One of the arguments being used by proponents of the proposed AYA athletic field complex is that the school fields currently being used by local youth teams are not good enough because they are in poor condition. Like the test wells at the proposed site, this argument can't hold water very long, since San Jose Unified School District has recently begun spending tens of millions of dollars to upgrade the athletic fields at all of the schools in the district

As local examples: From spreadsheets we finally obtained (after much stonewalling) from the San Jose Unified School District just before the Measure F school bond election, $7.6 million was allocated for upgrading Leland High School athletic fields, $940,000 was allocated for upgrading Leland High School tennis courts, $1 million was allocated for upgrading Bret Harte Middle School athletic fields, $446,000 was allocated for upgrading Graystone Elementary School athletic field. On the summary spreadsheet for all 44 schools in the San Jose Unified School District, a total of $65 million (yes, that's sixty-five million dollars) was allocated just for athletic field upgrades. It seems that after this much money is spent there should be enough high quality sports fields available at area schools.

We coached and/or managed Almaden Little League Baseball, Almaden Flag Football, and Almaden Bobby Sox softball for many years when our son and daughter were on sports teams playing on local school fields during the '70s and '80s. In addition to coaching, we prepared and marked the fields before each game, so we fully understand the desire for adequate facilities. During that era, there had to be about as many teams per available field as there are today ... and somehow the scheduling always worked out OK.

As concerned taxpayers, we should continue to demand full, up-to-date accounting for all public monies that are spent. As a matter of principle, if the city donates our tax dollars (almost $600,000 so far?) and the school district donates our valuable public school property (almost a free lease?) to this project, then somebody directly accountable to the general public (like the Parks and Recreation Department, maybe) should retain full control over the scheduling and usage of the facility. And public funding should go into this project only if the facility can be scheduled for use by the general public.

Al and Jan Day

Mount Pakron Drive

If Almaden wants sports fields, do it right

In response to Brad Bosomworth's request (SpeakOut, "Can't we all just get along on soccer fields?" Sept. 2) that those of us who are "sitting on the sideline watching others sacrifice": Well, maybe we do have all our kids best interests at heart.

Look, no one argues that the Almaden Youth Association's goal of a 35-acre multi-use sports complex is not worth pursuing. But like most projects, the devil is in the detail. From what I've read from excellent reporting done in both Almaden Times over the years and recently in the Almaden Resident, the following is just common sense:

* You just can't risk local resident's ground water supplies. How do you provide water to your kid if your well has run dry?

* You can't risk children playing in the immediate vicinity of the complex by having a crowded, narrow two-lane road bustling with more than 2,000 cars a day. How do you tell little Darla not to ride her bicycle "down by the sports complex?"

* You can't build and maintain a 35-acre sports complex on a shoestring budget with a flimsy leasehold from the SJUSD and expect the outcome over time to be any better than the state of existing playing fields.

If this sports complex is truly the will of the residents of Almaden, then please, please, please do it right. Besides getting generous help from our fair city government of San Jose, how about we do something like the following:

1) Raise enough money privately to fund land acquisition and development.

2) Involve some local corporations that have land large land holdings in the area—you know the names; they have many employees with kids and wouldn't mind the sports-complex being next to their corporate offices. It would save Mom and Dad a long drive to see little Joey play ball.

3) Use artificial turf since we live in a drought-stricken area. No need to pollute the ground water with chemical fertilizers used to maintain a playing field of natural grass as well as use up the remaining water.

4) Don't endanger those who will live near the complex.

5) Avoid destroying the remaining natural habitats in our area.

Those areas tend to keep us humans healthy and happy in ways we haven't even discovered yet.

Michael R. MacFaden

Glenview Drive

Find a new site for 'Almaden's children'

I just about fell out of my chair when I read the sanctimonious propaganda that Brad Bosomworth offered up as a letter to the editor in last week's Speak Out section of the Almaden Resident. How can he reprimand those opposed to the McKean Road Sports Complex as being an embarrassment to the community? What nerve!

