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Photograph by Tsutomu Fujita
Dennis Skaggs, director of operations of the Camera Cinemas, operates a projector during a showing of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' in Oak Meadow Park in October. The event was part of the town's inaugural Los Gatos Film Festival. This particular event was promoted exclusively for local residents.
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Creating a Greater Sense of Community
By Dale Bryant, Interim Editor
In some ways, it was a year like many others in Los Gatos--developers proposed, and neighbors objected. The Lyndon cupola was still kicking around; residents of Los Gatos neighborhoods begged for more traffic calming and downtown parking continued to be a frustration.
But in many significant ways, this year represented a break with the past. New town manager Debra Figone came on the job just as the previous year was ending, and Council member Joe Pirzynski was named mayor at just about the same time. Both faced their jobs with vision and a commitment to make things happen.
Dramatic turnover in key staff positions allowed Figone to hand-pick her management team, which was nearly in place as the year came to an end.
While Los Gatans have talked for years about the community's old-fashioned charm, 2001 was the year that town officials actually began to implement a number of activities meant to make residents feel more a part of an old-fashioned community. Those first-time events included an all-day Fourth of July celebration and a Los Gatos Film Festival.
The Fourth of July event, promoted just within the town, attracted some 3,000 people to the three venues--the Town Plaza, the civic center lawn and the Los Gatos High School lawn.
The film festival, although intended to build a broader audience, included a family night for local residents to watch a family film under the stars at Oak Meadow Park.
Looking ahead to the need for future leadership, the town and the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce initiated Leadership Los Gatos, a program designed to teach prospective leaders about the community.
After a cool response to a proposal several years ago to build a skatepark for Los Gatos youth, the town council warmed up to the idea and seriously searched for an appropriate site. At year's end, the town was trying to convince the county to approve an area of Vasona Lake County Park for the facility.
A proposal to turn the historic Lyndon cupola into the top portion of a bandstand for Oak Meadow Park was finally approved, and with it, the expectation of summer days picnicking while the band plays on.
Study sessions took place in the fall for the renovation of one of the community's favorite gathering places, the Town Plaza, site of the weekly Farmers Market and Music in the Plaza.
On a more pragmatic note, the town awarded contracts for a street restructuring , concrete repair and street resurfacing program.
Though developers made their proposals, and neighbors predictably resisted, often citing concerns about density and traffic, the town council and the planning commission, at long last, began to see eye to eye about when it was appropriate for the council to consider appeals. The expectation is that this new understanding will ensure that the planning process take place primarily at the planning commission level and not the town council level.
The task of solving the age-old problem of downtown parking, particularly during the holiday season, got an infusion of energy when the town created some new parking spaces, opened up some permit parking areas and created a valet parking program, all for the holiday season.
All in all, 2001 was a year of new faces, improved communications and more community-minded activities.
And just to get the new year off in the same positive vein, the town, working through the Chamber, is sending out calendars to every residence and business in Los Gatos. The calendar includes information about the town, and lots of colorful photographs to underscore for anyone who may not have noticed, that Los Gatos is just about the best place in the world.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
