Saratoga News

LETTERS

Ballot measure aces flexibility

As a longtime resident of Saratoga, I am deeply concerned about Measure G on the March 26 ballot in Saratoga.

Measure G does not preserve our neighborhoods, prevent traffic/congestion or improve the environment or schools. In fact, it removes our flexibility to respond to unexpected needs or neighborhood concerns until the year 2026. Measure G is too extreme and prevents neighborhood approaches to planning. Ironically, only one residentially zoned parcel has been converted to commercial use in the past 24 years.

According to the city attorney, even minor projects, such as adding an additional bedroom to your home, installing a pool, or expanding a patio, could require voter approval under Measure G. This is probably the most unfortunate unintended consequence of the initiative. Unfortunately, as Saratogans we'll be be stuck with a restrictive, extreme measure until the year 2026.

There is no question that we all want to keep Saratoga the low-density, rural residential community we enjoy today. However, Measure G is clearly the wrong way to do it.

I urge Saratogans to join the League of Women Voters, the entire Saratoga City Council, the Good Government Group of Saratoga, the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council, Saratoga Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, seniors, school board members, planning commissioners, former citizens of the year, community leaders and hundreds of other Saratogans like myself in opposing Measure G.

Vote NO on Measure G March 26.

Brenda Duchesne

Bella Vista Avenue
via Internet

DeCinzo attack was unjustified

DeCinzo has done it again--a vicious, personal attack against someone who has made a serious mistake and is now paying for it. I am referring to his illustration of Jan. 31, of [former Saratoga finance director] Patricia Shriver behind bars.

I do not know the woman well, but I have met her three times. Embezzlement is a serious crime, but look at the amount. Just $6,000 seems to me more like a current financial problem than a big-time embezzlement--consider the savings and loan scandal. I am glad, however, that she was caught early and took only $6,000, which has all been paid back, plus $4,500 costs, per the article in the same issue of the Saratoga News.

A better target for DeCinzo's biting drawing pen would be the generous government retirement benefits of all city, county, state and especially federal employees which are paid for by us taxpayers. As Todd Walsh stated in his letter to the editor concerning the same illustration, "thought-provoking indeed."

I just cannot appreciate nor approve DeCinzo's viciousness and personal attacks.

Sue Mallory

Kirkdale Drive

Anti-G explanations are clearly reasonable

I have followed the hearings regarding Measure G on TV and am impressed by the opportunities given to its supporters to express themselves.

Nevertheless, some of the letters to the editor by supporters of Measure G are nasty and abusive regarding past and present city council members and members not yet elected.

I heard our council members present clear, sensible explanations regarding their objections to impractical Measure G.

Daniel Sloan

Sobey Oaks Court

Measure G aims at senior housing

We have lived in Saratoga for 36 years. We have worked on the Housing Committee of the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council for many years to try to get good senior housing for Saratogans, first at the Paul Masson property, which turned out to be economically unfeasible, and then at the Odd Fellows property. We believe that the Odd Fellows site is a beautiful location for seniors who can no longer stay in their large homes.

Measure G is a last-ditch effort for opponents of the Odd Fellows expansion to try to stop the project. Original large contributors to Measure G, as listed in the Nov. 22, 1995, issue of the Saratoga News, seem to bear out this fact. They have chosen the initiative process to delay this project rather than to be known as being against senior housing.

The Odd Fellows Home has been in Saratoga since 1912, and many million-dollar homes have been built around the property in recent years. The Odd Fellows are good neighbors and are now generously offering their facilities to the public. The architectural plans are lovely, and the new facility will be a real asset to the community.

Measure G is not the way to solve neighborhood problems. The City Council has been very responsible on neighborhood issues, and this method has worked well for Saratoga since its incorporation in 1956. The Planning Commission and City Council recently defeated an application for a commercial project on the Kosich property near our home.

For those who are concerned about traffic, don't forget that Highway 85's on-off ramp at Saratoga Avenue was approved by a citywide vote.

