We all agree: there are plenty of possible uses for Kevin Moran Park.

On Aug. 31, the Saratoga News published the following from Mary and Brian Robertson of Sculley Avenue:

"Picture this: Shade of over 100 various mature trees to sit under, read a book under, play hide and seek behind, build a fort under; the current grassy area to run, play volleyball, play catch, fly a kite, and, oh yes, have soccer practice; a tennis court, a large pathway for walking, a bocce ball court, a tot lot for those mothers with several young children, a specimen orchard/native plants to reflect the nature of our city's/valley's heritage roots and reflect the natural beauty of our city, a quiet reflective meditation area, a basketball court, picnic tables, chess tables, a par course, and, most importantly, a safe access for children going to and from Blue Hills Elementary School as well as Miller Middle School. Wow, that sounds like a park to fulfill many interests."

Saratoga Soccer supports this vision. Our vision is to expand the flat grass in the park so older kids can use the park, replacing the younger kids in our league that are currently practicing there. We have never been in favor of turning Kevin Moran Park into a special use park. Nor are we in favor of building a sports complex. Nor are we in favor of field lighting for night games. Nor are we in favor of eliminating existing uses of the park. Nor are we in favor of increasing traffic in the neighborhood. Nor are we in favor of many of the things that people in the neighborhood fear. There is much misinformation being spread by a handful of people in the city.

To try to clear this up, here is what Saratoga Soccer thinks: We are in favor of the responsible improvement of Kevin Moran park, including the expansion of the field space while preserving the character of the existing park and neighborhood. The city has the need. The city has the money in the form of a grant. The city has the space.

Today, there is a nearly dead orchard with about 75 old trees in a space where there were once over 500. This orchard was long ago abandoned. I would love to see this area renovated to include additional grass for volleyball, to run, to fly kites, to practice soccer, play bocce ball, play other field sports or just hanging out. The city should refresh and maintain a "specimen orchard" as a complement to the heritage orchard at the Saratoga Library. Tennis, better facilities for young children, a real basketball court, improved Par course, chess tables and meditation area, picnic tables and safe access to the Highway 85 pedestrian bridge are all things that I want to see at the park, too.

I would love to work with Mary and Brian to see their vision become a reality while supporting the needs of the thousands of kids in the city that play field sports. If we put our heads together it would be easy to get past the misinformation and develop a plan that meets everyone's needs.

Howard Miller

Regional Commissioner

Saratoga Soccer

No expansion needed
at Kevin Moran Park

I will be out of town and therefore unable to attend the next council meeting, but I do want to express my concerns over some of the proposed changes to Kevin Moran Park.

I had two sons who played soccer in both AYSO and CYSA. I also was a CYSA and AYSO soccer coach who spent a large amount of my time trying to find soccer fields to use for practice and games. (In my time CYSA coaches had to find their own game fields.) I think soccer is the best thing that ever happened to kids sports, but that doesn't mean it is the most important thing in the world.

Kevin Moran is a neighborhood park--it has always been envisioned to be and has always been a neighborhood park. It is for neighborhood use--not for sports and the traffic it brings.

It is for my wife and I to walk in the morning--not for 40 parents to drop their kids for a couple of hours while they go shopping.

It is for my grandchildren to play in the sand, fly kites, ride their tricycles and roll in the grass--not for me to worry about their safety with all of the traffic.

It is the passthrough for neighborhood kids going to Blue Hills safely without having to worry about the people that might be attracted to an expanded sports facility.

It would be great if it had a tennis court or a bocce court or a basketball court, if we need to grab the money from Uncle Sam. But I am OK with doing nothing--saving our portion of the funding for fixing potholes and letting Uncle Sam use his portion to help the victims of Katrina.

Gene Jones

Ladera Court

Small town filled with
people with small minds

Before I ran off to join the Navy to escape the draft (still wound up in Vietnam), I was born and raised in the little town of Sebastopol up in Sonoma County. It was a town very much like Saratoga except we did have a bowling alley (can't imagine something like that in Saratoga) and an A&W Root Beer Stand (ditto!).

My dad owned a couple of acres. I remember the time when there were a couple of trees on the property that he cut down. I remember him firing up the chain saw and going at it. We cut up the wood for the fireplace and tossed a match to the pile of brush that was left over. It wasn't much of a big deal then. His tree and his firewood and a nice big bonfire of brush. If I did that in Saratoga, I'd probably wind up in jail or with a severe fine, as trees in Saratoga don't belong to the homeowner and, goodness gracious, someone might smell smoke. Some neighbor would probably get high blood pressure.

I played football back in high school. Games were under the lights on Friday nights (kind of like the movie) and nearly the entire town would come down to watch. I read in the Saratoga paper where Saratoga played San Mateo under the lights ... in Los Gatos. I was there, along with a lot of other Saratogans. Saratogans in Los Gatos. To watch a Saratoga team play football. My point is we need lights on our new field. Except someone would probably get high blood pressure over the degradation of lifestyle in Saratoga. Can't have that, now can we?

Sebastopol didn't have walking trails. Didn't need them then as traffic was light and you could always walk the railroad tracks. Just like Saratoga except that the traffic isn't so light. I also read in the paper about the high blood pressure of those who live near the tracks just thinking about a paved path. A full-sized locomotive running down the track once or twice a day doesn't seem to bother them nor do the people who walk the tracks now. At least I didn't read about it being a problem. On the other hand, placing a 12-foot wide walkway so that walkers don't stumble over the rocks and debris along the track and you get outrage, threats of lawyers getting involved and ... high blood pressure.

