Saratoga News

Letters

Congratulations for staying away from PACs

I am in agreement with the increasing number of candidates in this November election who want to stay away from PAC and corporation money. Leading the way here in Saratoga are Tom Campbell for Congress and Jim Shaw and Stan Bogosian for Saratoga City Council. I want to congratulate these candidates for their stand and regret that the other council candidates did not follow their example.

Willem A. Kohler
Former mayor of Saratoga
Via Regina

Bogosian and Shaw are environmentalists

I recently attended an open house for City Council candidates Stan Bogosian and Jim Shaw. I listened carefully to both candidates as they spoke and answered questions. On the basis of what I heard, I have decided to support both of these candidates in the November election.

Both Bogosian and Shaw have rejected PAC money and PAC support. Both are strong environmentalists, and Bogosian's history of leadership in the Sierra Club is particularly impressive. Both Bogosian and Shaw are fiscal conservatives who want the city to live within its means, rather than trying to figure out how to squeeze more revenue from residents with exorbitant fees and special charges. Most importantly, both candidates express a strong commitment to open government, participation by residents and courteous treatment of all Saratogans by elected and appointed city officials.

Stan Bogosian and Jim Shaw represent the kind of change this city needs. I hope that other Saratogans will join me in supporting them for City Council.

Erna Jackman
Oak Street

Ballot language on utility tax misleading

In November, Saratoga voters will vote for--or against--a 3.5 percent tax on utility bills. We have paid this tax since 1985, when it was first imposed by City Council action. Later court cases found such taxes, imposed without voter approval, to be in conflict with the provisions of Proposition 13. Under threat of litigation by citizens, the City Council agreed to submit the tax for voter approval if the threatened suit was dropped.

On April 20, a Town Hall meeting was held to present the 1996-97 and 1997-98 budgets, which assumed ballot passage and continued utility-tax revenue. The public was asked to submit recommendations for expenditure cuts in the event that voters rejected the tax. On May 23, I sent a letter to City Manager Harry Peacock recommending specific expense reductions. A letter from the city manager expressed appreciation for my analysis.

I am now disappointed to learn (from the council's ballot measure wording) that the council intends that our vote will only affect our taxes after mid-2000. That interpretation is verified in writing by the city attorney. I believe the agreement between the city and those bringing suit was that, after the vote, the tax would either be continued or terminated as of Nov. 6, 1996. I feel like we are being had. Council credibility will be enhanced if they modify their ballot language to make it compatible with statements made at the April budget presentation.

Ed Vincent
Westover Drive

Pro-development forces are behind endorsement

Now that the San Jose Mercury News has embraced the candidacy of Ms. Burger and Ms. Wyman for the Saratoga City Council, it is evident that the pro-development forces are behind their agenda.

San Jose and the San Jose Mercury News want regional government, more growth, more density, more dollars. Saratoga was incorporated with the intent of remaining free of the policies of San Jose. Unfortunately, the present candidates share the desires of San Jose.

Ms. Burger was a vigorous opponent of Measure G. Since the measure passed, she has tried every tactic to prevent its implementation. Ms. Wyman has been a proponent of regional government (which means San Jose government), and while serving on the council as an environmentalist in Gilroy, she sided with the developers. She is also the hand-picked choice of Mayor Jacobs.

Ms. Burger has other deeds for which she should answer. She has never been willing to acknowledge or deny her complicity in the dirtiest campaign tactic ever employed in Saratoga, namely the false linkage of one of Saratoga's most qualified candidates, Meg Caldwell, in the 1992 election, to the racist policies of Gov. Wallace's Freedom Party. Unless she clarifies that issue under oath, she is not worthy of being a public servant of Saratoga. She also has helped to downgrade the protection of our oak trees, she has maintained that the pollution of Saratoga Creek is politically motivated and she was instrumental in having the city accept a bribe from the Community Foundation to destroy the Nelson Gardens.

