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Letters
Thank you for another great Rotary Art Show!
A very big thank you to the citizens of Saratoga and West Valley College for making the 2001 Rotary Art Show a success.
West Valley College provided a beautiful location. We're reminded that the college is a terrific community resource and an integral part of the Saratoga community. We appreciate its gracious hospitality.
For the past 43 years, your generous support has made the Saratoga Rotary Art Show the art show with a heart. Because of you, the Saratoga Rotary Club will continue the tradition of returning proceeds from the show to our community. Your support will benefit a variety of worthy charities.
Thanks to you all.
Dane Christensen
2001 Saratoga Rotary Art Show Chairman
Reader appreciates history and reporter's article
I've never seen the West Valley, but I live in a town that was wrecked by mindless development many years ago. Reading Oakley Brooks' account online of the handful of passionate advocates who acknowledge the rich history of the place, makes me grateful even Silicon Valley's frenetic rush to god-knows-where hasn't made such people extinct. And never will.
Blayney Colmore
La Jolla
Seat belts should be a choice, not a law
In response to Rita Baum's column in the May 2 issue of the Saratoga News, I agree losing the ability to drive could take an emotional toll. I also believe seat belts make driving more tiresome--and too restrictive for the driver.
Seat belts should be a choice--not the law.
I do wear my seat belt, but not because I want to!
Helen Stanley
Paseo Flores
Article on streetcars brings back memories
Your recent article about the Peninsular Railroad brought back some great memories.
In September 1932, just before I entered Los Gatos High School as a freshman, I drove around the corner of what now is the intersection of Austin Way and Quito Road. Right then the streetcar came down the hill from Los Gatos on what is now Quito Road and made the left turn onto what is now Austin Way. Needless to say, the track cheated on the turn and was quite a ways over into what is now the right (my) lane.
I was not prepared for this encounter since it was the first time I had ever driven this road. Just in August of that year I was granted a driver's license (I was 14). At that time you took the test at a DMV office located at the corner of First and St. John streets in the city of San Jose, and the road test meant taking the examiner for a quick ride around the perimeter of St. James Park in San Jose to show you could drive.
I was going to the orientation meeting for new students on this day as the following week I would be attending LGHS as a freshman. We lived about 10 miles from the school up the hills behind and north of the Village of Saratoga. I, my sister and anyone else who lived that far away had to drive their own car or get a ride with somebody else, because the streetcars were still about a four-mile walk from our home.
Because of prune harvest and the need for help during that time schools did not open until about Sept. 20. All of us kids were either prune pickers or potential prune pickers.
For the rest of the year and through 1933, we played tag or raced with the streetcars as we went back and forth to the school. We were driving a Model A Ford 29 Roadster, generally with five passengers and could make 25 mph going up the hill from Los Gatos--the streetcar could only make about 20 mph up that hill. Of course, the streetcar could make a whole lot more down the hills, toward Quito Road corner, and really leaned in when making that corner. We would holler and whoop at our friends riding the streetcars to Saratoga and they would wave good-bye to us as they went down the hill.
I have other memories about that corner. When I was a freshman, that was the quarter mile I was assigned to run in the Saratoga-Los Gatos High School relays, when I was a member of the freshman team. I ran from about where the present road intersects with Austin Way around the corner at Quito Road and up the hill to just about where the traffic signal is at this time. The freshman class did not win; this race was won by the sophomore class that year, the anchor leg run by Gene Regain. That class won this race for all four years and Gene ran anchor every year, if I recall correctly. (Ask John Beggarly if this is correct, because I believe he also ran in this race). The pavement going up the hill was made of bricks at the steeper portion. Later on it was paved over with blacktop, except a small piece on the Saratoga end of Austin Way.
Another time a classmate, Paul Chariness, was walking home from Saratoga along these tracks and was caught between the bank and a moving streetcar; he suffered a badly fractured leg. Another memory is bringing packed dried fruit to ship to the railway express office where the Saratoga Village post office is presently located. This was also the passenger station.
Besides going up Big Basin Way (at that time it was called Lumber Street) to Congress Springs Resort and Hotel, the track had a spur that would take gravel cars through the gravel quarry bunkers and fill them with gravel which were then hauled back down into the valley to repair railroad roadbeds and provide gravel to other areas. The Saratoga School had a spring picnic that was held at the Congress Springs Picnic Area. We all traveled there by streetcar. Besides playing baseball in their open area I remember Clifford Smith brought his fishing pole along and said he planned to fish, and he did fish his way home downstream. He lived across from the street from the present Catholic church.
