Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

New year: bitter fruit or a plentiful harvest?

In 1998 either Los Gatans will come together to decide how best to preserve the community they love, or they will turn it into a year of divisive bitterness marked by finger-pointing and shouting.

Right now, it's hard to know which way it will go.

The Town Council, aware of concern in the community about growth and density, appointed the General Plan Task Force to assess attitudes about a number of growth-related issues. The charge to the task force was to formulate and prioritize the questions that need a public airing.

But when a survey conducted by that task force revealed that residents generally oppose growth and high density, many residents turned the survey results into a battle cry against what they called an insensitive council.

The task force is scheduled to make recommendations to the council on Jan. 26. Community discussions--aimed ultimately at revising the town's general plan--should follow.

That dialogue could help the community come to terms with what the new Silicon Valley prosperity means to Los Gatos. The discussion also could lead to decisions about what price residents are willing to pay to preserve the character of the town.

Schools will be facing issues related to growth and prosperity this year as well. Regardless of the outcome of the school boundary debate, changing demographics are likely to bring an increase in the school population.

With property values skyrocketing, many older residents could decide that the time is right to take advantage of the new capital-gains tax exemptions. An exodus of older residents could bring in more two-income Silicon Valley families with school-age children.

The Los Gatos Union School District plans to seek an increase in the parcel tax this year, and the high school district may well decide to put a bond election on the ballot.

While growth and prosperity are recurrent themes we expect to surface throughout the year, these themes will play out against the backdrop of council elections in November.

Three council seats will be open. Joanne Benjamin has said in the past she does not intend to seek a fifth term; Steve Blanton is on record opposing more than two terms for councilmembers, although he has not specifically stated that he will not run in 1998; and Randy Attaway has indicated that he is still undecided.

Meanwhile, recent Planning Commission vacancies attracted 12 applicants, suggesting that the grass-roots efforts of the General Plan Task Force have stimulated new interest in local politics.

Though the potential exists for 1998 to become a bitter and divisive year, it could also be a year of renewed participation in local government and lively debate that leads to a strengthened community.

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