Looking out my hotel room window, somewhere in Asia, I was struck by what I saw. There were alleyways, mixed-use commercial buildings, and a variety of housing types with pedestrian access, transit stops and interesting eateries. And all this done with the local charming style.
From the description alone it sounds just like what we want for Los Gatos, but it was not even close. Before me was a perfect example of unplanned development. The result was a car-choked, congested, over populated, reeking mess. A description alone would not do it justice. It requires a picture.
The same can be said about all the concept documents for Los Gatos Boulevard created by the many varied commissions and groups. A lot of citizens and town leaders spent countless hours working out the thousands of words to describe what the community needs. The reports and findings still do not convey how to get the one thing we really want!
What we all really want is more of Los Gatos with less of the congestion! This is what many of us have asked for in editorials and letters. We want the small-town feel, local businesses not franchises, and a sense of community but without the rush of traffic.
Well, if we want that small-town feel, then we need to provide homes and services for our growing children, teachers and elderly parents.
If we want our local businesses to succeed against the big chains, then we need to get them more customers without the congestion more cars would bring.
And, if we want a sense of community without the rush, then we need to deal with the population growth that assaults us on all fronts, and channel these forces to our benefit.
I created www.northlosgatos.com to offer a plan to achieve this. This is a plan to build a new city center so we can have more of our town and less of a mall. The website has plenty of words to describe the problems and pictures to show the vision of a workable future for Los Gatos. Please log on and take the tour.
The vision of what we build must come before we set the floor-area ratios, units per acre, and hosts of other important but secondary planning factors.
The Los Gatos we love was not sketched out with magic markers on a map. Individuals with a vision of making something better for themselves developed it. Individuals wanting something better than sprawl and malls preserved it over the decades.
I, too, want something better for myself and my family. For years I sought out leaders and architects who could lay out a path to a better future.
I have sat in county general plan reviews, Golden Triangle task forces, transit authority meetings, on and on ad nauseum. I've met with councilmembers, supervisors, congressmen, mayors, commissioners and others, asking how this valley could better re-focus growth to combat congestion. I'm almost embarrassed to cite how many letters I've written.
The result of this search is www.northlos-gatos.com, my vision for this corner of the valley (La Rinconada de Los Gatos).
It is not because my vision is better then others. The honest truth is that no group or individual has put together so comprehensive a plan. It is the lack of others' visions that makes www.northlosgatos.com the best plan available to combat the problems of urban sprawl. If there were something better, I'd be happy to support it.
Until that happens, www.northlosgatos.-com is the most logical strategy to create more of Los Gatos with useful transit and affordable housing.
The problems of congestion demand that we follow such a strategy out of self defense. We can wait no longer. An estimated 150,000 people are moving into our valley in the next 10 years. Many of them will want to have dinner here, and that alone could choke us to death with love.
There are other reasons we need to act now. Log on to www.northlosgatos.com and take the 10-minute tour of North Los Gatos. If you do not have a computer at home, please visit any library and ask the nearest teenager for help.
Our children already have a feel about how the world will be linked together in the future; www.northlosgatos.com shows how we can begin to make the best links for them right here.
And please write or email me with your comments and suggestions. I'm going to need lots of help. Development at the North 40 will happen one way or another. It will require the strong will of many people to prevent the current plans from making our lives worse.
North Los Gatos is the better alternative and if the people here have enough desire to help, it could work!
Einstein said, "Our world is filled with inventive minds." He would have been amazed by the world of wonders in our Silicon Valley. All of us have the privilege to live next to the major center of innovation for our society. We now have the greatest ability to communicate ideas and designs and methods of funding than any other civilization in history. Let's use these abilities and make it work.
By the way, as I do hold down a full-time job, version 2.4 of the site still has some kinks. The questionnaire is flaky, and you will need to explicitly email me at mark@northlosgatos.com or mark@mrlaser.com. Rome was not built in a day but the rent is due every month.
Mark Brodsky is a Monte Sereno resident. He was involved in the development of the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan and was active with the Los Gatos Boulevard Community Association.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
