LGHS students are back, but speeding complaints aren't

By Jeff Kearns

There's a new sound on Bella Vista Avenue. Instead of the revving engines, screeching tires and police sirens that characterized the street last year, when neighbors complained to the town that Los Gatos High School students were terrorizing the neighborhood by speeding down the one-way street that leads to the school twice a day, now there's a different sound: neighbors breathing a sigh of relief--and, still, the occasional siren.

Last August, angry neighbors showed up at a town meeting with a list of complaints about all kinds of lousy road manners on the part of the mobile student body, and even asked about blocking off access to Bella Vista.

It never came to that, but the town did implement some of the suggestions that came out of a series of meetings with neighbors, school officials, students, town officials and police.

Parks and Public Works Director Scott Baker says the town striped lane lines down either side of Bella Vista as it approaches the school, narrowing the road as a traffic calming measure. The town also moved some stop signs and other signs to make them more visible, and installed Bott's dots on the roadway. Police also stepped up traffic enforcement in the area.

By the looks of things, that did the trick.

"Things on Bella Vista are more tolerable for the residents there," Baker says. "There's been a lot of good cooperation between the high school and the residents. All of the parties met and came up with a fix that seems to be working for now." Baker says the Town Council may ask for a report on the situation later, but it hasn't so far.

Planning Commissioner Paul Bruno, who lives on Bella Vista, says things are much quieter on the street. "It's considerably improved. Not only the number of cars and the congestion, but also the speed. And the recklessness of many of the drivers has been significantly curtailed."

LGHS Vice Principal Doug Ramezane says complaints are down, as is speed, but there are still occasional problems. When problems crop up, Ramezane says school officials are quick to pounce with a nice heart-to-heart talk or detention.

Police say that average speeds on the street, measured by the department's radar trailer, are down from 24 miles per hour at this time last year, to 21 mph since school started this year.

Traffic cops on motorcycles have been working the street, says Sgt. Dave Gravel.

"Officer John Jennings has been working the area pretty hard several times a week, and has written several tickets both for speeding on Bella Vista between Caldwell and Simons, and for running the stop sign at Simons and Bella Vista, primarily." Gravel says no accidents have been reported, and says there haven't been any complaints coming in. "The lack of complaints from citizens probably stems from the fact that they see him out there most of the mornings during the week."

Jennings also reportedly gets neighbors stopping to thank him for being there.

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