 |
|
|
|
Firefighter Beau Rahn greets passersby at Celebrate Saratoga! This was the beginning of an effort by union firefighters to spread the word of their wish to merge with the county.
The Year in Review 2000
April - June 2000
By Kara Chambers
April
The council began a roundtable discussion on how to revitalize the city's sleepy business districts. Among the suggestions was forming a redevelopment agency to fix the "blight" in Saratoga. The council decided to go ahead with Gateway improvements planned for Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.
The city gave septic tank-bound property owners until Aug. 21, to submit a report showing their tanks were in working order and over 200 feet from the nearest public sewer line. Those whose tanks satisfied both conditions could qualify for a five-year extension of the conversion requirement. The city passed the septic-to-sewer conversion ordinance in 1999, as part of a settlement with local environmental groups over ongoing pollution in Saratoga Creek.
The city council gave its approval to proceed with several short-term repairs to the city's community and senior centers, including heating and air conditioning repairs, reroofing and enlarging the customer counter area.
D-day for two 100-year-old eucalyptus trees on the Saratoga School grounds approached. As the district prepared to make a decision on which of the two giants would come down as part of school construction, tree-lovers made last-ditch efforts to get the school district to reopen negotiations.
Saratoga's voters approved Measure F, a $6 million bond measure for a new fire station, in a special election on April 11. Eighty-eight percent of the 2,367 votes were in favor of a new firehouse.
By a 4 to 1 vote, the city council extended a moratorium on commercial to residential land conversions until December, so that voters could vote on the issue in the November election. Councilman Nick Streit opposed the moratorium, intended to preserve the remaining commercial space in Saratoga, saying it was placing the blame for Saratoga's sluggish commercial district on residential developments.
The first draft of the SFD's level of service study that it had hired a consultant to prepare was made available on April 4, to members of the study's committee, but not to SFD union firefighters. The report was highly anticipated by the firefighters, who want the SFD to merge with the county fire department. When the SFD commissioners did not act on the union firefighters' wishes to merge with the county fire department in September 1999, the firefighters agreed to support a bond measure for a new fire station if a study was done.
Saratoga's city council awarded $75,000 of the $95,000 it received in a settlement with AT&T to the Saratoga Community Access Cable Television Foundation (a.k.a. KSAR). The remainder of the money, which was awarded because AT&T bumped KSAR from Channel 6 to 15, went toward attorney fees.
For a while it looked as if the Heritage Orchard had become the default site for whatever recreational project needed in the city. With a little input from citizens, however, the city council decided the orchard should stay an orchard. Here 2-year-old Charlotte Bony helped welcome spring among the trees.
May
The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce asked the city council to reinstate a contract, which had lapsed in 1997, and increase the fee the city pays the Chamber for tourist and visitor information services from $3,344 to $10,000. Also, the city allocated $100,000 in its budget for economic revitalization, part of which was to go to an economic development coordinator that the city would hire.
Cathleen Boyer, former deputy town clerk for Los Gatos became Saratoga's new city clerk.
The parks and recreation commission voted to recommend that $10,000 from the city's general fund be spent on a professional poll of Saratogans, asking whether they would consider using any part of the Heritage Orchard for other recreational uses.
The Saratoga Union School District board decided to cut down one of two 100-year-old eucalyptus trees at Saratoga School on May 3, seemingly ending a 2-year debate over whether the trees should be left standing for their intrinsic value, or cut down to make a larger playfield and for safety reasons.
Activists and city officials were shocked at the action, since the city held a cooperation agreement with the SUSD, promising that the tree would not be cut down without a public meeting first. President of the district, Stephanie Petrossi, called the failure to inform the city an "unintentional oversight." SUSD superintendent Mary Gardner sent a letter of apology to the city and later apologized in person at a council meeting.
Saso Herb Gardens owners, Louis and Virginia Saso, decided to retire and leave their beloved home and herb gardens after 38 years in Saratoga, to be closer to their children and have less property to care for. The gardens, one of the most varied collections of herbs for cooking, decorating and medicine in California, had become a landmark in Saratoga and beyond.
Saratoga High School senior, Lancy Chiu, apparently took her own life with an overdose of sleeping medication on May 6. On May 22, Jean Toombs, longtime Los Gatos resident and health aide at Redwood Middle School in Saratoga, also apparently took her life, after suffering many years from mental illness.
SFD union firefighters were unhappy that they were not allowed to see the first draft of the level of service study that the SFD administration had commissioned and received in April. SFD commission chair Bob Egan said the report was not public and was full of inaccuracies, and would be subject to misinterpretation if handed out to the public. On May 25, Egan, upset with how the study was going since the consultants had compared the FSD with the county department, asked that the public (firefighters) and the Saratoga News leave a meeting during a discussion of the study. Egan said the consultants were not supposed to compare the two departments.
Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Liana Riley, 5, and Margot Kenter, 4, carefully watch for their instructor's cue for the next part of the dance. Students were preparing for a June recital. They take lessons at Saratoga-based dance school On Your Toes.
June
One hundred parents gathered at Saratoga High School in the wake of the suicide of SHS senior Lancy Chiu, who died on May 6. The point of the meeting was to give parents an opportunity to talk about the suicide and also to practice talking about the tough and often silent issue with their teenage children.
Recent talk concerning use of the Heritage Orchard as a recreational facility spurred residents to action. Sixteen residents spoke at a council meeting, imploring the council to preserve the orchard as is. Mayor Stan Bogosian said he believed that the postage-paid, tear-out survey on using the Heritage Orchard in the spring issue of the city's newsletter was the cause for the large turnout.
The planning commission approved a plan to enlarge and upgrade the three-court Saratoga Tennis Club on Komina Avenue, despite complaints from neighbors that the enlargement would cause a parking problem. Neighbors wanted the club to create more off-street parking for members, who, neighbors said, routinely park on Komina Avenue.
Seven cities, which contracted with the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley for animal services, agreed on June 7, to approach their respective city councils with a plan of their own--a joint powers authority-- to take over the duties when the society stops providing the services.
The council approved its two-year budget, and in doing so, postponed any decision on whether or not to increase the fee it pays the Chamber for visitor services to $10,000 from $3,344. The Chamber had asked for the increase in May. The city decided to allocate only $3,444 in the budget for services, but to discuss increasing the fee at a later time.
2000: The Year in Review
January - March 2000
July - September 2000
October - December 2000
|
|
|
|
Saratoga, California Since 1955
