Mr. Lucas needs to get over himself. Individual members of the Saratoga City Council have every right to endorse any candidate they wish, and they have the right to convey those endorsements to whomever they wish. Also, all five council members can legally and appropriately get together in private to discuss their political endorsements. It is only illegal if a majority gets together to discuss city business. Is it possible that Lucas is a longtime council member in Monte Sereno but still doesn't understand the Brown Act?

Lucas' attempt to cast the appearance of impropriety on the Saratoga City Council and draw some media attention to himself in order to gain some name recognition is transparent and weak. It only proves that Mr. Lucas has nothing of substance on which to base his campaign.

—Dionne Niemi, Saratoga


West Valley football field is no stadium

I have watched with interest the continuing community ferment over the imagined "stadium" at West Valley College. People may not realize that the football field at WVC is just a regular field surrounded by a running track, similar to high school fields except that it is recessed and bounded by bare dirt embankments with absolutely no seating.

The college district has tried to address the problems presented by these embankments, but the neighbors, including Trustee Jeff Schwartz, protest suggested improvements and ultimately prevent any change by conjuring up the specter of an enormous stadium. They are aided and abetted in hoodwinking the community by their lapdog cartoonist, DeCinzo, whose propagandistic cartoons depict a mega-stadium looming menacingly over a neighborhood.

The reality is that the embankments present an "attractive nuisance," since the most direct way to reach the field from the walkway at the top of the embankment is to slide down the slope. I have watched students do exactly that. It would be a tragedy if a promising young person miscalculated a slide or slipped on the loose rocks, resulting in death or severe injury because the district can't terrace the slopes with concrete.

In order to watch football games, parents, friends and other spectators (usually no more than 200 to 300 people) must either sit on the ground at the top of the embankment or set up lawn chairs procured from the trunks of their cars. When some parent's lawn chair collapses, pitching her down the slope and causing severe injury, who will explain the lack of safe bleachers? When the inevitable multimillion-dollar lawsuits follow such easily foreseen accidents, perhaps they should name the city of Saratoga and its residents, who have blocked the proposed modest solutions.

Trustee Schwartz, whose property adjoins the West Valley campus near the field, has a direct conflict of interest and must recuse himself from discussion and voting on matters relating to the field, but that doesn't prevent him from spearheading community protests opposing any improvements or activity there. When college cheerleaders wrote the game score on a piece of paper and walked it back and forth on the track, Mr. Schwartz was so inconvenienced that he called the city requesting police enforcement of the use permit ban on "scoreboards." He was offended that spectators were sitting in their lawn chairs and requested police enforcement of the use permit ban on "seating." However, Mr. Schwartz has in the past found it convenient to use the West Valley College perimeter road, blocking traffic in the process, to deliver building materials to his property through his back fence.

When the city and the neighbors meet with the district to discuss the future of the field, I hope they consider the possible tragic results of doing nothing. The district and its student community have so far been lucky that no serious accidents have occurred. I hope their luck holds until some sensible improvements are made.

While Saratoga High School celebrates the advent of its football season, West Valley College hides its football program in a dangerous, substandard pit, quietly playing games on Friday afternoon so as not to possibly inconvenience anyone.

—Karin Dowdy, former trustee, West Valley-Mission Community College


Young Wildcats say thanks for coverage

Just a note to thank you for the write-up on the young Wildcats! We love reading about our boys in the paper. My oldest son just finished four years on the football team and read the articles every week. I now have a sophomore playing, and he saved the article and put it up in his room.

There are about 70 boys on the frosh-soph football team who, along with their parents, will be hoping to read about themselves each week in the paper. Thanks again for all your coverage of youth sports!

—Sheila McCarty, Los Gatos


Town doesn't need a skatepark

I'm sure your reporter was [at the meeting to discuss the temporary skatepark in Blossom Hill Park] disguised as an interested resident. Why do I say that? For one thing, your reporters don't want to be bothered by us locals. After all, there is no sense in getting readers confused by having both sides of the situation presented.

Isn't that why only council members or town officials are quoted? Isn't that why I have not found any of us locals contacted? Isn't that why letters must be written, or in my case e-mails?

Oh, about the meeting. Well, our fine town manager started things off in fine fashion. The microphone didn't work. Then they set one up in the back of the room for us locals to use. That kind of set the tone for how important the town considered this meeting.

Immediately the town officials downplayed the whole thing - it's just a temporary skatepark, they said. Of course, many of us were confused by this change of direction. You see, the notices that were mailed to us locals only spoke of the installation of a skatepark. It never mentioned being temporary. The town sure knows how to foster trust.

The town had its skatepark consultant get up and start talking about the benefits of the Blossom Hill Park location. Either this man is asleep at the wheel or he never actually visited the site. He couldn't explain, what was near and dear to us locals, the location of the nearest residents, or the width of the existing pathways or how many parking spaces currently exist. Additionally, he couldn't explain to a very concerned mom where the entrance to the skatepark would be, even though it was clearly marked on his photograph.

The consultant was laughable, and Councilman Joe Pirzynski's silence was deafening. Oh sure, he said a few opening words. But his famous statement about the cost of the skatepark consisting of the price of a chain link fence was not mentioned. Or if it was, it was drowned out by the estimated $150,000 price tag pried out of the consultant. Or was it the estimated $350,000 price tag of a permanent park that the town manager told of behind clinched teeth? No matter. Both costs are obscene. In fact the "fact" that the town has been paying the consultant for two years, not just the few months the town manager mentioned, is also obscene.

This is the type of information the public should be informed of by a real free press. Not the sugary gobbledygook your paper prints. But, hey, it sells advertising, right? I know, I know, those really important people pay for those ads.

I have friends, family and neighbors who have lost their jobs. They fear just making ends meet, and the town wants to spend money on a skatepark in their backyard. Is this government arrogance or stupidity at work, or both? How can they justify this gigantic pressing need for a skatepark? Oh, I forgot - the elections are around the corner. But I'm sure that has nothing to do with it. Right?

I noticed my last e-mail was plagiarized in your Sept. 25 editorial. Oh how frustrating it must be not to have any original thoughts of your own. At least your cartoonist is creative - or lucky?

Not that I'm expecting you to print this e-mail - that delete button is so tempting, isn't it?

—Marte Hall, Los Gatos