Aaron Katz's diatribe (Sept. 15) about Lisa Toth's article about the West Valley­Mission bond measure is deceptive and inaccurate. Mr. Katz takes Ms. Toth to task for not "disclosing" various arguments he would like to make. However, it was a news article. It was balanced and fair and Ms. Toth is under no obligation to advocate against the bond issues, as Mr. Katz would have her do.

If Mr. Katz were truly concerned about full disclosure, he would have acknowledged that he is a former attorney who is now a landlord with rental properties throughout the college district. His concern is not about the democratic process or what is good for this community, it is with his own pocketbook.

Mr. Katz says the district "refuses" to use a utility tax rather than a bond measure to raise the needed revenue. The district's attorney, the county counsel and a board member who practiced educational law his entire career all said the law does not allow a school district to use a utility tax. Should our governing board have ignored those three opinions and taken the advice of a former attorney?

Why didn't Ms. Toth write that a majority of our students live outside the district, another Katz complaint? For an excellent reason: it is untrue. A majority of students live within our district.

Will seniors be impacted by this bond measure more than other residents, as Mr. Katz asserts? In a word, no. This bond measure does not differentiate among residents in any way based on age. Does he mean seniors are on fixed incomes and less able to pay? Again, the opposite is true. Seniors have generally owned homes longer and will pay much less because of their low Proposition 13 assessed valuations.

The letter from Mr. Katz asks why the article didn't explain why ongoing maintenance does not appear as a line item in our budget. Again, the answer is simple. Ongoing maintenance and capital improvements are both line items in our budgets and, with ongoing maintenance, our district matches state funds dollar for dollar. We have never failed to match all available state funds for maintenance because it would be financially irresponsible to lose those state monies.

I spent 2 ¹/2 hours over lunch with Mr. Katz discussing the proposed bond measure and the district's financial predicament. He acknowledged that he knows the district does in fact need the money the bond measure will produce and that the bond projects represent our highest priority educational needs. It is cynical, and worse than disingenuous, for Mr. Katz to now attack Ms. Toth's reporting as a pretext for making arguments against our bond measure.

I am a third-term trustee at West Valley­Mission. I am familiar with the district's finances and business operations, and I have been for many years. Two and a half years ago I opposed the district's bond measure, Measure E. Among other problems, it was overly large and poorly planned, in my opinion. The current bond, Measure H, is smaller, well planned and desperately needed.

Importantly, the district has permanently and honorably solved the WVC stadium conflict with Saratoga and its surrounding neighbors. I support Measure H wholeheartedly and I am confident that others will draw their own conclusions about Mr. Katz's arguments.

Jeffrey A. Schwartz

San Marcos Road

Schwartz's long letter
was not convincing

Mr. Schwartz's letter (Sept. 22)—560-plus words, almost twice the length of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address—reminded me of Winston Churchill's statement: He was sorry he had written such a long letter because he did not have time to write a short one. The Saratoga News requests that letters to the editor be limited to 300 words.

The voters of Saratoga must remember:

1—When money goes into the General Fund it can and will be used any way the powers that be want to use it at a particular time. Regardless of prior good intentions (with which the road to Hell is paved), there is no guarantee that this money will be used as the voters intended.

2—The city did not apply "due diligence" in the past, why will it in the future?

3—Mr. Schwartz, himself, supports that condition in his fifth paragraph when he states, "when there is not enough money, deferred maintenance is always one of the first cutbacks."

4—This tax is not deductible on Federal Income Tax.

It is not a good tax for the citizens of Saratoga.

Charles P. Shaw

Ravenwood Drive

Responding to the
negative campaign

I am responding to a letter regarding Ann Waltonsmith written by Sam Ochi and recently printed in the Saratoga News, my understanding is that Mr. Ochi is a supporter of Andrew Barnes. Mr. Ochi's negative comments are reflective of Mr. Barnes' entirely negative campaign. In the last election, Mr. Barnes ran for a city council seat and lost badly. This time he is running against Mayor Waltonsmith, the much-needed utility tax, and the city's North Campus. Mr. Barnes' platform is entirely oppositional, with no proposals for positive improvements or solutions. He has no public service platform or history of public service.

The campaign literature from Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao is clear, specific and positive, and presents solutions to problems rather than personal attacks. The North Campus is needed and wanted for youth and senior services. The utility tax money is needed for repairs of streets, bridges, and other public facilities and for supporting the increasing cost of safety services.

I will vote for Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao. I hope others will join me in voting for this team. I am confident that a negative political campaign devoid of a constructive platform will not be attractive to the politically astute citizens of our community.

