Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Dana Reedy sits on one of the new planter boxes, not exactly a large, comfortable seat. But help is on the way.

New planters earn rave reviews

But, as seats, they leave something to be desired

By Clarence Cromwell

Downtown Los Gatos--what a wonderful place to stroll, shop or just sit for a spell on the planter box benches. Wait a minute. What happened to all the benches?

The new planters on N. Santa Cruz Avenue have caused quite a buzz around here lately. Oh, they look perfectly fine--no complaints in the eyeball department--but they're a little less satisfying from the other perspective. It's downright uncomfortable to wedge your posterior on that narrow little brick ledge and lean back against--arrrgh--a metal railing. Well, relief is on the way in the form of wooden park benches.

The first set of brick planters was recently installed right in front of Mountain Charley's. Customers have been shaking their heads and rubbing their behinds ever since, managers and owners of nearby shops said.

Laura Moore, owner of Interior Services of Los Gatos, was a member of the Downtown Association subcommittee that examined the streetscape on behalf of merchants, and that first set of planters happens to be right in front of her store.

"It's easy to criticize after the fact," she said. "I have heard people say there should be a seat. It's done, and it's 15 times better than it used to be."

Shuz manager Michael Richards said he doesn't notice as many people sitting on the new planters. The old benches were perfect because people would sit in front of the store, across from Moore's shop, with their frozen yogurt or drinks and look at the new shoes in his window, he said.

Luckily for Los Gatans, the potential economic impacts (if any) of the benchless planter boxes will be extremely short-lived.

Before the project is finished, one of the official streetscape benches will sit on the sidewalk in front of each new planter box, facing the shops, said senior planner Bud Lortz.

In fact, Moore said she saw workers drilling holes June 20 to bolt one of the benches to the sidewalk in front of her shop.

The Town Council fully grasped the sitting problem when it reviewed plans for the tree boxes, Mayor Joanne Benjamin said.

Benjamin said she enjoyed the downtown benches herself, when strolling N. Santa Cruz with her family or after an occasional jog.

"When we realized people couldn't sit on them, we wanted to put benches there," Benjamin said.

The rail on top of each planter box--the part that makes sitting down so darned uncomfortable--was a necessity, Lortz said.

"The idea was that plants and things wouldn't get trampled," Lortz explained. Benjamin added that the rail was also supposed to keep pets from digging in the planters.

Lortz added that a great deal of public input was taken on the design and that the rail was moved as far back as possible so that people can sit on the planters if they want to. The Planning Department expects that the planters will be pressed into service during parades and other times when downtown seating is in demand, Lortz said.

Apparently, the planter-box design is very popular. Even those who questioned the lack of seats--not knowing park benches were on the way--said the boxes look nice.

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