Palo Alto recently defeated a "growth control" measure similar to Measure G and theirs was for only 20 years instead of 30.

Please join us in defeating Measure G.

Joe and Betty Eskeldson

Radoyka Drive

Endorsement list is not to be trusted

Because of the City Council's actions, I am in favor of Measure G. I intended to keep my position private until the No on G group publicly claimed that I was opposed to Measure G. They published my name without my permission. They included my name on their list. They mailed their false list far and wide and then failed to publish or mail a promised retraction.

There is absolutely no integrity to that list you have seen circulated by No on G.

Julie O'Connor

Via Regina

GGG has turned completely around

As a person who grew up in Saratoga, I was saddened to read the names of citizens opposed to Measure G, some of whom are parents of kids who went to school with me. I'm afraid that some people who had the foresight to incorporate Saratoga in 1956 have missed a critical metamorphosis, in which the Good Government Group, opponent of Measure G, has transformed itself from a government watchdog organization to the government itself.

Gone are the days when the Good Government Group were retired military and Lockheed engineers seeking a nice community to raise a family, rather than a borough of San Jose. Today, this group has become so addicted to dispensing endorsements, screening political appointments and grooming council candidates that it has completely lost the vision of the founders of our town.

I know that many longtime residents will recall the beauty of Saratoga--the orchards, the quiet streets, how we could drive to San Francisco for the day and leave our houses unlocked. But stop and take a look at the traffic in our neighborhoods, the strip malls and the filling of our last open space by outside commercial interests!

I challenge every longtime Saratoga resident: What kind of a town do you want to leave your grandchildren?

On the eve of the 40th anniversary of Saratoga, it is sadly ironic that the original Good Government Group might very well have been the authors of Measure G.

Stan Bogosian

Lomita Avenue

New tree committee was an insult to us

This letter was sent to City Councilmember Ann Marie Burger
--Editor.

Thank you for your invitation to help in your tree-planting endeavor on Feb. 24. I'm sorry, but under the circumstances, I feel that I must decline. It's not that I don't feel tree-planting is a worthwhile project. Normally, I would be at the head of the line to help out any community tree effort.

I must wonder if you and your tree committee have any idea of how insulting it is to have been replaced. After three years of hard work, I feel that your creation of the "new tree committee" is a real slap in the face. I commend you for planting trees, but how can you feel OK about terminating our group and then just taking over?

I don't know what direction you intend to go with your tree committee, but I do know that you could have gone a lot further if you had tried to work with us. I don't think you realize what you had. A group of top professionals all willing to work for free!

Frankly, I think you should be ashamed of yourself.

Blair Glenn

Paseo Pueblo
I.S.A. Certified Arborist #654

City seems headed in the wrong direction

Things in this town definitely seem to be headed the wrong way. People who take the trouble to find a place like Saratoga, who go to the extra expense of moving here, have a right to expect the positive things they come here for. With the amount of crowding and congestion that are being approved of, Saratoga will eventually resemble other places like Cupertino more and more. Then, why should people want to come here?

Even helping things commercially downtown isn't being done. Instead of making it easier to park, available parking spaces seem to be getting fewer all the time.

Measure G will slow down the crowding. So what are the people who oppose Measure G thinking about?

Patricia H. Himel

Lomita Avenue

Council opted for big developer bucks

The article on Nelson Gardens [Saratoga News, Feb. 14] does not fully describe one of the most outrageous chapters in local politics.

For years, Saratoga residents living near the five-acre orchard (Nelson Gardens) have wanted the land preserved as a park, an orchard, or a community garden. The original owner, orchardist Frank Nelson, placed the land into the Williamson Act for agricultural use, to decrease property taxes and because he wanted the land to be preserved for the public as open space.

The land eventually passed by bequest to the Community Foundation of Santa Clara County. They and their developer went to the Saratoga City Council with an unusual deal to maximize their profit. If the city would agree to early termination of the Williamson Act contract, they would pay the city money on a sliding scale, at about $65,000 per lot, up to a maximum of nine or 10 lots, depending on the densities approved. The council quickly said "we'll take the big bucks" and agreed to nine homes in return for $585,000.

