Los Gatos Weekly-Times


Joel Gambord: Change attitude	Nancy Hobbs: Current mayor	Gordon Knight: Helpful attitude

Meet the Monte Sereno candidates

Contenders vying for Monte Sereno City Council seats revealed their views about a number of issues in a survey the Los Gatos Weekly-Times distributed last week and in their ballot statements. --Editor

Joel Gambord

Joel Gambord, a resident of Monte Sereno for more than 28 years, said he sees a need for respect at City Hall.

Monte Sereno has become a "big city" government, and that, he said, must change. He believes the city needs to change its attitude to become a government that accommodates citizens' wishes.

Gambord also said a property owner should be able to refuse the city's attempts to make a house into a historical building, because it affects a building's value and amounts to seizing the property without paying.

Gambord, a general contractor by trade, had a run-in with Monte Sereno because of the preservation law. In September 1995, Monte Sereno slapped Gambord with a stop-work order for tearing off parts of his house--considered historic because John Steinbeck once lived and worked there--without permission.

Nancy Hobbs

Mayor Nancy Hobbs has lived in Monte Sereno since 1957, the year the city was incorporated.

She emphasized her experience with city ordinances, the staff, other local agencies and with the state's public meeting laws. Hobbs also would like to remind voters that she pressed for a street repair program that now requires an annual audit of the condition of Monte Sereno roads.

She's also worked with the Heritage Committee to perfect the process for reviewing construction in and around historical buildings, which she says should be fair to property owners as well as the city.

Hobbs agreed that it might be a good idea to simplify some of the city's building processes. But she said efforts to preserve historical buildings are necessary to preserve the town's roots.

Lilian Harman

In her statement of qualifications, Lilian Harman wrote that she wants to keep Monte Sereno small and preserve the residential atmosphere that's disappearing.

Because the most important issue facing the city is the budget, Harman said, Monte Sereno's employee roster should be cut to reduce the city staff to a size appropriate for the number of residents.

She said the city should not tell residents what they can do with their land or houses. She thinks it should be left to homeowners whether their houses are listed on the heritage list--not to the council.

Harman also said, if elected, she'll listen to voters problems and, if later they don't support her, she'll step down.

Harman has lived in Monte Sereno 36 years and was a nurse until her retirement. (Because Harman was out of town, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times was unable to photograph her for this story.)

Gordon Knight

Gordon Knight said the council needs to take a helpful attitude, rather than an obstructive one toward its citizens.

He said the city has turned into an inflexible "big government" bureaucracy that will lead residents to flaunt the laws by completing their home-improvement projects without the required permits.

Knight pledged to return Monte Sereno to the way of life that made it desirable in the past, by altering the way government works.

Knight worked as a manager for Lockheed 32 years. He worked on missile systems for navy submarines. A native of London, he moved to the U.S. in 1957 and has lived in Monte Sereno for 21 years.