I'd like to offer a compromise. Put the walkway between my house and Highway 9. I'm all for it. It may even save a life or two. Just last year someone was killed next to my home when a walkway may have prevented it from happening. Perhaps someone would stop for a chat as I'm working in my yard. That would be a bonus. Paved path? What a luxury!

What a shame that trees are more important than a homeowner's rights. What a shame that we have to travel to a neighboring town to watch our football team play under lights. What a shame that small towns bring out the smallness and stinginess in people. What a shame that people consider the park next door to be their own private park. And, just to let my age show, what a shame we have more people in the school band than on the football team? What's with that?

Saratoga should be a bigger place with bigger people!

I read all the time about people being offended about some odd thing or another. I'm offended too; by little people with little minds. As everyone has a right to never be offended, let's pass a city ordinance against small minds! Build the dang trail! Turn on the lights!

Dennis Farmer

El Camino Grande

People should not look
for opportunities to sue

I cannot tell you how saddened I was to read your article ("Woman sues after suffering injury in collision with skater," Sept. 7) about a woman injured at the Argonaut Safeway in an accident with an employee who was skating to work. Accidents are unfortunate things, and I am sorry to read that someone was hurt in this skating collision. It is a sad fact that occasional carelessness by a young person may result in harm to someone else. Were one of our sons to be involved in such an accident, we would require him to make amends to the injured party in some way, and would offer to cover reasonable medical expenses if any.

But for someone injured in an accident like this to decide to sue Safeway (which sadly appears to be abandoning their employee because he was not punched in), the shopping center and, most distressingly, the young person involved in the accident for millions of dollars in "damages" just turns my stomach.

In the world I want to live in, people do not look for opportunities to sue other people for ridiculous amounts over mistakes. They look for ways to make amends and to help others learn from their mistakes. This incident just looks like greed and malice, and I hope the injured party will rethink her decision to sue. What a sad day for Saratogans if this is what we've become.

Diane Reese

Blue Meadow Court

Lawsuit over local
accident is shameful

I just read the Sept. 7 article, "Woman sues after suffering injury," with shock and disgust. Shame on Ms. Pan, and shame on our legal system for encouraging lawsuits like these.

I have known the Weitsman family since Chris was 15. He was active in my son's Boy Scout troop. His brother was on our soccer team. I had the opportunity to watch his family encourage and challenge him, and teach us all to hold high expectations for him. As a result, he's turned out to be a young adult who worked for years at the movie theatre and now at the grocery store, he has many independent living skills and he is able to carry on charming and appropriate conversations with shoppers. He gets himself to work, and his parents work hard to encourage his independence.

Obviously, Chris made a judgment error when he rode too quickly through the shopping center. It is unfortunate that both he and Ms. Pan were hurt as a result. His family clearly responded by having Chris take responsibility for his mistake, and by teaching him lessons from the accident.

Our society has become far too fast to see minor incidents as potential legal gold mines. We've failed to take responsibility to be community for each other--to rejoice when one of our disabled children grows to be a hard-working young adult, to walk side-by-side with families like the Weitsmans as they raise their children and guide them into adulthood.

Debbie Lillo

Kristy Lane

Planning commission
ignores aborist report

Once again the planning commission has ignored the city-required arborist report and allowed a tree to be cut which the arborist determined "was worth preserving" ("One pine's fine but the other fails to gain approval from planning," Aug. 31).

I was involved in a similar dispute with the planning commission when a new house was built across from my house on Austin Way in 2000. The arborist report submitted by Barrie Coate on June 7, 2000, stated that "trees No. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 11 are exceptional specimens and must be retained at any cost and whatever procedures are needed to retain them in their current condition must be used." Of these six trees, two were cut down to clear a building site.

In addition Mr. Coate stated that "in my opinion the loss of coast live oak tree No. 5 is the most serious loss due to this construction design." He goes on to recommend moving the building site to preserve these trees. My neighbor and I both spoke before the commission to recommend the alternate building site.

The planning commission chose to ignore our suggestions and those of the city-appointed arborist and approved the plans as submitted. My question is, why does the city require an arborist report and then ignore it?

Tom Keeble

Austin Way

Task force should not include reps

My family and I live on Scully Avenue, just a few doors down from Kevin Moran Park. We have been in the neighborhood for the past five years. We have two kids (ages 13 and 16) who have grown up in this general neighborhood.

I understand the city is considering further development of Kevin Moran Park. First of all, I really don't understand why such development is necessary. This is a wonderful and quiet neighborhood park with plenty of trees, a children's playground, a jogging/walking path and a field.

Now, I understand that the city council is considering adding more soccer fields to the park. Why would the city council want to replace rolling grass and shady trees with flat grass fields?

Where does the city come up with these ideas? I certainly do not think the neighbors were ever asked or even the residents of Saratoga were asked. Our two kids grew up playing soccer so I appreciate the desire for the local soccer clubs to promote more soccer fields. But I thought this was a democracy--soccer is not the only interest of the entire community. I'm sure you can appreciate that people look to neighborhood parks for a lot more than just soccer.

On the subject of democracy, I understand that a task force has been formed to decide the future of the park consisting of the following membership:

* Three from the neighborhood

* Two citizens at large

* Two from soccer (1 CYSA, 1 AYSO)

* Two ad-hoc members

What doesn't make sense to me is why should two special interest groups representing soccer be part of this task force? Why is soccer getting such biased attention? If the city wants representation from athletic groups, I'm sure you can find coaches and volunteers for other sports as well.

I strongly urge the city council to reconsider the makeup of this task force to be balanced and unbiased. Special interest groups should not be permitted to be part of such groups.

Naresh Makhijani

Scully Avenue