Editorials
The parking issue has not gone away
Some Los Gatans may be surprised to hear that downtown has a parking problem that still needs attention.
That's because many of those who attended the July 17 public hearing on the proposed parking- management plan came specifically to oppose paid parking.
The notion that paid parking was an isolated issue was exacerbated by Bay Area radio, television and newspapers, always eager to reduce complex issues to their most simplistic elements. The story for that slow news day a couple of weeks ago was that Los Gatos was considering paid parking.
Then, after much public testimony, the council voted against paid parking, a cheer went up, and participants poured out of the chambers, many thinking the issue had been resolved.
It took council members a few minutes to catch their breath and acknowledge that there was still much to do. Only one element of the much larger parking-management plan had been resolved.
It's unfortunate that so many issues remained on the table, and no action step was put forth. Staff was to put together some possible meeting dates. Although staff has met with Dave Flick who came in at the 11th-hour with suggestions on how the town could create some 150 additional parking places, a meeting date to bring all the interested parties together still has not been set.
We're now into August, the time of year when everyone is gone on vacation, and no one is even going to try to put a meeting together now.
To those enjoying summer vacation, the holidays may not seem close at hand. But downtown business people--and their residential neighbors--know that, unless a parking plan is in place by early October, another year will be lost.
Dodging the Problem
The Sobrato Company wants to build Los Gatos' biggest research and development facility. At 275,000 square feet, it would employ some 800 people. The facility is located on the proposed light rail line, a spot ideally suited for high-density housing.
The developer, however, is giving the project a positive spin by suggesting that a work facility located on the light rail line is as valuable as housing.
That might be a valid argument if this weren't Silicon Valley, where modest apartments cost some $2,000 monthly and people consider themselves lucky if they can even find one vacant.
This town--this valley--is suffering an affordable housing crisis. We don't need jobs, we need housing. And transportation corridors have been identified as prime locations for such housing.
Los Gatos, through its housing element, has made a commitment to affordable housing. To permit a research park in this prime housing location--without at least some requirement for affordable housing as part of the deal--would be a mistake.
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
