Los Gatos Weekly-Times Photograph by George Sakkestad KCAT volunteer Trudi Mehlone adjusts Steve Blanton's microphone. At far left is Randy Attaway; Joe Pirzynski is center. Growing Pains For many, the major issues--growth and traffic--are the fallout of financial good times. Is that why no one is complaining? By Jeff Kearns About 45 minutes before the Oct. 13 KCAT/Weekly-Times forum, Town Council candidates Randy Attaway, Steve Blanton and Joe Pirzynski stood outside on the studio steps, talking and laughing in the twilight like old friends. It's an apt metaphor for this year's council race, in which a booming economy has sapped even a hint of mudslinging from the race, and the fourth candidate has seldom been seen. Paul Merchain, the fourth candidate for the three open seats, canceled a few days before the forum. A few weeks earlier, Merchain was the only candidate who didn't show up to a meeting with the editorial board of the Mercury News . The atmosphere during the forum was easy-going and congenial, with considerably more agreement between candidates than disagreement. Attaway and Blanton are both seeking their third terms, although Blanton has taken some flak for breaking his pledge not to run for more than two. Blanton began his statement at the televised forum by addressing what made him change his mind. "A year ago, I didn't expect to be in this position," he said. "I had decided not to seek re-election to the Los Gatos Town Council, but as word of my decision got out, many of you asked me to run again. "It gave me an opportunity to think that perhaps I do speak for a segment of the community that would not be represented if I chose to leave the council at this time." Blanton was elected to the council after a stint on the now-disbanded Commercial Specific Plan Committee 1989. Attaway joked about his own experience running for the council in 1982, when he was a little green and running against nine other candidates--who were all talking about preserving town character. After that, Attaway jumped into town politics in other ways, including stints on the Community Service Commission, Earthquake Seismic Commission and Homeless Committee, and was finally appointed to the Planning Commission in 1988. Pirzynski also emphasized his own years of involvement with the town, which started in 1982 when he co-founded DART, the Disaster Aid Response Team, which he still commands, and went on to chair the General Plan Committee and sit on the Planning Commission. Merchain did appear alongside the other candidates at a breakfast forum held Oct. 15 by the Town Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters, but his performance--which included a response to a question about downtown lighting that included the line "if it makes sense, do it; if it doesn't make sense, don't do it"--left many in the audience scratching their heads. Contacted last week by the Weekly-Times, Merchain, a real estate consultant who has never had any involvement with government, said he's been boning up on the issues by attending all Planning Commission and Town Council meetings for the last year and going door-to-door to talk to residents individually to hear their concerns. The televised forum, which was a first for both KCAT and the Weekly-Times, was intended to let the candidates speak for themselves and let people watch them think on their feet. The discussion was moderated by KCAT General Manager George Sampson, and doubled as an open editorial board meeting for the newspaper. The taped forum--with the sound quality improved--is continuing to air. The three candidates at the televised forum pushed preservation of the town's character as the council's top priority. Specifically, all three agreed that traffic represents the chief threat to the town's atmosphere, and said only careful planning will improve conditions. Blanton said that the town's population since 1982 has remained at "roughly 28,000 the whole time," but Attaway said that, since 1990, the town has had about 400 housing starts, putting the growth rate at about 3 percent a year--which is behind the curve for the county as a whole, although some Los Gatans still consider it too high. Pirzynski said that the town's own traffic woes are created and magnified by regional traffic problems "because we're the pinch point of the Santa Cruz commute," and when Highway 17 backs up, it generally overflows onto surface streets in Los Gatos. "It has to be addressed regionally," he said. On affordable housing, Blanton and Pirzynski agreed that the town should try to accommodate the state affordable housing mandate, but only as much as residents are willing to support, and not to a level that threatens to encroach on the town's character. "We do try to honor it to the best of our ability, but we have to keep that in perspective," Blanton said. Attaway said he voted against the current housing element. "It's a Los Gatos decision, and what's best for the town shouldn't be dictated by the state," he said. Senior services, which saw program cuts this year, got the most support from Pirzynksi, who suggested that it might be time to "revisit the idea of creating a senior center," and said the best way to assess the need would be by asking seniors. Attaway countered, saying that as much as he would love to support senior programs, the town just can't have the kinds of programs offered in other cities with its comparatively meager $17 million budget. Blanton said that the town has had to outsource programs, but still gives financial support to places like the Health Place for senior health care at San Jose State