Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Who's pulling the strings at City Hall?

The Citizens FOR Monte Sereno--no longer anonymous, as they were when they issued their first letter to every household in Monte Sereno in January 1996--have alerted their neighbors that they're back, and they intend to stay.

In a letter that happened to coincide with the passage of the city budget and performance review of the city manager, this "citizen" group is pushing for downsizing at City Hall, and, of course, more common sense and flexibility in government.

Why pay a city manager and a planner when one person could do both jobs, they ask? Particularly, they might add, when their definition of good planning is to permit homeowners to do whatever they want with their own property.

What we're wondering is this: If Monte Sereno is so small, why in the world does it need a sub-layer of government?

For while the Citizens FOR Monte Sereno still presents itself as nothing more than a group of concerned citizens, its most recent missive gives a different impression. Its members seem intent on hand-picking a marionette council and pulling their strings from behind the scenes.

Why else put out a call for like-minded citizens to step forward and make themselves known to the group for an election that doesn't take place until November 1998?

Current council members Joel Gambord and Gordon Knight have resigned from the group. But while they may have no official contact with the organization (other than the reports they get from their spouses, both of whom are still members), they give the appearance that they have not stepped far away.

And that's unfortunate because elected officials shouldn't be taking their marching orders from a special-interest group.

And if no one thought that's what was happening before, they probably do after reading the divisive and intimidating letter from the Citizens FOR Monte Sereno.

"Although it is gratifying that the two newcomers have been able to make their presence felt, there apparently is significant resistance to some of the more common-sense measures they have proposed," the letter says.

The letter also labels a hard-working group of their neighbors derisively as "a committee of history buffs."

And it refers to those who were running things a year ago as "the government we recently endured."

Rosemary Pierce, who seems to be making a post-retirement career of criticizing her successors in the city manager's office, told our reporter Clarence Cromwell that the Citizens FOR Monte Sereno just want to promote democracy.

The citizens who live in Monte Sereno must be wondering whatever happened to the civilized brand of democracy they used to practice in their little city.

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