Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Letters

Municipalities should demand a fair share

The article and editorial in the May 20 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times regarding a possible reduction of the automobile tax was a bit misleading. The automobile tax is not imposed for the benefit of local government alone.

The taxpayers of the state of California are paying one of the highest income taxes in the country. Our automobile tax is the highest in the nation. A few years ago the tax was increased to cover a deficit in the state budget. With the budget crises behind us, it is not only fair but prudent for our government to roll back taxes. The trouble with poor financing of local government is our local governments throughout the state have failed to stand shoulder to shoulder and demanded a fair share of our tax dollars from Sacramento.

Egon Jensen
Los Gatos

Why do solicitors at the grocery store have to be 'in your face'?

I'm running ragged. After a long day, typically an hour behind schedule, I stop at the local Safeway to pick up something to throw together for dinner. I have my mother waiting in the car, and I'm praying she won't figure out how to unlock the door and wander off while I'm doing my whirlwind shopping.

I limit myself to nine items in order to get through the checkout line quickly. Juggling the bags and my purse, I head to the car, only to be stopped for the umpteenth time by some guy in a white suit who wants me to give him money.

Sometimes I stop and rummage around for a dollar; sometimes I walk to the car, acting as though he doesn't exist.

Today, the annoying entreaty connects with something primitive in me. I drop my bags and my purse and let him have it. "Who are you? Who do you work for? Do you have any literature? No? I'm sick and tired of being accosted every time I come here. Is there an office close by that I can call?"

The man quotes me a phone number and says he works for "The Soldiers for Christ," and replants himself in front of the store exit door.

I am still angry when I get home. I try the phone number, and no one answers. I call information, and there's no San Jose listing for the "Soldiers for Christ." I call the store and get some poor assistant manager on the phone. "Oh, they're legal," he tells me. "The town has issued them a license to solicit, and there's nothing we can do about it. Believe me, I get calls from customers all the time." He's obviously as sick of the situation as I am.

If I owned that business, and unwanted solicitors were driving away customers and there was nothing I could do about it, I'd be fit to be tied. I'm all for outfits who try to help the planet and the people who live on it.

What I do object to is being preyed upon when I'm buying groceries. Why don't they sit at a table and let me come to them if I'm interested? Why don't they hand out some literature so I can see what percentage of my money is actually going to help people? Shouldn't there be some rules of behavior for these groups?

I call the town. There is nothing they can do, either. Apparently if the Girl Scouts and the Lions Club can solicit, so can anyone else with a license. OK. But shouldn't store owners have a say about who gets to use their premises?

I find it outrageous that there is no recourse for businesses. I am advised to write my councilmembers. I shall.

Granting the license to solicit? No problem, if the cause is legitimate and legal. Offering the freedom to occupy any commercial spot in town no matter how negatively a particular business is impacted or how strongly the business owner objects? Absolutely not.

Sharman Bacigalupi
Los Gatos

Not everyone wants to be an athlete

Los Gatos High School is about to destroy something wonderful, timeless and beautiful in our town--the 4-H Farm, which is located behind the old Cub Scout building "Never Never Land."

In its place the high school wants to put in an all-purpose field. Just what the town needs.

The 4-H kids have housed their animals--pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and a ewe--on this farm for years. The 4-H club has helped the Santa Clara County Fair by providing its biggest draw, the animals. The 4-H club also provides a guide dog program for Santa Clara County in which teens raise dogs for the blind.

The animals [housed in the pens] soon will be homeless. We have no other facility to house them. We feel the town doesn't even know this is happening. The school is trying to keep this a secret from the community until it is a done deal. We are asking the community to please support the 4-H kids.

Not all high school students are involved in athletics. Some, like my daughter, want to be veterinarians, agriculturists, farmers or botanists. Help us by showing your support. Call the school board. Call Dr. Ranii or Ted Simonson or both.

In the May 5 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, there was a lovely article about the garden at Daves Avenue School. The teachers there say, "It is not just a garden, it influences and nourishes the souls of our children." "Today our lives are so busy, this gives the children time to be who they are and develops a sense of self."

Liorad Linda Levenson
Los Gatos

Community helped make police dinner a big success

On behalf of Los Gatos Rotary Club, which sponsored the event, and the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, I would like to extend thanks to the many citizens and businesses who contributed to and attended the May 15 Police Recognition Dinner. More than 200 people attended.

All police personnel and volunteers were sponsored by contributions. We are very grateful to the Los Gatos Weekly-Times for publicity prior to the event and for other support.

Don McCleve, M.D.
Event Chairman, Los Gatos Rotary Club

SummerHill should now be approved

I attended the May 13 Planning Commission Meeting on the SummerHill Homes project proposed for Blossom Hill Road. As a next-door neighbor west of the project, I was pleased to learn that a major part of the funds from the sale of the property will go to the Proctor Foundation, a research institute for the visually impaired.

I want to commend the Planning Commission for their actions on May 13 and, in particular, wish to compliment commissioners Len Pacheco and Sandy Decker. The Planning Commission told SummerHill Homes that their plan needed work. SummerHill responded to the concerns of the Planning Commission by making changes that have improved the project.

I've reviewed the new plan, and I believe it is a better overall project and should be approved. The leadership shown by Commissioners Pacheco and Decker and the willingness of SummerHill to respond positively should be acknowledged.

Lyle Chambers
Los Gatos

Summerhill ignores advice

Those of us in the community who are fighting an uphill battle against the size of the SummerHill project would appreciate more accurate and complete reporting than we saw in the SummerHill article in the May 20 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

On April 22, the Planning Commission directed SummerHill to address four key issues before the May 13 public hearing. It seems the Weekly-Times and some members of the Planning Commission chose to ignore the fourth item: Reduce the number of units to create an "environmentally superior" project, as stated in the EIR.

I was surprised and discouraged to find this key requirement was largely overlooked by the planning commissioners--the very people who included it in their motion for redesign!

Too many homes are proposed. The density is inappropriate. The reality is that no matter how many times the proposal is redesigned--staggered front setbacks, additional rock wall and roundabout--the community still ends up with a jumble of expensive homes stacked up on the hillside like a bunch of boxes. Los Gatos can do better than that.

Susan Arroyo
Los Gatos

Calvary Church expansion set a bad precedent

What is a precedent? According to the American Heritage Dictionary, it is an instance or act that may be used as an example in dealing with subsequent similar cases. On May 13, the Los Gatos Planning Commission gave Calvary Baptist Church the green light to continue plans for expansion. The expansion of an already immense complex, fronting a small residential street, will require the demolition of a home which the church has acquired. You see, there is barely enough room for the double-court basketball gymnasium going in, so parking for it must be found somewhere.

Under normal circumstances, the town of Los Gatos hopefully would never have considered destroying the tranquillity of one of its residential streets in this way. But the church says it will be good for the community.

At the meeting, the commissioners appeared genuinely sorry to drive the death nail for our street. They and the council maintain that this does not set a precedent in the town. When one of the 22 other places of worship in town applies for similar expansion, they will be able to look at it individually. They may be able to, but will the institution that is applying?

Vera Pierce
Los Gatos

Correction

In the article about the juried art show at the Tait Museum in the May 13 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Laura DeSantis' ceramic art was misidentified as "Platypus Whistle." Its actual title is "A Global Tribute."

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