Saratoga News

Letters

Council candidate rejects PAC funds

I am running for Saratoga City Council in the Nov. 3 election. I have made a pledge not to accept campaign funds from PAC groups. I do not want to create any expectations that I will represent special-interest groups. I will represent the needs of the citizens of Saratoga, not special-interest groups. I hope that other candidates will follow this lead.

Erna Jackman
City Council candidate

Mehaffey would offer expertise

John Mehaffey is a candidate for Saratoga City Council. John and his family live near the Village, and he is the founder of a software company located in the Village. Anyone who followed last year's discussions of the computer systems and software at City Hall knows that we need someone with high technical expertise on the City Council. John is very bright, creative and independent. He will make an exceptional councilmember.

Kathleen King
Canyon View Drive

Residents should vote for Jackman

I am writing to ask Saratoga residents to support Erna Jackman for the Saratoga City Council. Erna has been a committed volunteer at Villa Montalvo and at the Oak Street elementary school. Erna is a nurse with a master's degree in public health, and she has licensed and managed a nonprofit residential senior facility in this area. Her expertise on senior issues and on environmental issues will be most helpful to the city of Saratoga. Please vote for her on Nov. 3.

Afton Tuveson
Oak Street

City doesn't need college stadium

It has come to my attention that West Valley College wants to build a full-size, fully functional stadium on its campus.

I wholeheartedly oppose the construction of any stadium on the West Valley College campus. Saratoga cannot handle the additional traffic congestion and noise that such a facility would generate.

Saratoga already has two major performance venues that adversely impact the peace and quiet of the surrounding neighbors. Knowing that all colleges and universities constantly need an influx of money, it is probable that WVC would rent the stadium to anyone willing to pay its rental fee. Once it was built, it is unlikely that Saratoga could limit the types of events; that means more of everything Saratogans already have too much of: traffic congestion and noise.

In case some Saratogans do not feel that a stadium on the West Valley College campus would not adversely impact their neighborhoods, let them observe rush-hour traffic on Saratoga Avenue and all the surface streets within a radius of three miles of Highway 85. Let them also observe all the traffic on Pierce Road when the Mountain Winery has a performance.

It is imperative that our city officials do everything possible to prevent West Valley College from building a stadium.

Phillip Olsen
Saratoga Glen Place

Gillian Moran is voice of reason

Common sense tells me to stay out of this, but experience tells me that no one else will jump to Gillian Moran's rescue in rebuttal of Cheriel Jensen's letter some weeks ago ("Moran letter was hard to swallow," Sept. 9).

Why is that? Fear. Those who do not back the West Valley Taxpayers' candidates know they will be trashed in the Saratoga News if they speak out to defend their candidate. This lack of courage by citizens to speak out is the very reason it is so difficult to recruit qualified candidates for City Council. When the election heats up, supporters slink away. Silence has prevailed in Saratoga too long.

Gillian has been a sensitive and caring councilmember for four years and deserves her second term. Evidence of the respect she has engendered among her colleagues is her appointment to the Bay Area Air Quality Management Board. She has rightly promoted the values and concerns of that board. I was on the City Council when Gillian was appointed unanimously to the Planning Commission. To some degree, we were all baffled by her application references. People with quite divergent views had recommended her. What has proven true is that she does not have a knee-jerk reaction to any issue but thoughtfully listens to all sides before making a decision, knowing that not everyone will agree with her. Is this not the quality Saratogans want in a councilmember?

As for Jensen's view that Gillian does not really care about air quality or she would prevent the spraying of pesticides in parks near Jensen's home, I would say that I know of no park within drift of her home at Quito Road and Highway 85. And I must ask how it is that a person so near death, disabled from her county job, could sit outside for hours in the bitter cold in the fall of 1992 to promote her political agenda?

Don't be fooled in the coming election by the typical West Valley Taxpayers' hysteria over "toxic" creeks, nonexistent stadiums and other bogus issues. Vote for Gillian Moran, a steady voice for reason.

Karen Anderson
former Saratoga mayor

Slow growth is key issue in council race

The most important issues in the upcoming Saratoga Council election are traffic and congestion. Everyone in Saratoga knows that our traffic situation has been deteriorating rapidly. We may not be able to do much to improve traffic and congestion, but we can certainly stop them from getting worse, if we are willing.

The answer is to make sure we do not allow high-density development in Saratoga's hillsides (at the Mountain Winery, for example) and to follow the spirit of Measure G, insisting that new development in Saratoga be compatible with surrounding neighborhoods and zoning.

In the November election, Saratoga residents will have a clear choice. There are three candidates who worked hard to pass Measure G and who believe that controlled growth and neighborhood integrity are key issues if we wish to preserve the quality of life that we enjoy in Saratoga. I hope that Saratogans will join me in supporting Erna Jackman, John Mehaffey and Evan Baker for the Saratoga City Council.

Dora Grens
Old Oak Way

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