The Austin School District was closed about 1927, and the Los Gatos School District and the Saratoga School District were asked to take the few pupils residing in the Austin District. The decision as to where the Austin children would go rested on which district would pay the transportation costs. At this time the state of California would pay half the cost of transporting a grammar school student, up to $1.50 per month, providing he or she lived at least one mile or more from the school. The school district had to pay the other half of the cost. Saratoga said they would pay, Los Gatos refused. Saratoga then paid for the streetcar transportation of the Austin School students and annexed that district into the Saratoga Union School District.
Vince S. Jarred
Mt. Eden Road
Local shop angers elderly pedestrian
A few weeks ago, after an operation, I followed my doctor's advice and went for a walk. I was thrilled that I was able to get to the Village, where I had a cup of coffee and was among other people. On my way home I realized that I would not be able to make it back all the way. So I decided to ask at a volunteer shop, where I have been a client for a long time, if I could call my husband, as I did not feel very well. (I am gray-haired and elderly!) The answer of the lovely "do-gooders" was that they did not have a public phone. I asked if it would be possible to use their phone for a local call to my husband, or if they knew where there was a public phone nearby. It was against their policy to have public call from their phone, and the lady in the shop also said she did not know of a public phone. From the back another lady called out, that one of the restaurants close by had one. So I walked back to that place, called my husband, told him the name of the restaurant and was glad that there was a chair by the phone, where I could rest while I waited.
I was really very disappointed about the attitude of the volunteers, and so was my family. I had to promise my children, that I would write about it to the Saratoga News.
Gisela A. Wiedmer
Glen Brae Drive
Use water wisely and lower electricity bill
Conserve water if you would rather that power companies use it to produce relatively cheap electricity. With below normal rainfall during 2000-2001, and especially since hydroelectric power plants need as much water as urban users can conserve, it is a good reminder to use water wisely this summer (and at all times). In particular, water lawns and flower beds early in the day, when temperatures are lower and winds are less. At hotter, windier times, the water evaporates faster, or flies onto streets and driveways, and residents would have to run the water longer to have the desired effect.
Other measures: When using a hose to wash a car, attach a nozzle that stops the water flow at release. Sweep the driveway, instead of hosing it down. When brushing teeth, wet the brush, but shut off the faucet until more water is needed.
Together we can ensure water availability in the fall, and maybe even lower our electricity bills.
Dexter Hermstad
Mellowood Drive
Grandmother worries about grandson's job
My grandson is a firefighter in the town of Saratoga.
I am truly concerned and afraid for his welfare, after attending a Saratoga City Council meeting just recently. I cannot believe that the city council is not granting the request of the firemen who wish to become a part of the Santa Clara County Fire District.
After the meeting, I found out that the number of firemen at the Saratoga Fire District is very minimal compared to the Santa Clara Fire Department.
Also, when a call comes in at the Saratoga Fire Department and they have left the station for that call, their station does not have a complete staff to cover another call that might come in. They also do not have proper trucks for the narrow roads in Saratoga.
What is the problem with the city council that they cannot see the advantage of the fire department becoming a part of the Santa Clara County Fire District?
I hope it will not be long before the council grants the firemen's request. They obviously know more about their situation than the city council.
In the meantime, I truly am worried about my grandson and the other firemen who have to work under the above conditions.
Hilda Munton
San Jose
Mission, not West Valley College, should get stadium
Let's end this 35-year battle over a stadium at West Valley College, because there is a better alternative! Build a 5,000-seat stadium for athletics and recreational events at its sister campus, Mission College (in Santa Clara). What's the first step? Call on the WVMCCD to allocate half of the $70,000 it has earmarked for the public relations firm of S & K Consulting instead for a feasibility study for a stadium at the Mission campus.
Could it be done? Consider these facts:
* WVMCCD already owns enough land at the Mission campus site for a stadium.
* WVMCCD has the fiscal plan.
* No neighbors would be impacted.
* There is major freeway and expressway access.
Doesn't it make sense? More sense than spending $225,000 to date (and rising) on legal fees, and $70,000 on a public relations effort. Why won't the college administration put the feasibility study on its agenda?
Brenda Albrecht
San Marcos Road
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
