Saratoga News

EDITORIALS

City should buy Mountain Winery, but not go it alone

The city bid to purchase the Mountain Winery, if it succeeds, would preserve a priceless regional resource, reclaiming the glory of an internationally renown concert series and enhancing Saratoga's role as a center for the arts. It would preserve most of the winery's 579 acres as open space and maintain public access to the historic Paul Masson building, the picturesque vineyards and oak-studded hills. The public would continue to enjoy the commanding views of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay that Ansel Adams photographed, rather than gating them off for the benefit of a wealthy few.

The Saratoga News enthusiastically supports this effort, provided it can be done in a fiscally sound manner and that the community, not a private operator, is the principal beneficiary of a publicly funded transaction.

To achieve these objectives, the city's wisest course requires a partnership with a community-based operator, and the obvious choice is the Montalvo Association. If a sports-venue operator or rock promoter is brought in to manage the facility, revenues will leave the city, there will be less accountability (and likely more noise and traffic), and the site will compete with rather than complement Saratoga's other jewel, Villa Montalvo.

We must remember it was Montalvo that initiated this whole effort. Mayor Paul Jacobs credits Montalvo Association trustee Phil Boyce, a longtime Saratoga resident, businessman and community volunteer, with launching the public effort. Boyce approached winery owner Raveesh Kumra and the city with a plan to use the city's bonding powers to purchase the winery, dedicate the land's upper reaches to a natural state, the midsection to public use, and the lower portion for a handful of private homes. Montalvo, which operates a successful musical series, would be able to move its larger shows to the former Masson site, providing relief that will no doubt please Montalvo's neighbors.

Mayor Jacobs decided to run with the Boyce plan after Montalvo's negotiations with Kumra reached a stalemale. This is unfortunate. Without a community partnership, the city of Saratoga will likely pay more to acquire Masson than originally proposed and seek to recoup the expenditure by throwing the management contract open to an outsider.

The city should not attempt to go it alone. It needs the business savvy that a dealmaker like Boyce brings to the table and an operator committed to operating a public venue for public benefit. If all parties can get together on this one, Kumra will become a local hero, Jacobs will be recognized as a leader, and Montalvo will stand as a strengthened community institution.

Highway 85 noise study is a sound idea

We're heartened that Caltrans is finally moving to do something about the noise on Highway 85. The freeway has made life miserable for nearby residents who say they must stay inside their houses with the windows closed to escape the barrage of noise.

One might argue that you'd expect a freeway to be noisy. But 85's surprise is that the noise can be heard, like a distant rumble, up to a mile away.

After much pressure by Saratoga citizens and the Assemblyman Jim Cunneen, Caltrans has agreed to hire a noise expert to study what, if anything, can be done to abate 85's roar.

We hope they will study one idea suggested by a citizen that has always appealed to us. Why not nail old tires up on the sound walls? It would help muffle the noise, and it would provide a use for old automobile tires, currently a glut on the market.

Good for Assemblyman Cunneen for listening to his constituents and pressuring a notoriously unreceptive state agency to take action.