She has encouraged the installation of microwave towers in the busy downtown area of Saratoga (in spite of questionable health risks), she backed the closing of the Warner Hutton House Youth Center (reopening it just before this election), and she was instrumental in preventing the posting of candidates' election signs, which is clearly an incumbent's way of preventing name-recognition of her opponents, whereas she has been on television twice a month for four years.

Wake up, Saratoga! Let's have a new broom to sweep out City Hall. Saratoga deserves better. Vote for Shaw and Bogosian. If they are elected, we would at least have two well-qualified individuals representing us on the council.

F. L. Stutzman
Park Drive

Thanks for the help

The participants, staff and volunteers of the Saratoga Adult Care Center would like to thank Bill Cooper of Bella Saratoga, Patti Diamond, and Val Nicholson of Exclusively Yours Boutique for hosting the fashion show held at Bella Saratoga on Sept. 11. It was a fundraiser for the center, and we are most grateful for the support of these businesses.

The Saratoga Adult Care Center is a nonprofit agency serving the population of Saratoga. We could not operate without our 60-plus volunteers and the support and goodwill of all the community. We are most grateful to Cooper, Diamond and Nicholson; they exemplify the support and goodwill of the people of Saratoga.

Rita Pennington,
Administrative director, Saratoga Adult Day Care Center

It's time to end the council duplicity

Whoa! Wait a minute! The City Council wants Saratogans to vote on Measure L as they intended, but it refuses to implement Measure G as the voters intended? What's wrong with this picture?

Did the council purposely phrase the utility-tax (Measure L) ballot statement as an "extension" in order to bamboozle the voters? Why are they pretending that they "just didn't understand?" Are the councilmembers incapable of composing a clear ballot statement?

If the councilmembers cannot write a clear and accurate ballot statement, they should not be allowed to write them; perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to represent Saratoga's residents, either.

The council's Measure G ballot arguments used deception, and it didn't work; they're trying it again, and it won't work now, either.

I am disgusted with the constant verbal obfuscations and fraudulent statements that are emanating from our City Council. It's time to end the duplicity!

Marcia Fariss
Saratoga Glen Place
Marcia Fariss,Marcia@Gizmology.com

Kosich property proves Measure G is working

Saratogans should not be discouraged or deceived by the City Council's efforts to undermine the strong citywide vote in favor of Measure G. In spite of the City Council's efforts to undermine the initiative by unnecessarily extending it to occasional projects that were not contemplated by the ordinance, the important news is that Measure G is working extremely well.

No single property provided more impetus for the development of Measure G than the Kosich property, one of the few remaining large open tracts on Saratoga Avenue. Proposals for high-intensity commercial development on that property alarmed the immediate neighbors, and the traffic implications bothered residents throughout the city. In the aftermath of the passage of Measure G, the owners of the property have quietly come forward with a new proposal, which has subsequently been approved by both the Planning Commission and a local homeowners' association. This project calls for exclusively residential development on the property and for development that is consistent with the current general plan and current zoning.

Without the passage of Measure G, the best the neighbors of this property could have hoped for was to spend many more years down at City Hall, fighting week after week. At worst, the neighbors would have eventually lost and would now be facing a high-intensity residential or commercial development that would have seriously degraded the surrounding neighborhoods. All Saratogans should be thankful for Measure G.

Paul B. Philp
Saratoga

Vote for what you want on cable TV

In the next two months, TCI, our new cable television provider, will mail a customer-preference ballot to each subscriber. Ranking of channels on this ballot will determine the future programming for our cable service area. If Saratogans really want to receive high-quality cultural and educational programs, it is important to rank channels such as Bravo, A&E, Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, The History Channel and all PBS channels at the top of the list.

Another sophisticated channel that may be of interest to Saratogans is Stanford University's Channel 51, a cable broadcast channel available for purchase by TCI. Channel 51 features lectures and symposia by professors and guest speakers; health-related presentations; music, dance and dramatic performances; continuing studies courses; and, yes, even Stanford sporting events. If TCI has not included Channel 51 on the ballot, consider writing it in and giving it a high-preference rank.

