Saratoga News

LETTERS

If you don't vote, you don't count

Once again the politicians that make up the Saratoga City Council proved that if you don't vote, you don't count. At the March 20 meeting, the council approved the Human Services city budget of $160,000, all for voting senior citizens. Totally ignored was a request to provide at least token support for family and psychological support for the city's troubled teens. Last year, more than 100 teenagers were given untold hours of help from trained counselors provided by the Teen Counseling Center of the West Valley. These kids in need were, for the second consecutive year, given exactly no help. The vote was 5 to 0.

To the Saratoga City Council, only voters matter, and at least in terms of human services, our city's teens don't even qualify as being human.

Don W. Lake

Kittridge Road

Thank goodness for Joan Hershkowitz

I can't tell you how relieved I was when I read the letter written by Joan Hershkowitz in the Jan. 24 Speak Out section. She stated that she is part of a committee that has helped both the Saratoga and Cupertino city councils to pass resolutions to develop "a test corridor" for Highway 85. I hope that action can be taken and taken soon.

I have been very upset over the impact the noise of 85 has had on my lifestyle. I have tried hard to adjust to it, but find even a year later I still have to wear earplugs to sleep at night (even when my windows are closed). On cool mornings, it sounds as if the freeway is next door (and we are two and a half blocks from it at the closest location).

I feel that Caltrans should be responsible in funding this test corridor as I feel they greatly misled the citizens of Saratoga and surrounding communities. I bought my home three years ago, only after assurances from the Caltrans office on Cox that I would hear "no appreciable difference" once the freeway was finished. I never would have bought this home had Caltrans been truthful about the possible noise-pollution risks.

Please tell Joan and the Freeway Noise Abatement Committee that I suspect there are many others like me who have suffered because of the Highway 85 noise pollution and who are greatly supportive of the efforts the Noise Abatement Committee is doing.

Susan Cohn

Viewridge Drive

Good, impartial reporting by Clarence

My congratulations to the Saratoga News and your reporter Clarence Cromwell. In the short time that he has been there, he has done an excellent job in reporting the news.

Whether his articles are about recent council actions, his story on "Changes May Ease Saratoga Avenue Traffic Problems" or the report on "How Much Pollution is OK?," his writing is well done and thorough. He appears to take the time to completely research his articles and present readers with an in-depth analysis of the subject.

He has done an excellent job reporting the news, including what I felt was completely impartial reporting on the Odd Fellows' request for zoning changes and the Measure G issue in Saratoga.

I only wish he was also a cartoonist so we could see impartial cartoons in the Saratoga News.

Dane V. Christensen

Pierce Road

Letter should not have been in ad

I protest the use of a letter I wrote to the City Council nearly one year ago in the "No on G" advertisement in the Saratoga News of March 20. I object because nothing was said that indicated only a massive neighborhood expenditure of time, effort, letter writing and a protest petition that represented 97 percent of the homes in Saratoga Woods neighborhood motivated the applicants (the Kosich family, represented by Virginia Fanelli) to withdraw their application for rezoning. The Kosich family yielded to massive neighborhood opposition to their property being rezoned from R-1-10,000 to commercial. It was only after the petition was withdrawn that the City Council decided to allow representatives from the more than 100 Saratoga Woods residents attending the meeting to present their arguments. The council likely and correctly reasoned that it would have been ill-advised to prevent the speakers from presenting their views.

With all that opposition to rezoning, plus the applicants' withdrawal, it is no wonder that the City Council, for the record, denied rezoning to commercial. My letter to the council commended their willingness to let us have our say in spite of the withdrawn petition. I felt at that time, and continue to feel, that if our neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods had not put forth that tremendous amount of effort, the Kosich property would have been rezoned and commercial development would be in progress right now.

"Who listens to homeowners? Your City Council Does!" was the advertisement's banner. Well, the council listened then because of our massive and continued protest efforts. There should be no illusions; it is unlikely that the council would've denied commercial development without such a massive outpouring of protest. Who's to say that future councils won't overturn that decision and thumb their noses at residents' protests as they often have done in the past? The Kosich property, and others like it, will never be truly secure until they are developed as the General Plan stipulates.

One of the primary motivations for the creation of Measure G was to avoid having each neighborhood fight the same battle time and time again. Time will tell who wins, the residents or the developers.

Marcia Fariss

Past president and current
board member, Saratoga Woods Homeowners Association

Pacific Bell does expect to pay fees

Your article headlined "Cities dicker with Pac Bell over fees" [March 13] was an interesting look at a side of video competition--regulation--that most customers never see. However, I should point out several important mistakes in the article.

For starters, Pacific Bell does expect to pay franchise fees or comparable amounts to those cities where it offers video services over its telephone lines. This new requirement is part of the telecommunications law recently passed by Congress.

The requirement does not apply, however, to wireless video services such as DBS for our own wireless digital TV service, which we plan to introduce in the Bay Area next year.

Second, under the new law Pacific Bell has several options for how it can offer video services over telephone wires. But to date, we have not announced which regulatory option we plan to use. For example, we can create a fully separated subsidiary which then can apply to cities like Saratoga for a cable television franchise, just as companies such as Viacom and TCI do today. Or Pacific Bell can decide to enter the market as an "open video system," which is a different set of rules now being written by the Federal Communications Commission for telecommunications companies like Pacific Bell. Such business choices will affect how we bring video services to market, but likely will be transparent to customers.

Third and last, the article said our "construction . . . will begin this year." Pacific Bell actually began building its advanced communications network in the South Bay almost two years ago. For competitive reasons, we haven't said when we would like to begin construction in individual cities like Saratoga.

Thank you for allowing me to set the record straight.

Craig Watts

Pacific Telesis Corporate
Communications