Wanda Kownacki

Bainter Avenue

Board candidates should
have kids in local schools

Take a good look at the school board race. The Saratoga school board is made up of five members. A simple majority vote (three out of five) can pass school proposals like changes to school hours and difficult budget choices. We need school board members who are in tune with day-to-day school operation. We need school board members who have kids in the Saratoga K­8 schools.

John Waite has kids in Saratoga K-8 schools. He has listened to parents' input on issues like changes to school schedules that impact working parents. John has worked to find win-win solutions between school administration and parents. John is easy to communicate with. He responds readily to phone calls and emails. John is a talented and effective school board member.

Cindy Ruby does not have kids in Saratoga schools. Cindy does not feel the day-to-day impact school schedules and budget cuts have on families. Cindy's experience as a teacher tends to favor administration proposals over the needs of parents and students. The K-8 school budget was $250,000 short this year. The administration recommended a cut in funding for fourth and fifth grade teachers to balance the budget shortfall. The result is current fourth and fifth grade classes that have 34 students to one teacher instead of small class sizes of 25 to one.

Ken Schulz's background as a K-8 parent and financial manager are excellent qualifications. The school board needs parent leadership and people who can find better ways to balance difficult budget shortfalls.

I look forward to learning more about the candidates and supporting those school board candidates who feel firsthand the day-to-day impact changes in our schools have for students, teachers, and parents.

Corinne Vita

Wendy Lane

Celebrate diversity,
but also unity

Saratoga will be celebrating and learning about diversity in October thanks to the local Rotary [Building Bridges celebration through Oct. 10]. Learning about our community's diversity has a lot of merit but I was sent the following comment that may be a more appropriate emphasis today than only focusing on our diversity.

"We are not a particular race of people united by a common ethnic heritage, but a collection of all different races, colors and ethnicities bonded by a social compact that ensures we are all equals before God and under the law. It is not our diversity we should celebrate, but our unity."

Then I remembered our national motto, "E pluribus unum," and checked its definition on the Internet, which said it means "From many, one," or "Out of many, one." The article went on to say it means "the integration into one united country," and has taken on an additional meaning, given the pluralistic nature of American society from immigration. The motto was selected by the first committee at the beginning of the American Revolution.

After we celebrate diversity, could we celebrate our unity?

Jack Mallory

Kirkdale Drive

Community college district
needs to pass Measure H

Even with the recent tuition increase, California's community colleges are the best educational bargain in the United States. The community college system in California is also the largest higher education system in the world.

Unfortunately, California funds its community colleges 50th of the 50 states (and, by the way, the extra revenue from the recent tuition increase goes to the state and not back to the colleges).

In Mission and West Valley colleges we are fortunate to have two of the very best community colleges in the state here within our communities. However, both campuses are aging and the West Valley­Mission Community College District is the only district in the South Bay that has never passed a bond issue. That is why it is so important that we vote yes on Measure H, the district's bond measure on Nov. 2.

Kellie Raczkowski

Mission College Student Trustee, San Jose

Moran Park the wrong
place for more soccer

Rick Wong's letter (Sept. 22) failed to mention that Kevin Moran Park is already utilized five days a week for soccer practices. In fact, the existing field is split into two fields accommodating up to four teams of practice a day. At this point in time, around 39 percent of the under 10 category teams are practicing at this park.

Mr. Wong's assumption of stating nine players per team and then jumping to 12 players per team is incorrect. Per Howard Miller (AYSO Regional Commissioner) at the July 28 pubic meeting with the Kevin Moran Park Task Force, it was stated that the number of players per team is averaging around 16.

How can Mr. Wong even think that this neighborhood could support the addition of two more regulation size soccer fields? If the intended additional fields are split up as the current field is, that would allow anywhere from eight to 12 teams practicing here on a daily basis. With eight teams, that would bring the added traffic, not to mention noise, of at least 128 cars through the neighborhood on a daily basis. Kevin Moran Park is not connected to a main thoroughfare and cannot support the added traffic. We have children who not only utilize the park for play, but the streets as well since the current neighborhood traffic volume is reasonably low. Do we care about the safety of our children? You bet we do.

That leads me to another point mentioned in Mr. Wong's letter. Kevin Moran Park is a main avenue for children to pass through while proceeding to Blue Hills Elementary School. In fact, I believe it may be the only park in Saratoga utilized daily by children traveling both to and from an elementary school. In light of that, there should be no bathrooms in the park for the safety of our children. Bathrooms attract vagrants. It is a place for them to wash, relieve themselves, and hide.

Do you want that in your neighborhood park, Mr. Wong? Do you want 64 to 100-plus cars driving through your neighborhood on a daily basis? I don't think your neighborhood can support it and neither should ours. Nowadays, parents generally come in separate cars. Are you counting both parents Mr. Wong?