University. On property rights--specifically those issues surrounding proposals to put oversized homes in older neighborhoods made up of smaller houses--Blanton said the town can use existing zoning codes and floor-area ratio requirements to "make it clear to people ...you don't necessarily have the right to put a big house where it doesn't fit." Pirzynski, noting that it is an issue that has come before the Planning Commission frequently, said, "We must be willing to say 'this is too big,' and if we diminish our neighborhoods, we lose our character." "There are places where people can build their lavish homes, and other places where it's not appropriate," Attaway said. The candidates were asked how to balance the competing needs of businesses that depend on the additional revenue of out-of-town visitors with the traffic snarls those visitors create, and how to balance the town's success at catering to non-residents with its need to serve residents, too. "You can satisfy all your needs here, and that's an important part of the character," Blanton said. He added that "many restaurants came into the downtown area in the early '90s," and now "the council doesn't want any more [restaurants]." Pirzynksi said that downtown had struck a delicate balance that must be maintained at the risk of sapping the town's character, but cautioned that the town relies heavily on the 36 percent of its budget that comes from sales tax revenues. Remembering the bygone days in downtown when the mix included a grocery store and other businesses more geared to meeting everyday needs instead of those of the out-of-town shopper, Attaway said there needs to be a real mix of uses in the downtown area, but concedes that the town's hands are tied in terms of how much it can do to determine what businesses lease space or how successful they are. "The only thing we can do is control conditional-use permits," he said, referring to the permits needed by bars and restaurants, which dictate how and when the business can conduct itself. Attaway said that Los Gatos should avoid making the same mistake as Saratoga, where the business mix in the Village has tipped too far toward upscale restaurants leaving the area a ghost town during the day. The governor's recent Vehicle License Fee cut, which was popular with many car owners, was a nightmare for many city and county officials, including Town Manager David Knapp, who said the political posturing on the part of elected officials in Sacramento means that the town could lose over $1 million per year in revenue. Some of the Republicans who backed the cut say that the money going to cities will be covered by infusions from other sources, but local officials like Knapp are wary of the promises. Blanton isn't. "It's not really the case," he said, that state money isgoing to towns is going to dry up and leave Los Gatos in the red. But in case it does happen, he says that the town has "been really stingy" in terms of staffing, because "it's a lot easier to not hire someone than to fire someone." Pirzynski says the cuts would be significant, but thinks that the town could deal with the shortfall by "being very cautious about increasing government size and looking for places to fine-tune its deployment of resources." Attaway countered by saying that he voted for Measure C, the failed utility-users tax proposal in 1996 that was designed to bring an additional revenue stream into the town's coffers during one of the leaner years in recent history at Town Hall--and a measure that Blanton proudly says he stood alone on the council to oppose. Asked point blank why Los Gatans should vote for them, Blanton said he had the courage to stand alone on the council for the interest of the town. Pirzynski said: "I bring new eyes, ears, focus, and a belief that things can be accomplished. "I care," Attaway said. "This is my home, and I'm going to retire here." Contacted by the Weekly-Times after the forum, Merchain said the biggest issues this year are "maintaining the unique ambiance," keeping businesses strong and "making sure the town has enough money to run on." The answer, he says, lies in improving the parking crunch downtown. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that there's a parking problem downtown," he said. On affordable housing, Merchain said, "You can't say there's not going to be affordable housing." He added, "I believe the town should try to work with the state on its requirements." Merchain said that senior services are at the mercy of the budget. "Everything has to fit into the budget ... If we can afford it, [seniors] deserve to have things they can go to." Ditto for the car tax: "You would have to re-analyze the budget," he says. "Certain things would have to be cut. The state keeps trying to fix their budget at the expense of the towns and cities, and I don't like that." Merchain says he decided to run because before Blanton filed his papers, it seemed that residents would not be offered a choice on the ballot,. Merchain said people should vote for him because of his "experience working with people first-hand." With a healthy economy, the race has been a somewhat underwhelming spectacle, at least compared to the ugly '96 campaign that focused on a budget shortfall and lots of finger-pointing. The worst problems facing the town--traffic and growth--are inextricably linked to the valley's hot economic climate. And while traffic jams and new developments may rankle some residents, it could be worse. [ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 28, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.