Our family lives on Scully Avenue, our two kids play soccer in both AYSO and CYSA leagues, and I have been coaching soccer with AYSO for several years. We are therefore equally concerned about the lifestyle in our neighborhood as well as the physical development of our and many other kids in Saratoga.

We completely agree that Kevin Moran Park is underutilized and more sport facilities should be added. We do not agree at all that full-size soccer (or lacrosse) fields be introduced at KMP.

KMP does not have the access or parking infrastructure that Congress Springs Park has, and therefore the traffic impact on the neighborhood will be unbearable.

Furthermore, soccer and lacrosse balls will be kicked or thrown at high speed, far away from the field, potentially causing harm to kids/families playing in adjacent areas.

The location and physical space limitation of KMP do not allow for an adequate, safe sport facility.

It is exciting to see so many of our kids playing sports in Saratoga, and AYSO Saratoga teams accomplishing such great results when playing against our neighboring cities. To further expand Saratoga's passion for soccer, the city and AYSO deserve a much better soccer infrastructure than a compromised, overly expensive and limited facility that can be carved out of a neighborhood park.

Let's use the limited city funds to build a proper, state-of-the-art sports center in a more suitable location like Saratoga's Central Park and let's rejuvenate KMP with high-utilization and low-impact sports facilities like basketball, tennis or bocce balls courts.

The KMP neighborhood proposal, which also includes half-size soccer practice fields, offers an ideal utilization of the park.

Enzo Signore

Scully Avenue

Memoirs' director
slights Hakone

A full theater of new and old friends saw Memoirs of a Geisha on Nov. 17. Some scenes in this film were shot at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. The director, in his opening comments, cited recent national recognition and indicated that the 90-year-old gardens were "five years young ... assuming that nothing memorable had happened at the gardens until the last five years." In making this comment he insulted the many volunteers and professionals who have contributed to the gardens for over 20 years.

To set the record straight, here are some of the many significant events that occurred prior to the last five years:

* building the bamboo garden ... with significant Muko-shi contributions;

* updating the water filter system ... to clarify, the "strolling-pond-hillside-garden" water;

* opening the gift shop;

* many Japanese festivals and events, for young and old;

* establishing and training a docent corps, by the first "head" of Saratoga's Sister City;

* extensive trimming and the addition of some new trees;

* building the unique and authentic Cultural Exchange Center, dedicated in 1990;

* hosting of "Japanese artists in residence" for cross-cultural contributions;

* developing educational and cross-cultural activities, including formal tea ceremonies;

* implementing a management program that started "event rentals" ... as an income stream.

We hope this letter will serve to apologize for the director's badly chosen comments and publicly thank the many volunteers and craftsmen, as well as the horticultural, cultural and architectural experts, from both sides of the Pacific, who have contributed significant energy and money to the enhancement Saratoga's treasured gardens.

Donald B. Miller

Past chairman of the Board of Trustees
Hakone Gardens

Soccer group letting
task force do its job

Though I was not at the Kevin Moran Park Task Force meeting Dec. 13, I understand that one of your reporters spoke to one of our parents from CYSA after the meeting. I believe he asked the parent why there weren't more user group people in attendance at the meeting, compared to neighbors.

The answer to this is that we understand the task force to be a small group set up to do a job more effectively than could be done by a large group. We always have at least a couple people at the meetings to help with any questions our user group representatives might need answers to. However, we respect the task force and the process, and don't believe this was intended to be the venue for continual public interruption and disruption.

The challenge for the task force is to figure out how to best meet the needs of the community. Kevin Moran Park is one of the largest parks in our city, at approximately 10 acres. A responsible plan should include consideration of the needs of our adults, including neighbors living near the park, and the needs of our children. We naturally plan for playgrounds in parks to meet the needs of younger children and for walking paths or meditation gardens for adults. But our older children and teens tend to be forgotten in this city, or feared.

These are the kids participating in organized sports. They need flat grass. Not a "sports complex" as many neighbors continue to put forward (what a luxury that would be!). City of Saratoga staff have extensively researched the availability of and need for flat grass and shown that the need far exceeds what is available.

We wouldn't think of having a park without play equipment for tots, but heaven forbid we consider providing useful space for older kids. My kids certainly feel like second-class citizens. All they have ever heard from their "neighbors" in Saratoga is "play someplace else" or "why can't you play at ... "

Kevin Moran Park offers the citizens of Saratoga an opportunity to demonstrate their support for one of the most valuable resources in our community: our children. While the neighbors have made it abundantly clear that they believe this park should be their own private playground, I have confidence that the rest of Saratoga will make rational decisions about how to best use our very scarce shared resources.

Laura Watkins

Montewood Drive

Park could look like
Congress Springs

I am writing regarding Kevin Moran Park. I live near and often drive past Congress Springs Park, which in 2001 underwent a renovation motivated by the same issues that Kevin Moran Park is now facing.

I am writing to make sure that neighbors and sports proponents, the responsible commissions and Saratoga officials working on Kevin Moran Park are made aware of the problems of Congress Springs Park, to ensure that work done on Kevin Moran Park reflects the lessons of Congress Springs Park.

I've lived near Congress Springs Park for over 10 years. I drive past frequently, and for a year prior to the 2001 renovations, I worked near enough to eat lunches there. It was a very pretty place, though perhaps not optimal for playing sports. In fact, a $600,000 plan was approved to upgrade the fields, which turned into $1.2 million and then increased further to approach $2 million.

