Re: “Formation of new Town Council is ‘sour grapes’” (April 9 Beacon, page 6): On March 26 the Beacon ran an article titled “Group weighs creation of Peninsula Town Council.” The article described a collection of Peninsula citizens who decided to form a new group after a cadre of like-minded real estate and development interests took over the Peninsula Community Planning Board (PCPB). Some folks believed there was a need to make sure the people in the Peninsula heard the side of the story that would not only not be heard from the PCPB but would be actively squashed by that organization with its current make-up. The week following the article, two letters appeared in the Beacon. The current chair of the PCPB branded the organizers of the new group the “Gang of 11” in a sarcastic, vitriolic and factually inaccurate letter. Examples of the inaccuracies were the claim that the PCPB had been in existence for 50 years and that the PCPB operated under some nonexistent rules called the City of San Diego “Regulations.” The second letter branded the new group as “Chicken Little” and derided its goals in a silly, cheerleading piece for the PCPB. In the April 9 Beacon, the new group was accused of “sour grapes” by someone from the Point Loma Association (PLA). Where did that come from? The article on the formation of the Point Loma Town Council never mentioned the PLA. The new group has no stated problem with the PLA, so why does the PLA have a problem with a new group forming? What I find puzzling is that the creation of a new civic group of people, that want to volunteer their time in community service, has generated so much animosity. The PLA has indeed been around for 50 years and it has truly been responsible for beautifying Point Loma. But, contrary to what the letter stated, the PLA has never represented itself as a town council. It is an association of people who have had, as their main mission, the admirable goal of working to make Point Loma more beautiful. Ocean Beach has a planning group, a Town Council, a merchants organization, and other groups all with their own particular focuses. Point Loma should welcome a new group of volunteers, not denigrate them. I believe the reason the PCPB chair and the penner of the “Chicken Little” letter wrote what they did was to tell everyone not to pay any attention to this new organization, just listen to the PCPB — and that would be a big mistake. A very big mistake. I think the writer of the PLA letter perhaps felt that this new group was attempting to co-opt the role of the PLA and that is entirely untrue. This is simply a new organization with a different focus, and time will tell whether or not what it has to say and what it does is of value to the community. So, instead of those of you from the PCPB, the community, and the PLA throwing stones at the new Peninsula Town Council before it has even done anything, why don’t you just relax and let the public form its own opinion based on the new group’s actions? Better yet, why not welcome it? Or, are you afraid of something? Geoff Page Former PCPB chair Point Loma