Writer thankful voters were well-informed
This letter is in response to Vinh Phan's letter to the Saratoga News on March 24. I attended meetings many years ago concerning West Valley College. At that time the college promised that it would never build a stadium.
We residents were here first and we did not want a stadium intruding upon the peace of our area. A "yes" vote on Measure E would have given implied permission for that unwanted intrusion. As a homeowner in this area since 1963, I am very thankful that there are so many well-informed voters in our area. Give us an option excluding a stadium and watch it pass!
Shirley Hambey
Vessing Road
Sr. Coordinating Council needs to raise funds
I read with interest the article in the March 20 issue of the Saratoga News by Oakley Brooks on the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council and commend him on the reporting.
There is one critical additional area of information on the council's finances that was omitted, and that is in regard to the endowment fund. This endowment was originally some $750,000, and through careful and conservative investment management by the board over the years grew to a value of $1.6 million. As a result of the poor market performance in 2001, the value has fallen to its current level of $1.2 million. During this time other generous donors have augmented the original donation and it has also provided the council with income that has enabled the council to maintain its high level of service.
However, before any reader jumps to the conclusion that the council has cash reserves of $1.2 million, I must point out that the original endowment and other funds donated to the council are restricted by terms and conditions set by the donors, in that the council may use any income from the invested donations, but cannot touch the principal. The principal is held in trust by the council and must be passed on to other like nonprofit organizations if at any time in the future the council ceases to function.
From a practical point of view, the council has spendable reserves that are approximately equal to one year's operational costs, and therefore the council is continually under pressure to raise funds to maintain its operations.
Philip M. F. Gould, Vice President-Finance
Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council
Station move would alter Intersection's 'D' rating
Based on a standard rating system required by law, major intersections are graded periodically to determine the overall level of traffic congestion and assigned a letter grade ranging from A through F (failing).
The Saratoga Avenue/Saratoga-Los Gatos Road intersection consistently grades no better than a dismal D. That's not surprising considering the extremely long queues there. In addition to impacts on travel times and traffic safety, bottleneck intersections have other adverse effects: air pollution, noise pollution (think of accelerating motorcycles and trucks), and even water pollution (think of copper in particles shed from brake pads, eventually washed by rain into creeks).
Over time, traffic bottlenecks cause an enormous amount of gasoline to be wasted. Each queued vehicle sits idling through one or more signal cycles, emitting exhaust gasses, and, when it accelerates, expends extra fuel and generates more--and dirtier--exhaust gasses. Adjacent neighborhoods are impacted disproportionately by increased pollution and cut-through traffic.
The city recently contracted with a traffic engineer to analyze traffic conditions as part of the study of the proposed new public safety center. The engineer says the intersection grade can be increased to possibly as high as B by adding an exclusive right-turn lane to the northbound approach from Saratoga-Los Gatos Road onto Saratoga Avenue, adding an exclusive right-turn lane to the westbound approach from Saratoga Avenue onto Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, allowing right turns on red from Saratoga Avenue, and optimizing the traffic signal.
I am certain that our city council and the city's public works department are ready, willing and able to move forward on this issue. The only serious impediment to implementing these improvements is the fire station issue.
The Saratoga Fire Protection District has more than enough land to build a greatly enlarged fire station in a location that will allow the deficiencies in the intersection to be eliminated. But instead of doing that, fire district officials have sued the city in an attempt to rebuild their station, grossly in violation of city zoning ordinance requirements, in a configuration that will perpetuate traffic congestion and safety problems.
Eliminating the serious problems in our city's central intersection would be a fine gift from the current generation of Saratoga residents to future generations. Please tell fire district and city officials what you think about this important issue.
Don Whetstone
Vickery Avenue
Measure E is still hotly debated, a month later
It is over a month since the ballot boxes closed, and there are still rancorous exchanges in letters to the editor on Measure E.
Newspaper articles and letters have harped on the stadium as the cause of defeat, but that issue only affected voters in Saratoga, less than 8 percent of the district. Since Measure E did not pass in precincts all over the district, what reasons explain why the other 92 percent failed to pass Measure E?
Over 70 percent of the voters in Cupertino and Los Altos voted for the college district's $248 million bond in 1999. The Foothill/De Anza campuses are 10 years older than those of West Valley/Mission and the Foothill/De Anza district is twice as large as West Valley/Mission, both in buildings and number of students.
Based on these criteria, one would have expected a West Valley/Mission bond to be less than $124 million, but Measure E wanted $268 million. There was no justification for why West Valley/Mission wanted more than twice as much money as the acclaimed Foothill/De Anza district.
Foothill/De Anza made it clear that the bond funds would be used solely for repairs and education because "childcare, parking lot, theater arts and athletic projects will be funded by other sources, not bond money." West Valley/Mission made no such distinction; in fact, funds were earmarked for non-educational purposes.
The cost of a college district must be kept within the means of the voters in that district, and the average household income in the West Valley/Mission district is less than that of Foothill/De Anza households. This economic fact of life has to be recognized; the measure which goes on the ballot in November should not exceed $124 million.
I. D. Allan
Black Walnut Cour
Correction
In an article on Saratoga Community Library construction in the April 3 edition of the Saratoga News, the intended use of a contingency fund was incorrectly portrayed. Contingency money, budgeted at 7 percent of known project costs to date, is for unexpected construction costs--such as demolition on concrete ducts recently found beneath the library. A separate, "soft cost" contingency fund covers future unexpected expenses like tests, redesign work and additional temporary library costs.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
