Saratoga News

Letters & Opinions

Council responsible for stone pillar debacle

The Saratoga City Council has faced some tough decisions in recent months: to sell or not to sell the North Campus; what to do with Kevin Moran Park; whether or not to allow a Starbucks and then a Subway in the Village.

This week they're at it again. The council will talk about what to do with the controversial stone pillars that are part of the Gateway Project on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road near Prospect Road. Will they stay up, or will they come down?

But there's another question residents need to ask the council: How did we get to this point in the first place?

It's clear that the pillars--four waist-high monoliths followed by nine of similar design that stand 9 feet tall--must come down. Community response to the design has been overwhelmingly negative. But the demolition will negate $33,000 of the total project cost of $2.88 million that came from Caltrans ($2 million) and the Valley Transportation Authority ($88,000). Plus, it will cost additional funds to remove the pillars and move forward with landscaping in the medians.

The Gateway Project is nearing completion, and it's important that residents get a design they are pleased and comfortable with. But the responsibility for this bungled project has to rest with someone, and the city must learn a lesson from this failed effort. The council members must be more prudent with the public's money if they hope to maintain the trust of the residents they serve. They must be more diligent in determining whether or not to approve a project in the planning stages. How can the community trust the council's approval of changes to Kevin Moran Park when this project turned out the way it did.

Someone needs to be held responsible for this debacle, and in this case the buck stops with the city council. And we're talking about an awful lot of bucks.