Letters

The cartoon was tasteless and missed the point

Shame on you for running the DeCinzo comic that appeared in the August 30, edition of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. The comic portrays the head of Hillbrook School as having failed to report child abuse. What you should be questioning about this matter is why the criminal prosecution was brought and why it is being pursued.

The District Attorney's Office is prosecuting a case which has absolutely no basis in fact or law. This will become apparent at trial and, until that time, the head is presumed innocent.

What is also questionable is the propriety of this prosecution where three of the individuals who have been actively involved in a group that has sought to remove the Hillbrook head are deputy attorneys with children at Hillbrook (some of these children have graduated). A fourth member of that group is the Santa Clara County Counsel.

Neither the anonymous report to the police that initiated the action, made nearly six months after the alleged failure to report, the behavior of a small group of Hillbrook parents and teachers, the District Attorney's pursuit of a baseless action against the head, nor the publication of the DeCinzo comic, have in any way benefited the students at Hillbrook or the school itself.

At this point, the school's community would benefit most by supporting the students and allowing the court to determine the head's guilt or innocence, instead of running tasteless cartoons which only cause more division.

Rebecca Hughes
McManis, Faulkner & Morgan

The residents just want a pharmacy in neighborhood

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Rinconada Hills Association in response to David Matsuo's letter in the Sept. 13 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

At the time of our general manager's original letter to the town of Los Gatos, Rinconada Pharmacy was still in operation and the association's letter supported keeping the existing pharmacy in favor of a Longs. The letter did not address the issue of a Longs vs. a locally owned pharmacy if Mr. Matsuo closed or relocated his business.

In the interim, Mr. Matsuo moved his pharmacy to another location and this community has been without a local pharmacy for more than one year. During that time, to our knowledge, no one has filed a request to open a locally owned pharmacy in the Rinconada Center.

Within Rinconada Hills Association there are many members opposed to a chain-owned pharmacy and many members in favor of one. Considering the variety of opinions of the residents of Rinconada Hills Association, the association and board of directors have adopted a policy of neutrality toward this issue.

Andre Rude, President
Rinconada Hills Association

Metering light may help with exit congestion

Thank you, Terry Clark, for your response to my proposal to closing the southbound on-ramp to Highway 17 at the end of Santa Cruz Avenue. Your comments are very valuable, you and your neighbors are members of our community and I welcome your input.

It's ironic that your suggestion was that I partner with organizations that want to improve the conditions on 17 because it was after an information meeting with the VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) and the Los Gatos Town Council that I decided to put this proposal forward.

VTA has $50 million to spend on the Highway 17 corridor improvements from Measure B. They were proposing the widening of Highway 17 from Highway 85 to Highway 9 by adding a median lane each direction. That could have added some relief northbound but all I could envision coming south at the evening commute was a wider parking lot trying to neck down and squeeze "over the hill."

This I am sure would have resulted in even longer backups which would force even more people off at Lark and through town. I am pleased to report, according to VTA, and I know I welcome any and all suggestions on this problem.

It was not my intent to be elitist or inconvenience you or your neighbors by suggesting the use of the Highway 9 on-ramp instead of Santa Cruz Avenue. The town is currently considering a proposal to install a metering light to delay but not prevent motorists from using the Santa Cruz on-ramp during commute hours.

I'm for any way to reduce congestion on Santa Cruz Avenue so every Los Gatan regardless of where they live can get to the store, pick up their children, or their cleaning, or their mail during peak commute hours. Anyone interested in this issue or any others please plug into my email at www.votefor decker.org and give me your thoughts on the interactive feedback page.

Sandy Decker
Los Gatos

LGUSD needs are subject of planned community forum

I want to personally invite members of the community to our third Community Forum on Sept. 21, at the Fisher Middle School Cafeteria from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This is the third in a series of forums designed to help our school community become aware of the need to repair, upgrade and expand schools in the Los Gatos Union School District.

The schools in the district are seriously crowded. Our schools are operating at maximum capacity. School buildings are also in need of major repair and remodeling to address inadequate wiring, faulty and old plumbing, and drainage problems.

Science classrooms barely adequate years ago, are inadequate today.

Library centers need to be expanded.

Please attend the Community Forum to become aware of our needs.

Because every student in the district will attend Fisher Middle School, Paul Alioto, new Fisher principal, will speak about Fisher's educational vision and necessary repairs and upgrades to meet that vision. Elementary school principals will also be available to speak with you about their vision and facility needs at each school site.

This is an opportunity for you to learn and give input to an important issue--the educational future of the children in this community. I look forward to seeing and talking with you on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at Fisher Middle School.

Mary Ann Park, Superintendent
LGUSD

The town should find a way to support Swanson

This letter is in support of the Swanson family Ford dealership.

As much as I do not support the development of new large businesses in Los Gatos, and as much as I would prefer to see park land and soccer fields where the Swanson Ford dealership now stands, I think that the arguments many people have about the project are not reasonable.

One has to remember that this area is zoned commercial and was zoned commercial even when King's Court and Cornerstone shopping centers were covered by orchards.

One has to remind the residents who live behind the dealership that they moved knowing about the dealership. It is true that the present dealership is not ideal for the residents and the new dealership might not be an improvement but the very presence of the dealership is what has kept the rents in that area lower than the average rent in Los Gatos.

I also know that Swanson Ford had asked for feedback from the residents as far as design is concerned. This is better than what most developers do and get away with these days.

There has to be a way. Indeed, despite wealthy residents, the city of Los Gatos is not "wealthy." The multimillion dollar homes contribute very little to the community money. A city like Campbell and Sunnyvale are actually much better off financially than Los Gatos.

I would suggest another approach which would benefit the community as a whole. Instead of fighting an existing business, we should concentrate our efforts against rezoning agricultural land into commercial properties and appearance of new large businesses. If we want improvements, parks and soccer fields, we might want to support the expansion of existing businesses that have long contributed to the financial well-being of our community and whose increased contribution could offset the loss of revenue incurred by the city on the lots they would save for recreation purposes (the North Forty could be one of them).

But then again, maybe the Swanson Family should just hang it up and sell their parcel to Target or Costco.

Michele Jehenson
Los Gatos

 

Here's a vote for George W.

I am an active voter writing in support of George W. Bush's campaign for President of the United States. He is a man uniquely qualified to serve in the White House.

He has displayed insight and leadership in proposing reforms which will bring higher standards and accountability to our schools, keep the federal budget balanced, eliminate the marriage penalty on taxpayers, assisting every working family in America to acquire health insurance and preserve and protect Social Security for our current and future retirees.

Ron Price
Los Gatos

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