The planned renovation of Old Town, a project just about everyone seems to favor, has hit another snag. We're wondering why. Parishioners of St. Luke's Church are staging an all-out campaign--complete with petitions and acrimonious letters--to oppose the relocation of Steamer's Seafood Restaurant.
As far back as last January, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times reported that moving the restaurant closer to the church was integral to the overall renovation concept. Still, it wasn't until last August that Ed Storm actually presented Hunter and Storm's proposal to members of the church. The church's governing body expressed some reservations, and, in a followup letter, Storm said he would get back to them.
He didn't. That didn't mean he wasn't working on compromises; he just neglected to let the people who could make trouble for him know what he was doing.
For their part, church leadership, having received no further communication from the developers, decided on a preemptive strike. And now there's a line in the sand.
What we can't help wondering is: Would it have been so difficult for the developers to keep church leadership apprised of their progress? Would it have been so hard for someone at the church to pick up the phone and let the developers know they were waiting for some answers to their concerns?
The final battle, of course, will be carried on in front of the Planning Commission. The question is, did it have to come to this?
With the holiday season just barely past, many Americans are happily preparing for another day of vacation. For many, the Jan. 15 observance of Martin Luther King's birthday is just another reason to pray for snow.
With the holiday perennially scheduled for a Monday, the observance has come to represent to too many people little more than another opportunity for a long ski weekend.
The Unitarian Fellowship, at 15980 Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos, is taking a different approach. And one that seems decidedly appropriate in the wake of the racial tension the O.J. Simpson verdict brought to the surface.
Films, discussions, workshops and training are planned Jan. 12 through 14 with the goal of increasing understanding and empathy among races.
Although Unitarians might be accused of preaching to the choir, even those who have remained steadfast in their commitment to racial justice must recognize there's work to be done to keep a lid on escalating racial tension.
These days, ethnic jokes and racial slurs are working their way back into our culture, sometimes under the righteous banner of defying "political correctness."
People increasingly seem to feel it's OK to tell racial jokes and make racial slurs; there's a growing sense of "them and us."
We would all do well to follow the example of the Unitarian Fellowship and devote some time during the observance of Dr. King's birthday thinking about what we can do as individuals to keep the dream of equality and justice alive.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 10, 1996.
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