Editorial

Those two little words need careful definition

Charm and character. The words are on everyone's lips in Los Gatos these days. Candidates promise to preserve them. Residents warn town staff not to destroy them.

The Chamber of Commerce wants to preserve independent businesses to help maintain these qualities. And some residents claim businesses catering to tourists will destroy them.

What exactly do people mean when they use the words charm and character?

Is it the well-kept Craftsman bungalows and Victorian homes with roses growing on picket fences? Certainly, that's part of it.

And what about rising rents driving independent businesses out of the community? Will Los Gatos lose its charm and character if these shops move out and chain stores move in?

It couldn't help but make a difference, and not just because independents offer unique merchandise. It has more to do with the people who run the shops, people who are frequently on a first-name basis with customers--and who participate in the community.

Some chains would make the effort; many would not.

We think when people talk about the town's charm and character, what they really mean is that Los Gatos feels like the old days, not like Silicon Valley.

Many Los Gatans fear the community is changing. Well, there's no denying that it is. The wonder is that the town manages to preserve as much as it does given market pressures and its location in the high-tech center of the world.

It's important to preserve what's here; the question is how? We suspect it will take a more creative approach than finger-pointing and anti-growth hysteria when market forces are at work to price everyone who's not wealthy out of the area.

We must carefully define the terms charm and character to figure out how to maintain them. Before we blame merchants for wanting to attract tourists, for instance, we need to think about how fast those businesses will disappear if they don't have enough customers to pay increasing rents.

But before we blame landlords for gouging, residents need to ask themselves if they would, out of a sense of altruism, sell their homes for a price well below market value.

The Chamber's economic development committee, aimed at maintaining a good mix of appropriate businesses, is a good step toward meeting the challenge. Another positive step is the Planning Commission's public study sessions which involve the community in planning issues at an early stage.

Just last week, the commission gave a thumbs down on a proposed development at Villa Felice after developers ignored public concerns expressed in two study sessions about the size and density of homes.

The answer, as they used to say in the old days, is to be part of the solution or risk being part of the problem.

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