We often complain about the lack of quality TV programs. Here is our chance to let TCI know the kind of programming we want our cable franchise to include!

Joanne Cornbleet
Saraglen Drive
jcornbleet@pathology.stanford.edu

Microwave towers can be unhealthy

Since my first letter, the Planning Commission has approved several more microwave cellular phone towers in Saratoga. I was told at the Planning Commission hearing by Community Development Director Paul Curtis and by planning commissioners that I was not allowed to raise issues of health or safety of microwave towers. But health risks are associated with microwave towers, and thus, I must raise these issues via this letter.

These microwave towers emit in the 1850 to 1865 MHz and 1930 to 1945 MHz ranges--emissions in the upper middle of the microwave band. The microwave band is 100 to 3000 MHz. The operating frequencies of microwave ovens are around 1900 to 2500 MHz. Microwaves are used to cook vegetation and meat. You are meat. The landscape is vegetation.

The claimed safety of these particular tower microwaves is due to their "low power." For this Sprint compares the power used in the AM/FM broadcast bands. But the AM/FM bands are not transmitting at microwave cooking frequencies. AM radio operates in the lower range from 535 kHz to 1605 kHz. TV channels 2 to 13 transmit in 54 MHz to 216 MHz ranges. FM radio transmits in the 88 MHz to 108 MHz range. These frequencies do not cook flesh, and thus, comparing the power of emissions in this range is not analogous.

As microwaves are transmitted to your receiver, they reach you as well. While the power may be low, what does that mean? Microwave ovens also operate at low power, but the waves nevertheless easily cook or heat up water- and oil-based substances. These microwaves will not turn you out as a fully fried steak, but how many of the cells in your body and brain will be altered and in what manner?

I am old enough to remember when fluoroscopes (X-rays) were used to see if shoes fit, when teenage acne was treated with X-rays, when nuclear power was sold to us as the clear solution. Lots of people were burned, maimed, killed and/or bankrupted by these and a host of similar reckless assumptions. Now there is another reckless assumption and technical equipment widely used without controlled testing.

The staff admitted at the Planning Commission meeting that this City Council (Ann Marie Burger, Paul Jacobs, Don Wolfe, etc.) instructed the staff to go into the back room and make deals with the private companies and offer public land for installation of these towers. While several other cities have put a moratorium on these uses, our Saratoga public property is being partitioned off, including parts of our parks, to allow these commercial-use microwave towers. There was and is no apparent competitive bidding, just money in the back room.

The Planning Commission was very hostile to those of us who were concerned about these towers. It was a done deal. They abruptly cut me off to make sure I did not get health and illegality issues on the record. There has been no recognition of the illegality of allowing these fenced-off commercial operations in our dedicated parks. There was no recognition of the requirements of Measure G for a vote of the people.

Some of these towers are already up and operating. I no longer receive radio signals clearly as I drive about in this city. Even my stationary radio reception has been affected this last few weeks. Have others noticed this?

Microwave interference is with us now.

Cheriel Jensen
Quito Road
CherielJ@aol.com

Is Jacobs' request a positive sign?

Mrs. Wyman is running for City Council, and she has said repeatedly that one of the primary reasons she chose to run was that her longtime friend from San Jose government , Mayor Paul Jacobs, asked her to do so. Let's see now, Mayor Jacobs is the councilmember who wrote the crude and sarcastic letter to a resident who complained about noise at Montalvo. Jacobs also co-authored the ballot argument against Measure G, replete with untruths and arguments designed to scare residents. He has cut off public debate and scheduled controversial agenda items for the council's special Tuesday meetings so they would not be televised. He has wasted tens of thousands of dollars of city funds on legal fees while refusing to do anything substantial to try to clean up the confirmed pollution in Saratoga Creek.

Mrs. Wyman is running because she was asked to do so by Mayor Jacobs. That's quite a recommendation.

