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Letters
Bond money needed to update, renovate old college campuses
I serve as co-chair of the Citizens for West Valley-Mission--Yes on Measure E, a committee established by local residents to ensure the passage of Measure E. Last week, Victor Monia's letter to the editor published in The Campbell Reporter Jan. 9 issue contained misinformation relating to the West Valley-Mission Community College District bond measure.
Our committee is working to ensure that each and every voter in the district's service area becomes informed of the facility needs at their community colleges and obtains the facts about the district's long-term, comprehensive, strategic planning process, which indicated the district required more than $400 million to improve aging facilities.
Monia's letter ignored the fact that in order to fund student needs, the district has worked hard to obtain grants and private donations and judiciously used its state budget resources.
Unfortunately, Monia's letter also failed to mention that maintenance is usually low on the list of state budget priorities, particularly during a recession.
Monia's letter ignores the fact that the district board of trustees voted to place a bond measure for $268 million on the March 5 ballot at a public meeting posted in the same manner as every board meeting, and after numerous public meetings were held to discuss the district's facility needs.
Simply put, Measure E, which covers essentials only, will cost homeowners $14 per $100,000 of assessed value. This should not be confused with market value. And let's not forget that this amount is tax deductible.
Monia misled readers when he indicated that $3,000 to $5,000 in additional property taxes will be paid. The amount is projected to be paid over 25 to 30 years--not as much as he would like you to believe once the math is done.
The district is not being greedy, as suggested, but is working to bring our campuses up-to-date and provide our students with safe and current facilities.
The money will remain in the community and upgrade buildings that are more than 30 years old, built long before classrooms and labs relied on computer technology.
And, as we've stated, independent audits will be conducted annually.
Measure E would allow West Valley and Mission colleges to bring campus buildings up to health and safety standards; renovate science and computer labs, classrooms, and job training facilities, and obtain new technology; update equipment used for classes in health care, law enforcement, and fire science; replace 30-year-old temporary buildings; and repair roofs and upgrade energy, plumbing, sewer, heating, ventilation, and other inefficient, costly systems.
Each year thousands of students take classes at West Valley and Mission colleges to transfer to a four-year university or acquire skills for a career. Chances are the teachers, firefighters, police officers and nurses that you rely upon attended a community college. Measure E is good for the West Valley-Mission Community College District, the students it serves and the community as a whole. Invest in your community's future by voting "yes" on Measure E.
Chris Constantin
Co-chair of Citizens for West Valley-Mission--Yes on Measure E Committee
Trustee, WVMCCD Board
Foundation thanks local citizens for support in 2001
As we begin a new year, we at the Los Gatos Community Foundation thank you all for helping us make 2001 the finest year for your Foundation. Finest in terms of having helped more individuals and trusts than ever before and doing more partnering with the town of Los Gatos, under the guidance of [then] Mayor Joe Pirzynski, the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Los Gatos, the Los Gatos Lions Club and the Los Gatos Kiwanis Club.
We now have 16 separate fund accounts for individual and trust endowment funds and community organizations, including a fund for the Los Gatos High School Pool Fund-raising Committee, the Los Gatos High School Millennium Fund-raising Committee, the Los Gatos Kiwanis Club Turn-around Scholarship Fund and the Town of Los Gatos Film Festival organization.
We now hold in excess of $585,000 in trust for those individuals, trusts and community organizations. The individual and trust endowment funds are held under the direction of the donor and are mostly designated to perpetuate annual scholarships to local high school students.
Your Foundation also raises funds to give scholarships to students and grants to local nonprofit organizations. This amounted to $9,000 during 2001. We have also established our own fund account to receive donations to build a bandstand in Oak Meadow Park. As a public charity, all donations to the Los Gatos Community Foundation Inc. are tax deductible. We raise funds, to support our small administrative budget, through having food stands at local events, including the Fiesta de Arts Festival and the Christmas tree lighting evening. We are a completely volunteer organization with no paid employees.
Of course, our big event is our annual "Elegance In Nature" Garden Party. Our first Garden Party was held in 1993 and had 32 people in attendance. This last year our attendance was very close to 200. We feel that as time goes by, this will be the premier fundraising event to benefit the town and the surrounding community area.
Our mission, to support and enrich the quality of life in the Los Gatos area community, has certainly been fulfilled during this last year and we, again, thank you for your help and support.
Donald E. Callahan, President
Los Gatos Community Foundation
Greenbriar Co. should find somewhere else to build homes
Mark it on your calendars. On Jan 23, Greenbriar Development Co. tries, again, to shove its proposal down our throats. I am talking, of course, about their attempt to develop the land on Hicks and Shannon roads.
They go on, at length, at the town meetings to try and convince us that it would be in everyone's best interest to lose what little open land we have, so that they can build multi-million-dollar, "Pepto-Bismol mini mansions."
I am a substitute teacher here in Los Gatos. The assignment for one of my classes was to describe a day in the life of someone who lives in Los Gatos, and the writer had to describe Los Gatos to someone not from this area. I read some of them and was amazed at the number of high school students who wrote about the beauty of Los Gatos, and the peace and tranquility.
Do we really want to lose this part of Los Gatos? Do we want to send the message to our children that it is fine to destroy something we can never retrieve so that a company can make a profit?
