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Letters
Foothill administration building roof is ugly
On Wednesday evening, Oct. 6, I attended the Foothill School meeting on the design and layout of the school, as a neighbor on Seaton Avenue. For the first time, we were shown the site plan. There was one ugly building--the administration building!
I believe the slanted roof just does not fit in with the rest of the original design; plus, it could result in leakage and drainage problems. Even the architect admitted he did not know if there could be problems. There are plenty of roof designs that are more attractive. I do not want the superintendent and school board to leave us with that ugly roof design!
Dorothy Drotar
Seaton Avenue
Saratoga firefighters clear up some misconceptions
As you may have read, the Saratoga Firefighters Local 3875 opposed a fire station bond measure that was to be placed on the November ballot. Unfortunately, there appears to be a misconception as to our position in this matter. While the firefighters were opposed to the bond measure as presented, we are not opposed to a new fire station.
The 70-plus-year-old building does in fact need to be replaced with a new seismically safe facility. Its current location, on the corner of Saratoga Avenue and Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, is an excellent place for a fire station. The fact that resources can be dispatched to any one of the four major arteries in the city of Saratoga from a single location is a major plus.
What we were opposed to was the size of the project and the amount of the bond you, the citizens of the Saratoga Fire District, would have been asked to vote on in November. We felt that the $5 million to $6 million price tag was too high for the taxpayers. We also believed that the measure's plan to purchase the building behind the station for temporary use was economically unfeasible.
Included in the measure were plans to build a "headquarters" station that would have housed administrative offices and a dispatch center. We do not believe that it is in the community's best interest to build a headquarters station.
After careful research, we believe it would be more prudent to build a smaller, less expensive facility and contract with the Santa Clara County Fire Department. County Fire currently has 16 fire stations, located in the cities of Los Altos, Cupertino, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos, Campbell and Morgan Hill, the unincorporated areas of the county and roughly half of the city of Saratoga. This contract with the county would eliminate the need for a headquarters station by providing an administrative building which houses an extensive fire-prevention bureau.
County Fire would also provide a dedicated training facility, dispatch center and a fire engine service center. If the fire district were to contract with the county, we definitely would support a bond measure calling for a smaller project.
Local 3875 believes that by using its current budget, the Saratoga Fire District would increase its level of service and provide a safer work environment for its employees by contracting with the county fire department.
Last week, several firefighters visited with 101 businesses in the downtown area and the Argonaut Shopping Center to discuss with them the advantages of contracting with the county. Their response was extremely positive. We are also asking for your support. Please contact the Saratoga Fire Board of Fire Commissioners and urge them to contract for services with the county.
If you have any question regarding these issues, please call us at 408.535.0244 or contact us on our website at www.Saratogafirefighters.com. Thank you.
Bill Morrison
Saratoga Firefighters Local 3875
Response time, cost should be considered
A recent engineering inspection of the Saratoga Village Fire Station determined that the building would collapse during a severe earthquake. It would be a catastrophe if the firefighters and the fire engines were trapped in the destroyed building when the community desperately needed them.
The well-publicized dispute between the Saratoga Fire District and the Saratoga Firefighters Union revolves around two issues: design details of the proposed station and which agency (the Saratoga Fire District or the Santa Clara County Fire District) will provide fire fighting services to central Saratoga.
The union and the fire district agree that the two issues can be separated. This should be done immediately to assure a March 2000 vote on the fire station bond.
The Saratoga Fire District and the county Fire District each protect about half of Saratoga. A formal mutual-aid agreement exists between the two districts. They have supported each other numerous times during emergencies. Both have furnished Saratoga with many years of good service.
We believe that the choice as to which district will provide fire fighting services to central Saratoga must be based on response time to reach the scene of an emergency and the annual cost to taxpayers.
Response time is critical for both fire and medical calls. There are many more medical emergencies in Saratoga than fires. A person suffering a bad heart attack must receive medical assistance within five minutes to improve his or her chance of survival. Typically, the fire department paramedic is the first person on the scene of such an emergency.
The Saratoga Fire District is about to solicit bids for a consultant to review fire-fighting services in Saratoga. This study should include Saratoga fire protection needs, evaluation of the response times of the two alternative agencies (including response time for a second engine company when the first one is already at a call), evaluation of competitive costs to the taxpayer for the two agencies and a summary of the experience of adjacent cities.
Furthermore, the consultant must have free access to both fire districts and to the Firefighters Union.
We urge the public to express an opinion on this very important issue.
Stan Bogosian
Mayor Pro-Tem, City of Saratoga
Frank Lemmon
Chairman, Public Safety Commission, City of Saratoga
Clarification
In the news story in the Oct. 28 issue of the Saratoga News about the Planning Commission's approval of use permits for communications companies to install antennas in several locations in Saratoga, we said that Bert Martel spoke in opposition to the project, noting negative health effects of the antennas for nearby residents of the Odd Fellows Home. Martel takes issue with that interpretation, saying that he did not say there were negative health effects, but rather suggested that emissions should be monitored.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
