Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Populist mayor returns to councilmember duties

When the new year begins, Los Gatos will have a new mayor. In Los Gatos' weak-mayor style of government, the mayor theoretically enjoys no more power than any other councilmember.

But because the mayor sets the council agenda and conducts meetings, he or she clearly sets the tone for local government.

Linda Lubeck brings with her to the position a passion for numbers and a reputation for saying whatever is on her mind. She takes on the job at a time when the town is experiencing enormous pressure for growth--and a rising chorus of protest from residents concerned that development threatens the character of the town.

Lubeck recently told the Los Gatos Weekly-Times that she expects she'll be getting a lot more phone calls from residents concerned about local issues--that goes with the territory. But, she said that even though Benjamin will no longer hold the mayor's title, she will probably continue to get the lion's share of calls.

That says a lot about the tone Benjamin has set as mayor. Benjamin was first elected to the Town Council in 1982. She is completing her fourth nonconsecutive term as the town's mayor.

Benjamin got her feet wet in local politics as part of the general-plan review process.

She came to the council with a clear agenda-- to be an advocate for neighborhoods. And she has not wavered from that commitment.

Whether she is serving as mayor or councilmember, Benjamin is the one the others look to for a reading on what residents think. As a teacher at Los Gatos High School, she is in a good position to know what residents have on their minds.

It would be hard to be in Los Gatos any length of time and not be aware that Benjamin is a jogger. She runs all over town. And she talks to people and takes note of where the potholes are and where traffic is backing up.

And she takes that information back to Town Hall.

Benjamin, who was mayor at the time of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, is credited with spearheading the town's initial response that brought the town back from near devastation in record time.

As she began her term as mayor last year, Benjamin, hearing from constituents increasing alarm about growth issues, suggested to the council that the time was right for a task force to assess community attitudes as a first step in taking a look at the general plan.

That task force recently released the results of an informal survey of community attitudes and, in January, will present its report to the council. Some members of the task force have already begun to express an interest in becoming more involved in local government.

That's just where Benjamin came in.

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