We have chosen to make our homes in Los Gatos for any number of reasons, but one prevailing one seems to be quality of life. Should we deny our children the very thing we enjoy?
Please, if you cannot attend the meeting, send a letter, fax or email to the planning commission and let them know that we do not want more homes destroying the natural beauty of the land. There really are plenty of places for Greenbriar to build.
There is only one Los Gatos. Let us not lose it.
Pamela Jean
Los Gatos
WVC doesn't deserve support for bond issue
My family and I have lived in the West Valley-Mission College area for 39 years. I am a former member of the Saratoga City Council.
When the West Valley-Mission Community College District was first forming in the 1960s, I carried petitions door to door to help build support for the bonds required. I am in favor of, and willing to pay for, real education and academic excellence for our students, but I regret my early work in support of the community college district.
The college district has now voted to place a $268 million bond issue on the ballot in March. That will cost those of us who are homeowners in the district a staggering $715 million in extra taxes. Not a penny of this money will improve education programs in the district.
The district already receives more than $100 million a year, and most of that is our tax money, not tuition. Forty percent of its students are from outside the district, not even our responsibility, while our students wait, sometimes years, for required classes taught by teachers being paid minimum wages. In the last several years the administration has lost millions of dollars due to cost overruns and curious accounting problems.
I no longer support the community college district that I helped to get started. I urge residents to vote "no" on Measure E. The West Valley-Mission Community College District does not need and sadly cannot be trusted with this extra tax money from us.
Cheriel Jensen
Saratoga
Planning must be used to save our brand name
During his last bid for reelection, Egon Jensen stated that the town should be run like a business. I can tell you that running a business entails more than just balancing the books. A business must also build on its assets to generate more income. And business assets are often more than just capital improvements. Brand loyalty is also a big asset.
I believe this town's strongest asset is the brand name "Los Gatos." And it is important for the town to protect and strengthen this asset because it drives local revenue. The value of the 9 percent of the property tax and 12 percent of the sales tax are directly related to the strength of this "Los Gatos" brand.
Weaken this brand name and we must cut back on services. Strengthen the brand, and we generate more income for additional services, like the Senior Center, for which Egon lobbied.
There are forces at hand that actively denigrate the quality of the Los Gatos brand. Since Egon was mayor, the population of the surrounding valley has increased by around eight times. The Rand Corporation projections for increased growth (shown on the North Los Gatos website) anticipate another 150,000 people moving within driving distance to our shops and restaurants. Failing to respond to this congestion can choke out our small-town atmosphere, make it less pedestrian friendly and devalue the Los Gatos brand with piecemeal development.
I believe our town denigrated the LG brand when it approved new construction that did not look uniquely like Los Gatos. For example, the New Old Town looks like a copy of the outlet mall off Highway 101 at Camarillo, the new homes on Lark look nearly identical to homes in Oakdale or Fresno, and the empty offices on the North Forty would fit in comfortably in Mountain View or Canoaga Park. What was wrong with maintaining the design look displayed on the cover of the Chamber of Commerce brochure? Look how nice our local developer Flick rebuilt the Soda Works!
We also denigrate the LG brand when we promote speeding traffic through our residential arteries to support new developments. Wide lanes promote speeding and "speed trap" enforcement does little to promote a positive town image. Forcing kids and the elderly to walk on roadways with cars going over 40 mph makes us much less pedestrian friendly and lowers value of nearby properties.
Making Winchester beautiful, narrow, and calm between Lark and Blossom Hill is a good business decision. It adds value to our assets. So will narrower crosswalks with pedestrian and bicycle ways carved out of the unneeded extra northbound lane. Designing a gateway on Winchester at Lark will encourage commuters away from mine and my neighbors residential property. Permitting large beautiful Victorian homes (even if subdivided into affordable units), instead of cookie cutter condos will also add value to the Los Gatos brand.
The council spent good money to develop a downtown recovery plan after the earthquake. We must now invest in a full town congestion management plan which continues to build the LG brand while providing for satellite parking, mixed-use residential, local circulation transit, a greater supply of local retail storefronts, and traffic calming. However, the citizens group "White Paper" for Winchester and Daves is ready now with a more professional analysis and lower cost alternatives than the town's plan for a light.
A light at Daves lowers the property values, and it cost more because a utility pole must be moved.
The North Los Gatos site has more than 30 pages of information designed to spark a detailed planning process for the North Forty. I look forward to a debate on the many specifics and details I've included. But as to Egon's charge that my plan will cost money, I can only answer, "You bet, it takes money to make money because that is how business is run."
Mark Brodsky
Monte Sereno
An ounce of prevention ...
Once again the rainy season has brought its regular accumulation of standing pools on the wooden section of the Los Gatos Creek Trail immediately behind Old Town. As I picked my way across these watery sections yesterday, it occurred to me that a few strategically placed small holes drilled through the planking might allow enough drainage to provide more secure footing.
However, those responsible for maintaining this section of the Creek Trail can surely find a more elegant solution, and ought to.
If they do not, the almost inevitable consequence will be a skid for someone, a fall, an injury and a damage suit which would be far more costly to the taxpayer than any engineering remedy.
Ralph Parkman
Los Gatos
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