Now the real fun begins. The City Council struck the deal in advance of any application or the requisite reviews. The city then embarked on a sham application process, asking for environmental review and Planning Commission approval as if the outcome were not a foregone conclusion.

Of course, if the rest of us were to approach our city government and offer extra money in return for a favorable land-use decision, that would be called a bribe, a felony that would cause us to learn about housing procedures in our state prisons.

And the result? The surrounding residents filed suit to stop the shenanigans. The City Council has now agreed to pay some $10,000 of their adversaries' legal bills--using our taxpayer money. The council has redone the process and approved, to no one's surprise, the same nine-lot subdivision; in Saratoga, land-use decisions are for sale. The biggest disappointment in all of this is that city officials who are knowingly contemptuous of the law cannot be made to pay the penalties of such decisions out of their own pockets.

Jeffrey A. Schwartz

San Marcos Road

Senior council votes to oppose Measure G

At a Jan. 22, 1996, meeting of the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council board of directors, after much deliberation and serious discussion, the board unanimously approved the following:

The governing board of the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council opposes Measure G on the March ballot.

Its passage will unnecessarily delay, or even halt, the proposed development of senior housing within this community.

The Odd Fellows' plan for increased senior facilities at their Fruitvale Avenue site would be in jeopardy because of the restrictions imposed by Measure G.

As you probably already know, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows is petitioning the Saratoga City Council to expand their facilities for more senior housing in the city of Saratoga. The proponents of Measure G say their measure will protect Saratoga seniors. However, if you read Measure G in its entirety, you will note the measure is designed to take effect retroactively to Aug. 7, 1995.

This date is exactly two days prior to the date the Odd Fellows petitioned to enlarge their facilities. This appears to be nothing more than a blatant attempt by a small group of select individuals to stop housing for Saratoga seniors.

Dane Christensen, president

Saratoga Area Senior
Coordinating Council

We need to fight garbage on cable

I totally agree with Nick Binasik [Speak Out, Feb. 21]. We need less "home shopping and garbage" [on television]. I tried writing to South Bay Cable, but received no response. Members of the Saratoga City Council tell me there is nothing they can do. Too much regulation by the same lawmakers in Washington, who will now censor what we can watch on the same garbage channels.

Perhaps our local newspaper would take up the cause and help bring more varied and interesting--not to mention educational or enlightening--programming into our homes.

If no change is forthcoming, I will look into other options.

Marcia O. Kaplan, J.D.

Sevilla Lane

Measure G dream turns to nightmare

My dream. March 28, 1996. Measure G passed by a slight margin the night before. Within days, Starbucks Coffee and Noah's Bagels file papers to build on the property next to Kinko's (the property our current City Council protected from commercial development after hearing neighborhood input). Starbucks wants their development request on the November ballot; they want a vote of the people.

S&N emphasize several points in their ballot argument and advertising prior to the November election: (1) They will generate $5,000-10,000 a year in sales tax for our city. (Don Brown, Cupertino city manager, gave me this estimate for the Cupertino location). (2) The location is perfect: next to Kinko's, across the street from Radio Shack, a "mere extension" of existing retail. (3) S&N will be very supportive of schools, libraries, and senior services and are known for being "good" corporate neighbors. 4) S&N will provide a safe place for Saratoga teenagers to congregate.

My dream: November 1996. Citizens of Saratoga overwhelmingly approve the Starbucks development despite attempts by neighbors, who so effectively brought their concerns before our current City Council, to build communitywide awareness. Their voices are not heard.

There will be no oversight, no mitigation by the "power-hungry," "venal" City Council that protected the property from commercial development in the past. There can't be. Measure G is the law, and the citizens have spoken.

Vote No on G.

Sally Towse

sjtowse@ix.netcom.com