Los Gatos Weekly-Times Letters Why no public candidate forum? For the first since I became a resident of Los Gatos, more than 40 years ago, we will not have an opportunity to meet and question the candidates for the Los Gatos Town Council at an evening public forum. Rather than holding a nightly public forum, somebody got the bright idea we should have a kind of "Meet the Press" televised on our local Channel 6. I for one was very disappointed. The broadcast quality was so poor that it was an insult to the participants and the town as a whole. Additionally, I felt the questions were a polite and mild-mannered mix of questions too broad to elicit real hard answers. At the next election, I hope we will go back to the old tried and true format where the questions come directly from the audience and candidates have an opportunity to address real issues. Egon Jensen Los Gatos Better to be right than to be president? Adlai Stevenson said that when he was a youth, "I thought I might grow up to be president. But later, I changed my mind. I dismissed it as a risk that every American boy has to take." Who was it that said, "I'd rather be right than president"? Now we have an incumbent who--well, you fill in the blanks. It is far better to be right than president, unless adhering to principle jeopardizes your continuance in office. It is easy to believe the worst about anybody, particularly if it is the worst. Conversely, the most evident thing about Clinton loyalists is in trying to find reasons for continuing what they would like to believe irrespective of the facts. Political opponents who belittle those in power are accused of trying to pull them down to their own size. Often, this is so. However, if their positions were reversed, the same conditions might well pertain. There is something to be said for history remembering you. But it should be for more than being recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first American president to be censured--for conduct jeopardizing your political party's adherents to remain in office. It is not only the president who is on trial. If we do not adhere to consistency in our judgment of presidential conduct while in office, what history will say about this presidency is less important than what it will say about us. What should every one of us do? An old newspaperman named Frank McKinney (Kin) Hubbard once said, "Live, so that at least, you can get the benefit of the doubt." Vern Hansen Los Gatos Why do we need more parking? Am I a voice crying in the wilderness: "We don't need more parking in Los Gatos; it will just bring in more cars," or do other residents of our town have this same concern? According to Scott Baker at the parking garage meeting last Saturday, it's too late to voice such concerns; the Saturday meeting was for people who want more parking in Los Gatos. Am I alone in having other related concerns? Keep downtown open to traffic (don't turn it into a pedestrian mall). Don't encourage businesses to move into downtown by selling them credits for parking places that don't already exist. Don't use redevelopment money to avoid paying for things--we, the taxpayers, will pay for them. Don't use government grants--we, the taxpayers, are in debt to the tune of trillions of dollars. Pay up all outstanding debts before incurring new ones. Dorothy Shattuck Los Gatos Outside jobs replaced local ecosystem Fifty hardworking, taxpaying, lifelong citizens of Los Gatos who had jobs in the city were violently murdered near Lark and Winchester avenues. Their lives were terminated for a two-story, 15,000-square-foot office building situated on an acre of land teeming with life. The citizens were trees. Among them were the native California buckeye, the coastal live blue and the threatened valley oak. They were killed as they toiled with their roots firmly in the soil and while in the prime of their lives (oaks can live as long as 450 years). They paid their taxes by performing tasks that no manmade technology can duplicate. For instance, they cleaned and cooled the air, their massive root systems helped prevent soil erosion and absorbed great amounts of water that would have otherwise flowed to the bay. Some of the trees were tall enough to provide perch points for the red-shouldered hawk and had wide canopies to give homes and shelter to many other species of birds, insects, bats and salamanders. Since the trees' demise the noise, heat and dust from the surrounding highways have greatly increased. Though 55 neighbors from the immediate area of the site signed a petition asking for a much smaller building, the Los Gatos Town Council gave its blessings to the very wealthy James Boccardo and his grandson James Rees to destroy an ecosystem. In place of the ecosystem are a handful of "nine to five" executive jobs for people who live elsewhere. For the above reason none of the members of the Los Gatos Council should be returned to office. In all fairness, they should immediately resign their seats. We are all losers for their thoughtlessness and greed. Mary Keith Osborn Los Gatos Town leaders need to listen I watch with growing apprehension as Los Gatos town officials approve many unnecessary and unwanted projects. A questionnaire from the local Los Gatos "Cats Meow" asked residents what they wanted from town planners. The Los Gatos Task Force has researched and gathered information based on suggestions of residents and businesses. My impression, as a result of surveys, is that Los Gatans want to keep our small-town ambiance and preserve Los Gatos as a reasonably quiet small-town community. This does not appear to be happening. Every available inch of land is being developed. Huge houses and housing complexes are mushrooming everywhere and creeping up the hillsides. Business development is often not small neighborhood stores to serve the community, but large chains, such as that eyesore Hollywood Video on Los Gatos Boulevard with its dreadful parking area, and the big Staples and Office Supply stores. Why is the town allowing this when the general consensus shows we don't want large chains? It destroys our small-town atmosphere, increases traffic, causes more neighborhood aggravation and makes an ugly addition to the town. Come on, town leaders, take a stand and listen to your constituents. Stop and listen and move to make Los Gatos the kind of town we have let you know we want. Of course, change is inevitable, but building must be controlled and carefully planned so that the final results are a long-term benefit for the community. Helen Gillespie Los Gatos Here's an idea that could help In my opinion there is inconsistency in the town's sidewalk repair program. Parents "ferry" their children to the Daves Avenue School because there is no safe place to walk on Winchester Boulevard. One time, San Tomas Aquino Road was widened by the county in the 1950s to four lanes between the town limit at Shelbourne Avenue and Vasona Junction. Widening was done under the Federal Aid Secondary program, which required the county to purchase an additional 46 feet plus land for creek relocation and for cuts and fills. The land is available for pedestrian use, but it is now blocked by barricades, shrubbery and brush. True, you can walk in the bike lane, but it is not a safe place for small children. I fail to understand why Los Gatos and Monte Sereno can't clear a pathway for children back of the asphalt curb. The cost of a simple gravel path would be minimal. We own the land on the east side. Why can't we use it at least between E. Vineland and Daves Avenue? E.C. Steffani Monte Sereno Correction In the story about campaign finances in the Oct. 14 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times erred in reporting the total raised by incumbent Town Council candidate Steve Blanton during the reporting period July 1 through Sept. 30. He actually raised $13,084, while Randy Attaway raised $5,305 and Joe Prizynski, $4,623. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 21, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.