Los Gatos Weekly-TimesLettersProposed solutions don't address the real boundary issue What are the goals of the Santa Clara County Committee on School District Organization? After months of supposedly listening to the public and studying school district borders, they have published a list of reorganization scenarios that includes such options as unifying along current high school district boundaries, which would be a shift from 11 districts to two, and creating just one district from 11. We attended the public forums and have heard no such sentiments from the public. Opinions expressed at the forums addressed community identity and supported community schools. There was no outspoken desire for unification. It is our understanding that the committee was formed to address the isolation felt by certain neighborhoods within Los Gatos, Monte Sereno and Saratoga from their town's school district. By developing reorganization scenarios with all-encompassing changes that are not acceptable to anyone, the committee has stirred up general opposition and outrage. Was this the committee's goal in the first place? We live in the the Old Adobe neighborhood of Los Gatos off Quito Road, but our children are excluded from Los Gatos schools. The message we get from our town is ambiguous. Our taxes support police programs in Los Gatos schools and the Los Gatos Parks and Recreation Dept., which, in turn, supports Los Gatos schools. As business owners in Los Gatos, we are solicited for money to support Los Gatos schools, and our local paper, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, only covers events and the children of Los Gatos schools. The solution to this problem does not require global and disruptive changes to school boundaries as proposed. We hope that Los Gatos and the school board will address the problem of our neighborhood's alienation from the town in which we reside and participate--Los Gatos.
Margaret and Eric Williams It's time to think of the millennium The Los Gatos Community Foundation, with the approval of the Town Council, is proposing a major celebration for the coming millennium. This would be an all-day, into-the-evening event for the whole family. The idea is to be able to come together as a community and celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime occasion with family and friends, in a safe, fun-filled environment. In order for this event to work, the foundation would need the commitment and cooperation of all members of the community. Our plan is to have daytime events throughout Los Gatos (at parks, schools, etc.) geared toward family activities with emphasis on the children. The area around the Town Plaza would be closed off for stage events, and in the evening there would be a preteen dinner/dance at Fisher Middle School; a teen dinner/dance at Los Gatos High School; and various levels of dinner/dances (from casual to formal) for the adults held at various restaurants in the plaza area. To top off the evening, we are envisioning a large screen which would showcase the coming millennium across the U.S. (similar to a Times Square New Year's event). I, of course, would need volunteers from all the organizations in town, but in the meantime, I would appreciate receiving your opinions via the paper, or you can write to me at Tomasi-Dubois & Associates, 340 University Ave., Los Gatos, 95030. Thank you--with all your help, I think we can pull this off!
Mary Tomasi Town has tried to circumvent public input In reviewing the PG&E application to construct massive transformers on its lot across the street from Courtside Tennis Club, it was interesting to note that PG&E makes reference to "a compressed natural-gas service station to be operated by the town of Los Gatos (summer 1997) at the southeast corner of Winchester Boulevard and Lark Avenue." The date of the PG&E application submitted to the Public Utilities Commission was April 18, 1997. Residents in the La Rinconada area were first notified of the project prior to a Planning Commission meeting on May 28, 1997. If the town was planning to go into the service station business, why were the residents not given a chance to voice their opinions at public hearings? Why have Lee Bowman, Scott Baker and David Knapp been given the power to make decisions without public input? The natural-gas service station was ill-planned from the beginning. No competent city planner would ever place a natural-gas pumping hose within 30 feet of seven full-grown eucalyptus trees. Now the next brilliant move by this team is to allow PG&E to build giant transformers next to Charter Oaks townhouses, which are constructed with wood siding and shake roofing and nestled among dry pine, maple and oak trees. The transformers would be less than 50 feet from the bedroom windows of many residents. Courtside Tennis Club, Jewish Community Center, Los Gatos Creek trails, and the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club are extremely close to the proposed project. In the PG&E plan, a high-voltage tower would be constructed on the Elks Club parking lot next door to custom homes in the La Rinconada area. All of us remember the death of a Palo Alto boy when he was electrocuted while climbing a similar tower. Finally, the transformers [could] cause many homes in the area to be reclassified from low-risk to high-risk properties, making financing extremely difficult. The Town Council must hold the planning staff accountable for their actions before someone gets seriously hurt!
Richard Erbst The Public Utilities Commission will decide PG&E's request to enlarge the substation--Editor Chamber needs town funding for resource line The article about the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce in the July 2 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times may have given the wrong impression to some readers. Please allow me to clarify a few points. The Chamber's request to the town is for funding to specifically support and expand information services to community members and visitors. The funds would not be used to underwrite day-to-day operations or membership recruitment. The Chamber is currently fielding 450 calls a month from residents, visitors and others who have questions about the town. About 85 percent of these calls are not related to Chamber business, but ask about things like events, relocation and general community information. The Chamber phone line (354-9300) has become a Community Resource Helpline. The Chamber office, located within the Bank of America on N. Santa Cruz Avenue, is staffed at least two days a week. We have had wonderful volunteer support from the community, answering phones, responding to requests for information and helping to organize our recent golf tournament. What we want to do now, however, is to guarantee staffing of the Chamber's phone line at least 30 hours per week, and that requires more paid staffing than the Chamber can currently afford on its own. The Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce has its own board of directors made up of local residents and business owners. We are affiliated with the San Jose Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and our members receive many benefits as a result of that affiliation. But we act independently and focus on issues and concerns of the Los Gatos community.
