Letters

Writer should have identified himself

Mike Fox's letter to the editor in the March 25 Saratoga News was misleading and less than candid. Fox tries to minimize West Valley College's long-term problems with community relations and to suggest that there was little opposition to the college's plan to build a major stadium on the Saratoga campus.

He is wrong on both points. More importantly, Fox fails to mention that he is the president of the college's Advancement Foundation. Fox purports to be an independent, objective Saratoga resident, when he is actually a spokesperson for the college. His arguments would be more compelling if he were more forthright and honest about his own role.

Victor Monia
Granite Way

Citizen lowers rent for local educator

We just learned that a generous-hearted Saratoga citizen listed a wonderful cottage here in town at a below-market rate with us and that it was rented by an overjoyed faculty member, thereby cutting his commute from an hour each way, to a matter of minutes. We are very grateful to this resident and to others who have done the same.

Having our school staff live within easy commute distance is such a help to them and our students. Helping faculty, when possible, to live within the city limits can add even more. The benefit to our community is multifaceted and undeniable. Suffice it to say, it is the way things used to be, it is good for everyone and we are so pleased community members are responding.

This is the time of year new teachers are hired and current school staff are thinking about making changes in living situations. If you wish to participate in our efforts, contact Kathleen Chong at kchong@cbnorcal.com, or 861-8871.

Kathleen Chong
Teacher Housing Initiative

Sewer line, drain found to intersect

Another milestone has been reached in the continuing effort to clean up Saratoga Creek. It has been known for many years that polluted sewage flows out of the city's Fourth Street storm drain outfall into Saratoga Creek in Wildwood Park. On May 1, the ongoing investigation into this issue resulted in the discovery that a sewer line from an office building on Big Basin Way, near Fourth Street, is connected directly to a city storm drain lateral. There is unmistakable evidence that this lateral is a major source of pollution and of the persistent foul smells in the lower Fourth Street area. City officials are taking steps to assure that the owner of the property corrects the problem.

I'd like to offer my congratulations to the Public Works Department of the city of Saratoga, the West Valley Sanitation District and the Water Quality Laboratory of the Santa Clara Valley Water District for this success.

It is great that this particular pollution source has been pinpointed, but, unfortunately, test results indicate that this is not the only cause of pollution in the Fourth Street drain line. Test results also indicate that the pollution from the fourth Street drain line is not the sole cause of the pollution in the creek, so more work remains to be done.

I am optimistic, however, that, as all those involved continue to work together to identify and eliminate pollution sources, we will eventually get the job done.

Don Whetstone
Vickery Avenue

City should consider housing assistance

Last fall a grass-roots committee of community members began addressing the urgent need to provide housing assistance to Saratoga teachers. Over the past few months it has become increasingly apparent that Saratoga is an "island" bereft of programs and plans for affordable housing, whereas neighboring communities have taken action. Recently the Teachers Housing Initiative Committee presented the following goals to the city council:

* Allocate $2 million from the city's general fund surplus to develop a housing assistance program for the benefit of public school teachers working in any school in Saratoga city limits and key city employees;

* Modify the city's housing element to relax restrictions on second units;

* Require all developers to dedicate 10 to 15 percent of any new development in Saratoga to below-market-rate housing.

City council needs to prioritize many claims on city funds. We cannot, however, let our city become a deserted island, without affordable housing measures, at a time when surrounding cities are initiating significant programs and enticing away our critical workforce of teachers and city employees. Ultimately, the health and balance of the city of Saratoga will depend on it. We urge you to express your views on this important subject to the Saratoga City Council.

Jan Birenbaum
Ching-Li Chang
Co-chairs, Teacher Housing Initiative Committee

We should find better names

In response to your recent article on Census 2000:

It is hard for me to believe that in the year 2001 we are still driving the largest divide between the "white" population and the "black" population All descriptions in the census, in magazine articles, surveys, you name it, are broken down like this:

* Black (a color)
* White (a color)
* Asian (a geographic designation)
* Hispanic (a geographic designation of Spanish descent)

You get the idea. Only two are by color.

I look forward to the day when we use one system or the other to describe groups of people. It's a place to start, an important place.

Kristina Boudreaux
Monte Sereno

School district disguising the true use of buildings

I appreciated, probably more than did most of your readers, DeCinzo's cartoon in the April 4 issue of the Saratoga News, showing officials of the Saratoga Union School District sitting in the corner, wearing dunce caps, after having been required to write on the blackboard that they would not spend Measure D money on administration buildings. Most certainly I appreciated it more than did the SUSD officials, but did it shame those officials into correcting their plans?