Each time a valid concern has been raised by those opposed to the fields project, Almaden Youth Association officials—including Mr. Bosomworth—fall back on the "it's just something we want to do for the children" defense. The fact that the AYA's ham-handed attempt to drive this project through—with the full support and aid of Pat Dando—has suddenly been challenged by the fine reporting in the Resident has the AYA on the defensive because it can't justify jeopardizing the only source of water for people living on the urban reserve.

They also say that a waiver they'll require each of their players to sign, stating they won't walk or ride their bikes to the fields, doesn't address the rest of the community who use that road. How self-centered can they be?

Mr. Bosomworth says he hopes "we can be mature enough to listen to other opinions, communicate accurately and seek reasonable compromise." But the AYA is only seeking compromise on everyone else's part. It is determined to get these fields built no matter what.

He then goes on to says that the opposition to the AYA's project has challenged "everything I was taught in school, by my coaches and on Sunday." Just exactly what was he taught? That's it is OK to manipulate the system, to run a sloppy organization and to bad-mouth those with opposing views?

If the stated goal of his letter is to get residents off "the sideline" and to "step up to the plate" to support the project, it may indeed get people off the sideline, but they won't be supporting the AYA. It is obvious that the McKean Road site is absolutely the wrong place for a sports fields facility, and the sooner the AYA and Dando realize this and look for another, more suitable site, the better it will be for "all of Almaden's children."

Jean Martin

Spring Hill Way

Playing field leveled by
sports complex stories

I must respond to Brad Bosomworth's letter to the Almaden Resident in which he pleads for us all to just get along, to endure little sacrifices for the children and for the greater good of the Almaden community, to be good citizens and to be honest with one another.

When "just getting along" means giving in to bullies, then the good citizen must do his duty to speak up, to resist intimidation, to see to it that fairness and openness prevail.

For all the children, not just AYA members, and for the greater good of the Almaden community, the existing sports fields should be fixed first before planning to build new ones. Children of Almaden Valley should not have to continue using unsafe fields. As a plan to keep children safe on the trip from the Almaden community out to the proposed fields on McKean Road, asking them to "sign a waiver" makes no sense. What are they waiving? Their right to recompense should they be injured or killed? They are all underage. What would be the legal status of a waiver signed by a child? Perhaps someone meant that the children should sign a pledge stating that they would go to the sports field only in a car. But that would be creating yet more dependence upon automobiles. For the greater good of the community, and indeed of the world, not only children, but everyone, should get out of cars and walk or bike or use public transportation.

To be neighborly is to do what it takes to provide a solution, for example planning to pipe water to the proposed fields from a city supply, rather than impose a hardship on those near the fields who depend on well water. To be neighborly is not to put a string of unsightly portable toilets out in an open field on an "interim" basis that could last until 2020. To be neighborly is not to do to others what you would not like done to yourselves. If you would not want a huge sports complex in your backyard or immediate neighborhood, then do not try to put it into someone else's backyard. Make the same sacrifice that you are asking others to make and put new sports fields and portable toilets in your own backyard.

To be a good citize is to participate in community life, to see that public projects are done properly, that the rules are followed and that everything is on the up-and-up. On the playing fields it means practicing good sportsmanship.

Good sportsmanship means following the rules, being honest, and providing a level field, that is, giving everyone all the facts with which to play the game. Only then can there be reasoned discussion in the hope of reaching good decisions. The editors of the Almaden Resident and reporter Sandy Brundage, through their investigations, have made the playing field a lot more level than it had been, so that everyone has better information for evaluating the proposed sports field on McKean Road.

Kathryn Tsai

Via Jose

Hilarious cartoon's
take on sad situation

DeCinzo's cartoon in the Sept. 2 edition of the Resident was as hilarious as it was sad. If the people backing the boondoggle that is the McKean Road soccer fields project actually think a second well will ADD water to the South Almaden Valley Urban Reserve, they are dumb as they are incompetent.

Bennett Blakley

Queenswood Way