of so many Los Bañosans, both present and past, who have appreciated Joe and Bill and Mel. John
Another reader wrote to comment on the column I wrote on the current mortgage crisis:
Hello, John,
I, too, visit Ohio from time to time (I'm from Solon, near Cleveland), and occasionally visit Los Baños.
Here's a foolproof technique for better understanding the "greed" you spoke of. Ask any foreclosed homeowner to look on their HUD-1 form. The entry labeled "Yield-Spread Premium" is the mortgage broker's commission. Ask if the borrower was told what the YSP was. If it looks high, that's because the broker made more money by selling a product that was unnecessarily in favor of the lender.
But if the broker sold a product that was better for the borrower, his commission would be less. Many folks did not get the best product they could afford because of this commission strategy.
Google "yield spread premium" for more.
Thanks for reading my venting.
Glen Wilcox, Oak Park, CA
Dear Glen,
Thanks for writing. I think you're the first reader from Oak Park, who has written to me. (I used to live next to an Oak Park, but that was in Illinois, near Chicago.)
There are so many aspects (some would say traps) to mortgages, so much in the large print and the fine print on lending agreements, that it's hard for the average home buyer to sort them all out. As a person who thought he knew a little about mortgages, I was surprised to hear about the YSP (which of course I hadn't checked and wasn't even aware of when I bought my current house about five years ago).
I did an Internet search of "yield spread premium" and found a lot of information available and many different points of view on the topic. I could see how important details could be essentially "hidden."
What really matters is that anyone about to take out a mortgage should be given, in clear language, all the information he or she needs in order to make a wise decision and should take the time to talk with someone he or she trusts before signing on that dreaded bottom line. John
The next reader responded to a column I wrote about three guys I hadn't met before who fixed my car door, for a fee, in a Los Baños shopping center parking lot:
Hey, John!
I think you should consider calling one of the guys and saying thank you for being honest and doing a good job on your door. You have ultimately saved money and time with that adventure.
Take care, Eduardo Scheitt
Dear Eduardo,
You have an interesting point of view. While I questioned myself about whether I did the wise thing in getting involved with three guys I didn't know, you focus on the end result: the car door was fixed, and at a price lower than I had expected to pay. John
The last letter today comes from a reader commenting on the column I wrote about the changes in Los Baños trash collection:
Hi, John,
I just read your article about garbage and carts (excuse me - cans)!
Great job. Enjoyable reading, and very effective in encouraging readers to pay attention to their colors, cans, and discarded materials.
Jim Greco
El Dorado Hills, CA
Dear Jim,
Thank you for your kind words. I was even more impressed with the attachment you sent. John
Jim attached to his e-mail a study he has done of his own waste disposal history over the past 10 years. He notes that he began to weigh his garbage on Feb. 11, 1997, and he's been doing it weekly ever since.
In his study he wrote that "he recognized that the California Integrated Waste Management Act (AB 939) imposed diversion goals on cities, counties, and regional agencies throughout the State. He wondered what it would be like if those goals were imposed directly upon every business and household to divert 50 percent of their waste. What if AB 939 required the Greco household to divert 50 percent of the household waste generation amount every year? Was this goal achievable?
"He started by purchasing a 50-pound fish hook scale for $29.95, attached it to a sturdy broomstick pole, separately bagged his waste and recyclables, and then weighed the bags. He also weighed what could not be bagged and recorded the weight in pounds. Could households reduce their trash by 50 percent?"
Like Los Baños, Jim's city, starting in 1997, has three cans: blue for recyclables, green for yard waste, and another color for refuse. Amazingly, before he tossed anything into any can, Jim weighed what he was throwing out. He created tables for 1997 and for every year since then!
His bottom line was that by using blue and green cans, he was able to "divert" at first 58 percent and then in later years more than 80 percent of his trash to recycling. It took a little more time and thought, but he was able to help reduce the amount of waste that had to be buried in landfills.
My readers may wonder why he would go to that much trouble. Well, Jim just happens to be in waste disposal as a career, most recently as a consultant to cities and counties which are trying hard to divert waste away from landfills and into recycling. He takes his vocation seriously!
Comments on the writings of John Spevak, a regular Enterprise columnist, are encouraged and can be sent via e-mail to spevak@telis.org.