Mary Ann Mortenson
Vineyard Lane

A clarification on Monia and the creek

In my July 31 letter to the Saratoga News regarding Saratoga Creek, I did not intend to imply that Mr. Monia "generated" or cost the city any money, or was involved in the "issue of the creek," except while he was serving as a member of the City Council.

Donald L. Wolfe
Big Basin Way

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who attended West Valley College's Moon Festival on Sept. 26. We also appreciate the terrific news coverage by the Saratoga News, KNTV, KCBS and KBAY radio both before and after the event.

Estimates of the crowd went as high at 1,500, much larger than we had anticipated from our reservations! Those who attended enjoyed live music by instructor Chris Coobatis, dancers from the Chinese Performing Artists of America and a lecture on the eclipse by astronomy professor Tom Bullock. Guests also got an unexpected surprise when a computer snafu caused the sprinklers to go off in an upper field! We apologize if you got wet, and we invite you to share your thoughts on the event.

Watch for details about our upcoming West Valley weekends, when you will have the opportunity to learn how to play an instrument and demonstrate your skill in a concert or star in a play. It is just another way we are reaching out to the community and reminding them to take advantage of all that West Valley College has to offer.

As a community college, we are always looking for ways to serve you, whether it's retraining you for a new career, teaching you new skills for a competitive edge on the job, transferring you to a four-year university or offering you personal enrichment classes and events.

Marchelle S. Fox, president
West Valley College

Saratogans are arrogant and holier-than-thou

As a member of the Saratoga community and a former West Valley student, I am both embarrassed and tired of the attitude neighbors near the college present on issues concerning it. This is especially true of the ongoing stadium debate. I was a columnist who covered this story for West Valley's Norseman newspaper two years ago, and have never come across a more arrogant, holier-than-thou group of people than the anti-college neighbors I interviewed near the campus.

A word to you millionaires bordering West Valley who think you're above everything: You are the laughingstock of the college community. You live in a fantasy land that you believe is impermeable just because you have a few dollars in your pocket. People in other communities put up with far more than a stadium because they have what you seriously lack--a sense of community.

Let's get something straight. This isn't the Rose Bowl we're putting on here. This is a few bleachers and a scoreboard in a sunken field. No raised construction, no parking garages. Nothing more than what San José City College has--a field that barely resembles a high-school stadium.

So what's next? Restricting all air traffic within a five-mile radius of your homes because the 747s heading into SFO make a little noise? You know, I live near Quito Road, and many nights, we can hear cars roaring down it, usually one every 30 seconds. Maybe my neighbors and I should pressure city hall to close Quito Road because it's just too loud! Enough of this stadium issue. Drop the whole thing, and let the college put in some seats.

J. Todd Lafferty
Evans Lane

Bogosian is on track

Stan Bogosian is a candidate for Saratoga City Council, and he is right on track. He is fed up with the niggling ordinances and petty fees that this council seems to specialize in. This City Council will give anything to a developer, but they want to ban open-house signs so that the average homeowner will have more trouble selling his or her house. If the Planning Commission turns down your request for a home-improvement project and you want to appeal the decision to City Council, that will cost you more than $600 in Saratoga. In surrounding cities, the average cost for such an appeal would be less than $75, and in some cities it is free.

Voters should listen to Stan Bogosian. He has a long list of additional ordinances that are trivial and provide an intrusion on the average resident. Bogosian is right. It is time to get Saratoga city government to work for its residents. Please join me in supporting Stan Bogosian for the City Council.

Wanda Alexander
Los Gatos

Corrections

Danny Wallace, 9, finished first in his age group in the Saratoga High School Fun Run, and his brother Frank Wallace, 11, also finished first in his age group. In error, Frank was listed as third in a story last week's Saratoga News.

In an article on feeding the homeless in last week's Saratoga News, Lourdes Pollard, the Julian Street Inn's food services coordinator, was referred to incorrectly. Pollard is a woman.