We have seen very strong financial management from the city staff and council. They have been incredibly dedicated and frugal in tough economic times. An in-depth budget analysis done by a dedicated team found no reasonable alternative except a utility tax to correct the ever-widening gap between resources and city needs.

The team spent a lot of time and effort listening to our feedback and helped all of us understand their recommendation. All of us who live in Saratoga know what it is like to live in one of the best cities in this state or any other, but it will require more funds to keep Saratoga operating.

As a resident of Saratoga since 1976, I want the city to be able to provide the services and quality of life we want and should expect. That is why I am supporting Measure V.

Mark S. Linsky

Barksdale Court

Saratoga will be happy
to have North Campus

Recently the Saratoga City Council purchased, at below market price, the property currently known as the North Campus. It was a wise decision then and it continues to be a wise decision now.

The community and senior centers are "bursting at their seams" and the space that the North Campus offers is badly needed. Even though we must wait for our local economic picture to brighten before we can renovate and make full use of the facility, it will be well worth it.

Only city council candidates Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao support keeping the North Campus and developing it once funding is available. Once it is upgraded, all of us will be making use of the facility, and we will be happy that it is ours.

Huelling Su

Squirrel Hollow Lane

No football on West
Valley campus? Why?

Please say it isn't so, but I know it is. West Valley College football has to be played at Westmont High School? Is it me, or is this the stupidest thing you have ever heard? You want to know why? It's the NIMBYs at it again.

You make it sound like the 49ers are coming to town. What traffic problems are you complaining about anyway? There are more traffic problems with the nearby schools than a little football game. Don't you people have anything better to do? How can college football be banned?

This is unbelievable. Football has been played at this college for years and now because of who? I hope you are happy that you have inconvenienced a whole lot of people.

Did you think how it would affect the Westmont marching band? They need their field to practice their show. When things like this happen, it makes me ashamed to live in Saratoga.

I think if you want that peace and quiet, rural-like setting it was 50 years ago, I suggest you go move in a cave somewhere and leave the sports programs well enough alone. I can't wait to see what is next on the chopping block from you.

Kathy Smith

Paseo Flores

Attack on Waltonsmith
by Ochi was unfair

Mr. Ochi's personal attack (Letters, Sept. 15) on Mayor Ann Waltonsmith is unprecedented, unwarranted and factually inaccurate.

First, Mr. Ochi could have disclosed that he is Andrew Barnes' campaign manager and that Mr. Barnes is running against Ann Waltonsmith for the city council in November. Could that have anything to do with Mr. Ochi's highly personal attack?

Mr. Ochi criticizes city financial decisions over the last several years. Ann Waltonsmith has been mayor for less than a year and, as Mr. Ochi should know, the mayor presides over meetings but has no more power than the other four council members. How then is Ann Waltonsmith uniquely or primarily responsible for the city council decisions with which Mr. Ochi is upset? The purchase of the North Campus, for example, resulted from a motion by Stan Bogosian and a unanimous council vote.

Mr. Ochi's self-serving comments to the contrary, the utility tax is necessary simply because Saratoga receives less tax revenue per capita than almost any city in the Bay Area. With the state taking more and more money away from all cities, there is simply not enough money to perform preventive maintenance on our roads and infrastructure and keep up with the escalating cost of our law-enforcement contract with the sheriff. Mr. Ochi complains of the council approving a budget that is $300,000 in deficit, but he is or should be aware that is because the state reduced the city's revenue by $300,000 a few months ago and the city has not yet completed the corresponding budget cuts.

The picture of profligate city spending painted by Mr. Ochi could not be further from the truth. In the past three years, the city council has reduced the budget three times, cut city positions and decreased nonessential services. The council has been responsible and prudent but city revenues have decreased by $3.5 million over the last three years (almost all state "take-aways") and that trend cannot continue in a low-service city with a total budget of only $8.5 million per year.

It will be important to see whether Andrew Barnes disavows Mr. Ochi's ad hominem attack on Mayor Waltonsmith or whether this is the first salvo in a council campaign by Mr. Barnes that is going to be entirely negative. I hope that the former is correct.

Victor Monia

Granite Way

Kevin Moran's sister
researches park origin

I have been following the debate circling the further development of Kevin Moran Park. I am responding to the city of Saratoga's call for history.

I am Kevin's sister and felt that, within the family, we would have documents that would contribute factual information regarding the proposed master plan for Kevin's park. I had vague memories of the mention of tennis courts and bathrooms as part of the grand scheme for the park so many years ago when it was dedicated in 1971.

I made a few calls around the family, and was able to locate the file "Kevin's Park" in the attic of my sister's home. I will make copies of the newspaper clippings covering the initial development and dedication of the park and deliver them to the city as a form of historical records. Here are the highlights from my research:

1) It is referred to as a neighborhood park. 2) It was to be developed in phases with Phase 1 being what I think of as the current state of the park. 3) Phase 2 called for tennis courts in what is now the central meadow, but there was neighborhood concern that the meadow served a larger number of people than tennis courts. This resulted in the parks commission recommending "the tennis courts should be relocated so as to orient them toward Scully Avenue. This would further remove the courts from the Saraglen residents and provide a greater buffer." 4) There is unclear data that may suggest Phase 2 was abandoned officially. Obviously, it was never put into action. 5) No mention in the articles of bathrooms.

Lastly, going through the newspaper clippings related to Kevin stirred so many sad memories, but reminded me of what a hometown hero Kevin was. Thank you, Jerry Smith, a member of the Saratoga City Council at the time of Kevin's death, for leading the effort to dedicate the park to Kevin.

Sheila Moran Couch

Esterlee Avenue