AYSO is already utilizing the following sites for practices and or games: Congress Springs Park with seven fields (closed to the general public for any use), specially built for AYSO; Argonaut School with four areas designated for use; Blue Hills school with two areas designated for use, Christie McAulliffe with two areas designated for use; Foothill elementary with two areas designated for use; Kevin Moran with two areas designated for use; Redwood Middle School with at least two fields designated for use; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with two areas designated for use; and West Valley Old Archery Range with two areas designated for use. That adds up to 25 areas that are utilized for practice and/or games. How many other cities give their AYSO this many fields, and keep looking for more parks to turn into soccer fields? Not any that I am aware of? They use the schools fields.

The AYSO players represent 3 percent of our population. Do the rest of us matter? There are seniors utilizing this park on a daily basis (some drive there and then do their laps). Children play in the park before and after school. Walkers and joggers frequent the park.

Kevin Moran Park is a neighborhood park utilized and enjoyed by the neighbors and any who may decide to frequent it. It is a lovely, serene park. In this go-go-go Silicon Valley environment, a serene place is a wonderful thing to escape to once and a while. What better place to do this than in a park that is not consumed by organized sports?

Peter Pranys

Saraglen Drive

Vote for candidates
with 'viable solutions'

To be honest, I admit that I like Andy Barnes. He's affable, charming and an "aw, shucks, let's have a glass of wine together" guy.

However, politically, I am concerned because Andy makes policy statements based on inadequate or erroneous information. Andy also tends to pose solutions to problems that have already been solved.

While I do not expect a city council candidate to know details of the "inner workings" of the city, I do expect him or her to be knowledgeable about issues on which he or she is campaigning. And at times, he seems to be out of touch with a majority of residents' concerns.

When Andy ran for Saratoga City Council two years ago, the same characteristics were evident; likeable and well meaning, but not well informed on issues central to his campaign.

To quote Andy, "I love this city." I am sure that the other city council candidates and we non-candidates of Saratoga feel the same way. However, that alone is not sufficient reason to campaign for a seat on the city council. Having viable solutions to our current and long term challenges needs to be the driving force.

Marcia Fariss

Saratoga Glen Place

North Campus is
costing too much

It is unfortunate that Vic Monia in his letter of Sept. 29 has only told us part of the story on the purchase of the North Campus. Along with my colleagues on the council, I voted to purchase the property, on the condition that the city would develop it for a senior center with the funds generated by a long-term lease of the current community center by the sheriff's office for a substation. Since the city obtained the property at a below market rate, I was confident that the city could get its money back, even in a down real estate market.

As council liaison to Senior Center, Mayor Ann Waltonsmith (council member at the time) was unable to make a convincing case to the membership of Senior Center. Once the arrangement failed, I asked my colleagues to either develop a viable plan for the use of the North Campus or sell it. That was more than two years ago, and to date no plan has surfaced. Instead, the property is currently costing the city more than $40,000 a year just to keep the lights on, the lawns mowed, and pay the water bills. Any Saratoga resident can drive by the North Campus, and at most see one or two vehicles (usually city maintenance trucks) in the parking lot.

"Land banking" may make sense for a private individual, but it is fiscally irresponsible for a city to deplete critical reserves in order to engage in it. Before we vote to tax ourselves and increase city coffers by a third, we need the city council to provide a financially viable plan for the property or sell it.

Stan Bogosian

Saratoga City Councilman

City council and staff
doing a wonderful job

I believe that Saratoga has been very fortunate this past decade to have had consistently visionary and dedicated leadership. This past decade has seen serious cuts in state funding and tax revenues. The city council, with the help of the professional city staff that it has hired and trained over that time period, has done a wonderful job of keeping the city running with minimal service cuts.

Indeed, the city has been running smoothly and members of the community remark on the way that the council and planning commission treat the public with respect. New procedures by the planning commission encourage neighbors to actually talk to each other before coming before the planning commission. (If you think this is funny, you should have seen some of the meetings I attended before this policy was in place.)

Saratoga needs to maintain its quality of city leadership in these unsettled times. Ann Waltonsmith has demonstrated a rare combination of leadership, dedication, and sensitivity to the needs of Saratoga. Aileen Kao also has a proven record of community service, leadership, and attention to the needs of Saratoga's citizens.

John Mehaffey

Former Saratoga Mayor, Paul Avenue

Supporting Kao
for city council

I have known Aileen Kao for many years. I worked with her when she was on the Saratoga Union School Board and I continued to work with her when she was on the Saratoga High School Site Council.

Aileen is extremely well qualified to be a city council member in Saratoga. She has been active in this community for many years. She is easy to work with and she respects all points of view. She is smart and focused and she brings an excellent management and business background to her volunteer efforts in community service.

Shirley Chen

Saratoga