Letters
Fire commissioners thank city for passing Measure F
The Board of Fire Commissioners of the Saratoga Fire District thanks all those who worked on the Measure F campaign, the Yes of Measure F Campaign Committee, and the citizens of Saratoga for their support of fire and life safety. We only had a month to get everything done, and without your help and support we could not have achieved our goal. In particular, we thank the volunteers from the Saratoga Firefighters Local 3875, the on-call Firefighters, the Retired Saratoga Volunteer Firemen, student volunteers for giving us time during their spring break, and the many Saratoga organizations that manned our phone banks.
We would like to invite everyone to an open house when our new station is built. Again, on behalf of the Saratoga Fire District, thank you Saratoga.
Robert Egan
Chairman of the Board, Saratoga Fire District
Slow growth measure key to keep Saratoga's charm
It sneaks up on you. Stealthily, irresistibly. All of a sudden, it's there. And it's your fault. You haven't been sufficiently watchful, sufficiently on guard. Now it's too late.
The sorry scenario is all too familiar to many of us. At first it was just a glamorous new chain coffeehouse. Next a fast-food outlet. Then an upscale bookstore. What's more, there are the typical corollaries: ever longer, fume-choked traffic jams, overgrown and pretentious mansions on undersized hillside lots and the gradual disappearance of friendly, locally owned drugstores.
I, for one, saw it happen in my hometown, a village on the southern flanks of the Santa Monica mountain range to the west of Los Angeles. When my family moved there just after World War I, scarcely 1,000 people lived on its curving, tree-lined streets. Our village consisted of a hardware store, two grocery stores, a movie theater, a bakery, and a half dozen other locally owned business outlets where every merchant knew every customer's name (and the names of their children and their family dogs).
And then it happened. Overnight. While I was away from home doing graduate work courtesy of the GI Bill. In a scant scan of several years, my once-pristine hometown had been glamorized into an urbane, cosmopolitan, oh-so-sophisticated city. Beverly Hills had been Hollywoodized. Irreversibly. Talk about uglification of a landscape!
Over-romanticized hyperbole? On the face of it, perhaps. This granted, such transformations can--and all too often do--happen. So, the nagging question looms: will all of this be Saratoga's fate to boot? Perhaps.
It is our choice. And the chance to make the choice--to take a first, tentative step toward preserving our heritage--may come with November's general election. For at that time, Saratogans may have a chance to confront what has been labeled a "controlled growth" issue. It is possible that a ballot measure may be proposed that commercial property may not be converted to residential zoning.
A ballot measure calls for a vote on the City Council-endorsed proposal that commercial property may not be converted to residential zoning. This was motivated by the realistic fear that such property might readily be converted into small parcels, which would in turn promote a more densely concentrated population.
No small thing, this. For an endorsement of this proposition would be, in effect, an approval of a slower, more controlled pattern of growth.
To be sure, this is a small step. Yet it is anything but a trivial one. For it amounts to a ringing statement that Saratogans will not approve a more densely populated city--that we wish to retain our village-like ambiance. So let's go for it!
Hal Hodges
Saratoga
Eucalyptus trees are a part of Saratoga School
I am a graduate of Saratoga School (1983) and have been hearing about the construction of my elementary school through my family who still resides in the area. Last October, I had the opportunity to see some of the changes that had been done to the building.
This school has always had a special place in my heart and to this day, as a teacher myself, I bring up the experiences I had at that school hoping to provide some of them with my building. Not only was I fortunate enough to have some of the best elementary school teachers, but the design and layout of the school was great.
I was glad to see, on my visit, that the front steps, the bell and the trees still remain. I remember the smell of those trees sitting under them at lunchtime eating, reading a book, or watching what was happening on the playground. We ran to them for shade, as a "safe base" during a game, and even to begin hide-n-seek.
I can remember a spring storm, sitting in Room 16, when the winds blew through those giant trees and the sound of the rustling limbs was a comfort. I knew that if those trees were OK, so were the trees around my house.
I can understand that if safety is an issue, then something needs to be done. If it is purely to level off the playground or to have a new look, then we really must rethink our priorities. Children will survive running down a small hill to get to the field (that is actually some of the fun). Too often we look at progress from the viewpoint that newer is better. I hope that those involved in making the decision will take a real close look at their intentions. I hope on my next visit to Saratoga both trees are still standing in their original spots.
Jamie Desmond
Former Saratoga student
Tree lover offers lesson for youth
When I saw DeCinzo's cartoon this week I laughed so hard the tears rolled down my cheeks for five minutes!! I hope young people realize that grandmothers can be passionate about issues, too. We too will stand up for what we believe in even at our age!
Jill Hunter
20606 Lomita Avenue
Correction
The cover page story in the April 26 issue of the Saratoga News about the impact of the housing market in the West Valley mistakenly reported that Lee Ann Wolfe's collaborator in researching and writing Best Retirement Living Residences was her husband, Dr. Bertram Wolfe. In fact, the co-author of the book is Sally Ravel. Dr. Wolfe is a nuclear physicist.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