So, what are the problems with Congress Springs? I literally have never seen a park's appearance look as bad as Congress Springs does in winter. How bad? Please take a few minutes and go see the park now, in mid-December, if you can. For anyone who can't get there, I've made arrangements for pictures I took there on Feb. 6 and 8 of this year to be posted, un-retouched, on the Internet at snipurl.com/kvz7 and have also given them to the Saratoga News. If you think it looks awful now, there are months ahead for it to get worse.

In December 2001, seeing the turf "die" for the first time, I emailed my concerns to the Parks and Recreation Commission. The response was that the specific Bermuda grass chosen by the agronomist to meet the "wear and tear of soccer" turns yellow in winter but comes back.

Well, true enough, it doesn't die--the turf survives and eventually manages a sick yellow-green in summer that contrasts strongly with the healthy green turf nearer the sidewalk. And the problems are not merely appearances. The fields are out of commission enough that there is a nice official "Fields Closed Today" sign that gets a lot of use.

I think that anyone who is considering adding fields to Saratoga parks would be well advised to visit Congress Springs Park this winter. If renovations are to be undertaken, neighbors should at least be assured that they will end up with a park that looks like a park, rather than something like Congress Springs that looks like a sports field part of the year and an eyesore for the rest.

And, if there is some way to meet the needs of long-wearing sports usage with reasonable year-round appearance, and if there is extra money left over after Kevin Moran Park, could we consider applying that approach to Congress Springs, too? I have memories from 2001 of kids playing in a park that was beautiful year-round. Wouldn't it be nice to give it back to them?

Joel Mattox

Chalet Lane

Creek is becoming
a drainage ditch

I learned from some Santa Clara County Water District workers that there are plans to create a roadway on Rodeo Creek, including the portion behind the homes on Saraglen Drive. Approximately 2 inches of rock will be placed on the right of way (both in Saratoga and in San Jose) so that large trucks can pass without problems during wet weather. However, the ground adjacent to the creek in Saratoga (south of Prospect to Highway 85) is so compacted, that little soft mud occurs in the winter to impede truck access. Thus, I believe that placement of this rock is unnecessary as well as unsightly.

In addition, such actions by the water district are contrary to what our neighborhood was promised. When Highway 85 was constructed, Rodeo Creek was widened and dredged to keep the highway from flooding. We were shown plans of a pastoral space, preserving most all of the trees, and keeping a natural curvature to the creek. The creek would be lined with large rocks held by mesh, but vegetation would grow that would hide the ugly meshwork.

None of the above has occurred. Nearly every tree was destroyed by large equipment when the creek was dredged in 1994, and the creek was completely straightened. Little vegetation is growing on the sides of the creek to hide the rock. New trees were planted, but they often are inexpertly pruned and damaged by both the water district and PG&E. For example, last year the tree behind our house had all the branches on the bank side completely removed, so that it is a one-sided tree!

Rodeo Creek showed little potential for flooding even in its narrow, shallow pre-1994 days. During the torrential rains of February 1982, the creek did not fill. Currently, I've never seen the dredged creek even half full during the winter.

Now, the creek bank will become essentially a gravel rock road; our neighborhood was not informed, and has no opportunity for comment. When we purchased our property, we thought we were living next to a creek. However, it seems that we are left with a drainage ditch and a road. I am sure there must be less costly and more aesthetically pleasing solutions than this.

Joanne Cornbleet

Saraglen Drive

Remembering a past
city employee

I write this letter as a former employee of the city of Saratoga who knew Todd Argow while he was employed by the city in the 1980s. Many employees and residents who knew Todd may not know of his untimely death last month at the age of 53. According to newspaper articles, Todd was shot in Riverside by police officers after they had been called in connection with a domestic violence report. It is believed that Todd's shooting may have been a case of "suicide by police."

The brief news articles about the manner of his death may seem like just another sordid story of the type we read all too often. They explain little about the person Todd had become. But when Todd was in Saratoga he could be a kind and compassionate man. Once he told me he had only one goal in life--to leave the world a little better than he had found it.

Todd left Saratoga about 14 years ago to work in South Gate. I believe he wanted to go to southern California to be near his mother, who was in poor health. When she died, he apparently had no other relatives. Todd was very successful in South Gate, and after three years he became city manager of Hawthorne. But things did not work out for him there, and he was let go in 1998. It seems he did not work regularly in the field of city administration after that, although he did do consulting. He also remained active in an organization that was very important to him personally, the American Society for Public Administration. In fact, he became president of ASPA in 1998-99. But the tenuous threads connecting him to his chosen field began to unravel, and he was not able to find another suitable position after he left Hawthorne.

Many residents do not know how precarious the career of a city administrator can be. Much of one's time is spent on a tightrope between the competing interests of citizens, staff and city council. One's job usually depends on just three people--a majority of the city council. Some can survive an adverse decision of those three people and go on to a successful career. During my time at Saratoga, Wayne Dernetz did so, and after him, Harry Peacock. But things might have been very different for them, or for any of us, no matter how well educated, dedicated and competent. Politics and the tide of events can cause a person to lose control of his life.

In whatever state Todd's life was at the end, that is not the sum total of his worth. I remember him as a good, friendly, enthusiastic man. Whatever struggles he went through, they are now over. May he rest in peace.

Betsy Cory

Chula Vista