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Letters
Football stadium is not substitute for classroom
Recent letters to the editor indicate that Saratoga residents are horrified by the governing board and administration of West Valley College planning to build a stadium on the flimsy excuse that it is a classroom.
This should come as no surprise: Arrogance and insensitivity to the surrounding community has been the hallmark of West Valley College for many years.
For the moment, set aside the college's 25-year history of lying to the city and its neighbors about the stadium, and consider other issues.
When the town of Los Gatos decided they could no longer host the Strawberry Festival because of traffic congestion and drinking incidents (primarily involving people from out of the area), West Valley College decided to host the event each year without soliciting opinions from the community or the surrounding neighborhoods. This is par for the course with West Valley College, because the college does not care.
Has the college ever hosted a meeting with the surrounding neighborhoods to talk about speeding and other traffic and parking problems? The answer again is no, it never has, because the college is not concerned.
All of us are aware that the college has cut down ancient oak trees and removed large groups of mature trees. This is illegal unless they are removed to build classrooms, but has the college ever come to the city of Saratoga for hearings and permits as the rest of us have to do? Once again the answer is no, it has not.
Recently, West Valley College and the Transit Authority despoiled the beauty of the corner at Saratoga and Fruitvale avenues. Did the college have the courtesy to notify the surrounding neighborhoods there would be major construction at the corner? We all know that once again the answer is no.
Community relations do not have to be a foreign concept to community college administrators. This valley has large companies and other colleges working hard to be good citizens and friendly neighbors, but Saratoga has a college with an unbroken record of alienating those who live in it's host community.
I. Dal Allan
Black Walnut Court
Stadium at WVC would adversely affect city
I would like to share with readers the sentiments I expressed recently in a letter to the city council and copied to the West Valley-Mission Community College District:
I urge you to consider protesting the recent court decision regarding West Valley College's proposed construction of a football stadium. Unfortunately, another obligation prevents me from appearing before the council in person.
It is obvious that such a stadium would adversely affect Saratoga and West Valley College's surrounding neighborhoods.
Such a stadium would impose additional traffic and noise on already stressed-to-the-maximum infrastructure and nearby residents. While litigation is not an attractive alternative, it is imperative that this project be stopped for all time.
It might be advantageous to approach other nearby cities to see if they would be willing to join Saratoga in an official appeal. Certainly, you will have substantial support from residents in the vicinity of the college should you register a formal appeal.
There are several additional major objections to the construction of a stadium on the WVC campus. Specifically, monies being deflected from hiring desperately needed instructors to teach equally desperately needed additional classes; monies being denied instructors who deserve salary increases and, finally, monies being spent on nonacademic facililties.
Finally, I strongly object to taxpayer money being spent unnecessarily, in this case, on a football stadium on the WVC campus.
It is especially abhorrent when such an action is in direct violation of a legal contract between Saratoga and West Valley College when that agreement allowed the construction of West Valley College itself!
I urge the West Valley-Mission Community College District board to deny any significant upgrading of the current football field and/or the construction of a football stadium on the West Valley College campus for all time.
Marcia Fariss
Saratoga Glen Place
Falun Gong proclamation protested by consulate
I recently read that the mayor of Alhambra, succumbed to pressure from the Chinese government and apologized for his proclamation recognizing Falun Gong (San Jose Mercury News, Dec. 12). On Nov. 15 while still mayor, I issued a similar proclamation on behalf of the people of Saratoga, and shortly thereafter was contacted by the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco requesting a meeting.
On Dec. 15 the city manager and I met with the Chinese representatives at city hall. They were not pleased with my proclamation, and among other things, handed me a letter from the Chinese Consul requesting that I rescind the proclamation.
My proclamation simply stated the health and psychological benefits of Falun Gong, and that practitioners of Falun Gong should have the right to freely assemble anywhere in the world. Interestingly, the People's Republic of China was the only country to take exception to my proclamation.
In fact, not only has the Chinese government banned Falun Gong, it has yet to provide the rest of the world answers to serious allegations of brutality and torture of Chinese citizens who practice Falun Gong.
In both 1996 and last November, I was elected to the council with a strong record of support for participatory democracy. I have opened up the process at city hall by making our government accessible to all citizens. Whether Falun Gong is a cult, as the Chinese government asserts, is not the issue here. The issue is the systematic attempt by a foreign government to interfere with the exercise of free speech in our country through intimidation.
My proclamation was an affirmation of the basic human right to peaceably assemble, which is a fundamental building block of a strong democracy. It was offered in the same spirit as my proclamation honoring Family Week, which, coincidentally, was also issued on Nov. 15.
Instead of tracking all the various proclamations in support of Falun Gong and attempting to intimidate the elected officials who issued them, the Chinese government should be seriously studying our democracy and borrowing its strengths to apply at home. It might begin with the right to peaceably assemble and freedom of speech.
Stan Bogosian,
Council member
20630 Lomita Av.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