If DeCinzo were now to ask SUSD if it is going to use the remaining Measure D funds to build the new classrooms that the voters authorized and not the unauthorized new administration buildings, he would be told that the district is not going to build new administration buildings, but, instead, is going to build student resource centers.

From the name he would most probably imagine these to be facilities incorporating classrooms and other resources having the potential to provide educational value for the students. However, on closer examination he would find that these are the same new buildings that were formerly called administration buildings.

The one at Argonaut will have the same reception area, the same principal's office, the same vice principal's office (for a nonexistent administrator), the same health room, the same conference room, the same large workroom for the teachers, and the same spacious lounge for the staff. Essentially the only student resources it will provide are the principals' offices for students who need to be disciplined and the health room for students who are sick or injured.

Doesn't this remind us of the school system's response when asked why students are not being taught to read using phonics, a technique that has been successful every time it has been tried, instead of the Whole Language program, an experiment the school system has been demonstrating for some 40 years to be a dismal failure.

The response has always been something like "Oh, we are no longer using the Whole Language program (or whatever its name had most recently been). We are now using the Sight Reading program (or the Whole Word program or the Word Recognition program or whatever the current name was at the time)." Of course, no matter what new name had been given to the program, it still used the same failed technique and bore absolutely no resemblance to phonics.

So, here again, when our school officials are caught doing something that is wrong, instead of changing to doing what is right, they simply give what they have been doing a new name and continue doing it. And, here again, the public seems willing to let them get away with it.

P.S. DeCinzo might check to see if the multipurpose buildings and kindergarten rooms that were not authorized by the voters, but that SUSD is still planning to build with Measure D funds, have also been stealthily camouflaged with new names.

Wesley I. Ferguson
Chateau Drive

Chuck Page did not prove ability to lead

In the April 11 issue of the Saratoga News, Mr. Page seems to have a lot to say about the condition of the planning commission. He comments that the commission frequently balks at making key decisions and extends the review of certain projects. That is an interesting comment from someone who just finished his year as chairman of the commission. Why did he not try to fix the situation, rather than wait until the end of his term to take snide shots in the media?

Last year I read Mr. Page's comment in the Saratoga News that planning commission meetings were excessively long, because some commissioners, "four new commissioners," were not coming to the meeting prepared. I sent Mr. Page an email stating that, if he had concerns about my preparation, I would prefer that he told me directly rather than via Saratoga News. I received no acknowledgment.

What I had hoped for from a chairman was someone who would collect information during the meeting and, if we were reaching a stalemate or going off the subject, bring us together and summarize the points we agreed and disagreed on. I believe that we will have that leadership next year but Mr. Page failed to provide it this past year.

This planning commission has worked hard to come up with decisions that will fit homes and other projects into existing neighborhoods. Sometimes we have had to ask applicants to come back with changes. Once a project is built, it will be there for many, many years. It is in the city's best interest that new projects be compatible with existing neighborhoods.

Mr. Page seems to be aiming at another try for city council in the next election. Do we want someone on the city council who cannot lead planning commission meetings? After the last meeting adjourned, for example, Mr. Page accosted me angrily about my decision on a variance, simply because he and I differed on the issue and he was outvoted. He has not been professional and planning commissioners have tried to make the best of the situation, but his broadsides at the rest of us for problems directly attributable to his own lack of leadership are a bit much.

Mr. Page told several of us after the last meeting that city employees are not leaving because of the high cost of living in the area: they are leaving because city council is micro-managing their jobs. We have an excellent city council but even Superman would have a hard time serving on city council, holding a full time job and micromanaging more than 50 full-time city employees.

Erna Jackman
Saratoga Planning Commissioner

Letter writers mad about the wrong thing

Letter writers from West Valley College express outrage over a recent cartoon. Do these kindly folks have any concept whatsoever of the tremendous outrage felt by Saratogans, over the college's efforts to void the original agreement to establish the college? A deal is a deal!

Todd Walsh
Plymouth Drive

Correction

In a story on teacher housing in the April 25 issue of the Saratoga News, the approximate starting salary for teachers in the Cupertino Union School District was incorrectly stated. The district had provided its 1999-2000 salary figures, which are lower than its current salary figures. Starting salaries for teachers in the district are now $40,496 for intern teachers and teachers on emergency permits, and $41,077 for regular credentialed teachers straight out of the program.

Sheriff's Report

Mark W. Mayfield: My rantings are harmless, really!

Local home and property sales listings

Photo: Actress Janis Paige to make guest appearance at the opening night reception of 'Mame'

Saratoga Sampler

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