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The Village shuttle program may be running again. At its meeting on May 4, the Saratoga City Council voted 5-0 to provide $7,000 from a contingency fund as the city's contribution to the summer shuttle program.
The shuttle takes concert-goers from the Village to Montalvo and back for free if they dine at a city restaurant or stay at a Saratoga hotel. The city supported the program last year at a cost of $21,000.
Because of the current budget crisis, the city has made it clear that it isn't in a position to fully fund the cost of the shuttle again this year. As a result, merchants in the Village have been meeting to raise money for the program. They have raised $2,700 and Montalvo has contributed $5,000 to the program.
"We plan to submit a grant request to the Saratoga Rotary for $5,000," said Bill Cooper, owner of the Bella Saratoga restaurant.
At the meeting, Karen Grellas, owner of Viaggio's restaurant, spoke on behalf of the merchants.
"We want customers to shop, dine and stay in Saratoga," she said. "The Village really came alive when the shuttle to Montalvo started operating. The town of Los Gatos has been inquiring about running a shuttle from Villa Montalvo."
Grellas said that if Saratoga fails to run a free shuttle to Montalvo during the summer, Los Gatos will.
Vice Mayor Norman Kline said that keeping the shuttle program would help the business climate in the Village.
"We've allotted no money to economic development in the current budget. This is a mechanism by which to push economic development," he said.
Last year, the shuttle started running in July, midway through the concert season. More than 600 concert-goers used the free shuttle.
Cooper said that the merchants are eager to have the shuttle up and running for the entire concert season this year. Montalvo's summer season begins on June 9.
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