Robin Tole Heintz intended for his property as financial gift It has come to my attention that some questions are being raised concerning the intent of my parents in donating their land and buildings to the Proctor Foundation of the University of California, and their desires regarding the ultimate disposition of this property. As the sole heir to their estate, I believe that I can speak to the questions with authority. It had long been the intent of both my parents to make a charitable donation of the entire property. Selection of the Proctor Foundation as the recipient of this gift was based upon my father's deep respect for the foundation and for the staff working to treat eye disease and reduce the incidence of blindness. The gift was made with no restrictions or reservations other than establishment of a life estate on the house and surrounding acreage for the lifetime of the surviving spouse. It was obvious to my parents that optimum value of the gift to the foundation could be realized only if the property were put to the greatest economic use. My father died in 1980 and my mother in 1990, at which time the life estate was terminated and title to the entire property reverted to the Proctor Foundation. I retained no financial interest whatsoever in the property, other than in the contents of the house, which were removed and stored for the benefit of other family members. At no time, following formalization of the gift, did either of my parents specify a preference on whether the property should be kept together or subdivided; whether certain areas should be withheld and preserved as open space or some restrictions should be placed on the nature of any subdivision. I would like to state, in closing, that both of my parents enjoyed their lives on the property to the fullest extent, despite the unchecked vandalism that ultimately destroyed their summer home and pool at the top of the hill. In recent years, the relatively small size of the orchard areas made it economically impractical to attempt any profitable harvesting of apricots, and, in fact, no commercial employer would agree to pick the fruit even if it were free for the taking. I believe that if my parents were alive today, they would agree that there was no practical advantage to keeping the property together as an entity.
Ralph M. Heintz Jr. This letter was originally written to Los Gatos Mayor Joanne Benjamin and the Town Council. The author specifically granted permission to the Los Gatos Weekly-Times to run it as a letter to the editor.--Editor Short of Utopia, this site is a decent one With regard to the "Let them eat moldy scraps, too?" letter in the July 9 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, the writer of the letter states that we in Los Gatos can choose to build decent safe homes for our soon-to-be community members. We have. Residents in one of the homes to be built [on the Miles Avenue site] will have a greater exposure to an electromagnetic field from their kitchen toaster than they will from the PG&E equipment located near the site. Does the writer of the letter wish to suggest a better alternative site? None was mentioned in her letter, nor at the hearing where this issue was considered. The writer also asks: " ... did Steve Blanton really state that 'for some people, the vague, potential risk [of living by a PG&E substation] is less important than immediate risk of homelessness?' " Yes, I did. Since the tone of this letter implies callousness directed at the future residents of these homes on my part, I would ask the writer of the letter to examine the premises of her argument. Whose position really holds greater regard for the people who will live in these homes? Mine confers the respect due to thinking human beings who are able to make an informed, rational choice. The alternative smacks of the worst kind paternalism, which loudly professes concern for the disadvantaged but simultaneously treats the objects of that concern as contemptible fools who do not possess the wits to chose between options. Hence, a decision must be made for them. Building these housing units provides a tangible solution for those who lack adequate shelter. The vague wish that a better site must exist will not provide shelter in and of itself and, in the absence of any enumeration of these supposed sites, signals a retreat into the shelter of a mythic utopia. It is a form of shelter that low-income people can ill afford, since utopia is the only place wishes of this type can be granted.
Steve Blanton Thanks to 'Dawn,' whoever she is On June 26 about 8:30 p.m., I set my purse and cell phone on the curb of the Daves Avenue School parking lot to respond to an emergency across the street. When I came back to the curb to collect my things, they were gone. I figured at first my daughter had picked them up on her way back to the house, but when I asked her about them, she told me, "No, I didn't get them, but some lady picked them up." A woman had been out walking with a friend when they came upon my purse and phone, which was still turned on. She tried to call the number listed on my checkbook using my cell phone and got no answer so she left a message. My older daughter didn't hear the phone and didn't listen to the answering machine, but she saw my cell number on the caller I.D. box and dialed the cell number, thinking I was trying to get in touch with her. "Mom?" "No, but I found your Mom's phone and purse and wanted to return them." So "Dawn Schaeffer" returned my things to my daughter. The answering machine message was muffled, so I don't know if I have the correct name. I tried to find a listing in the phone book so I could thank her, but I found no listing. I turn to the Los Gatos Weekly-Times to find "Dawn" and to let her neighbors and community know what a nice person she is. "Dawn," thank you for picking my things up and returning them to me. I just wanted you to know I appreciate what you did. I hope someday I can return the favor and, if not me, someone else will be as gracious to you as you were to me. Thanks!
Mary Beth Gay Anti-substation organizers mislead with wild claims I can just read the headline now: "Thanks to Bill and Ann Burns, electric service is no longer available in Los Gatos!" It's really a shame that we have residents like this, who have some talents in grassroots efforts but are so misguided and routinely mislead the general public. They continue to use classic scare tactics centered around safety that boggle the mind, e.g. possible terrorist attack, natural gas tanks spontaneously exploding, etc., that even wore thin with the Town Council on the natural-gas refueling station issue. Now, related to the Vasona Substation, they talk about oil flowing through the streets and fire danger. Where are the facts? I believe their strategy is "don't cloud the issue with logic and facts. Use emotion, and no one will be able to reason with us," i.e. "we don't want to be reasonable or seek collaborative solutions, anyway." Please stick to the facts and work in a collaborative manner. This attitude of "not in my neighborhood" is starting to wear thin. Thanks for the address and name of the administrative law judge at the Commission. I'll be sending my letter of support today.
Rob Stump
[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, July 16, 1997. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||