 |
|
|
|
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Dena Wood, of San Jose, reviews the West Valley College class schedule to sign up for the spring semester. Wood, a third-grade teacher, has been taking classes for the past year for fun and to gather new ideas to bring to her students.
|
District asking voters to approve bond
Opponents say there has not been enough public input on the new bond measure
By ERIN MAYES
Some Cupertino residents will have the opportunity in March to vote yea or nay on Measure E, a $268,653,300 bond measure that aims to "improve educational opportunities" at West Valley and Mission community colleges.
The West Valley-Mission Community College District board of trustees and the neighbors who live in the areas surrounding West Valley are divided on Measure E, with each claiming that the other is trying to deceive the voting public. Campbell is part of the district.
Jeff Schwartz, a Saratoga resident and district board member, said that because he is a trustee as well as a nearby neighbor of West Valley, he can't ethically take a stance on the measure and had to abstain from voting when the board decided to vote on whether to place the measure on the March ballot. The measure passed 5-1.
Schwartz said that, as a neighbor, he is unhappy with the board's plans to construct a football stadium at West Valley.
"At the last minute, the governing board and the administration included a project on the bond list that's right next to my house," Schwartz said. "When the bond didn't include the stadium, I was [still] opposed to it."
The board previously voted on a $305 million bond measure, which did not pass.
"My reasons for opposing that bond, not the current one, is that the public has no involvement," Schwartz said. "There have been no public hearings. [Also], the amount of money the district was talking about was far too much money."
Schwartz said he believes the repairs and construction that are planned for the two schools are not specific enough.
"There are millions of dollars [designated] for something called 'student support services,' and they haven't specified what those are," he said.
He also alleges that the board continually violates the Brown Act, which dictates that meetings of public bodies must be open and public, actions may not be secret and action taken in violation of open meetings laws may be voided.
The act requires that the public entities post and send notices and agendas for all regular meetings and mail notices one week prior to regular and special meetings.
District spokeswoman Ruth Carlson denied Schwartz's allegations regarding the Brown Act.
"That was thrown out there at a board meeting," Carlson said. "We had the attorney there and he said we have done nothing wrong."
As far as allegations that the bond measure is asking for too much money, Carlson said it's a long time coming.
"We have a campus that's almost 40 years old and we haven't done any maintenance," she said. "We did a strategic plan and it said we had more than $400 million in needs. We're just covering the essentials with $240 million."
She said neighbors who are concerned about the possible construction of a stadium at West Valley might be under the impression that it is going to be enormous.
"It's been compared to Spartan Stadium, but the seating will be maximum 3,500, which is smaller than Los Gatos High School's," Carlson said. "[The neighbors] took us to court over this. The judge said [the board trustees] could do whatever they wanted and didn't need to go through the planning commission to do it."
Victor Monia, president of the West Valley Homeowner's Association in Saratoga and a former West Valley-Mission Community College District board trustee, said that the legal battle over the stadium issue is far from over.
He estimated that the neighbors have been in litigation with the board for about three years in an effort to make sure a stadium is not built.
The neighbors recently appealed a judge's decision to allow the board to continue with its plans to construct a stadium. Monia said the decision was based on a previous decision made by another judge who allowed a Santa Cruz high school to construct a stadium because the school requires extracurricular activities, something that Monia said is not required at community colleges.
Furthermore, Monia said, the district agreed before the colleges were built not to construct a stadium. Monia said this was stated on the original use permit, although that information could not be verified before press time.
About seven months after the city of Saratoga decided to allow the construction of the school, the board voted to exempt itself from the city's use permit, Monia said. This would allow them to disregard the use permit and go ahead with the construction, he said.
"There was an allowance to exempt yourself from other government agencies," Monia said. "It was obviously never [the board's] intent to hold to the use permit. They hadn't started the construction [of the school] and they'd already exempted themselves."
Carlson said that no document stating that the board agreed not to construct a stadium exists.
Monia said that although the stadium issue is very important, it's not the only issue.
"One of the problems is that the trustees don't have the foggiest idea about this kind of capital venture," Monia said. "When you try to ask questions, you don't get any answers. That alone should question whether or not these folks know what they're doing."
Monia said he wants to see a detailed, realistic list of things the board wants to do with the money it would receive if the measure passes.
Board trustee Joy Atkins said the money is definitely needed, particularly for the West Valley campus because of its age.
"It is a lot of money, but costs are so high now for everything," Atkins said. "It's not as much as we really needed."
About allegations of violating the Brown Act, Atkins said it is just one piece of misinformation that opponents of Measure E are trying to spread.
The West Valley-Mission Community College District serves Los Gatos, Saratoga and Campbell, and parts of Cupertino, Santa Clara, San Jose and Sunnyvale.
The board of trustees voted to issue the general obligation bond at its Nov. 29, 2001, meeting. According to the wording in the voter pamphlet, passage of the measure would allow the construction, acquisition, repair and equipment of classrooms, libraries, science and computer labs, and facilities and sites. It would also allow the district to "upgrade technology, improve safety conditions and accessibility for the disabled, upgrade fire [safety], earthquake safety, lighting, electrical, energy conservation, ventilation/plumbing systems..."
It would also cover $22,425,000 in loans the district obtained in 1997 and 1999.
There are lists of desired repairs and upgrades for each college in the voter pamphlet.
The bond must be approved by 55 percent of the voters within the district's service area.
Jim Roth, vice president of SalomonSmithBarney, the company that is analyzing bond capacity for the district, says he expects homeowners to pay between $11 and $15 per $100,000 of assessed home valuation each year. If district officials issue the bond in three series, as they have discussed, voters will spend 25 to 30 years paying for each series, Roth said.
The annual amount that homeowners pay after the first issuance will remain the same after subsequent issuances, barring changes in assessed valuation, trustee Don Wolfe said.
Rebecca Ray contributed to this story.
|
|
|
|
Cupertino, California Since 1947
