Saratoga News
News
Saratoga Council rulespillars in the gateway are coming down
Trees will be planted to replace stonework
By Jason Sweeney
Stonehenge has stood for 4,000 years. Saratoga's stone monument lasted just a few months.
The 13 stone pillars that stand in the median on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road are to be torn down.
At its regular April 19 meeting, the Saratoga City Council voted 3-2 to take the pillars down and replace them with trees. The pillars are part of the Gateway Project, a $2.88 million beautification effort for Saratoga's Gateway District.
The pillars stand in the median that begins where Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road meets Prospect Road. Nine of the pillars are about 8 1/2 feet high. Four similarly designed pillars are about 4 1/2 feet high.
The city began receiving complaints about the massiveness and bulk of the pillars after they were erected earlier this winter. The city council decided to pull the pillars out, but public feedback compelled Mayor Norman Kline to put the issue on the agenda for discussion at a regular meeting of the city council.
Four options were discussed at the meeting, each adding costs to the $33,000 that has been spent on the pillars so far. The first option cost $5,795 and involved finishing the 13 columns as stand-alone structures and adding capstones on top. The second option cost $20,887 and involved constructing a wooden trellis on top of the nine larger columns. The third option cost $14,975 and involved removing all 13 pillars and replacing them with trees. The fourth option cost $19,767 and involved constructing a wooden trellis on top of the nine larger columns and removing the four smaller columns.
Several residents spoke during the public hearing. Three of the speakers identified themselves as being of Chinese descent--all stating that "feng shui" was not an issue for them regarding the pillars. Cynthia Chang, who had confirmed that some Saratoga residents were concerned about the negative feng shui of the columns, said, "First of all, I want to set the record straight. I'm not in favor of feng shui." Chang said her opposition to the pillars was because she would prefer a more natural and open look for the Gateway District.
After the meeting, Chang said she was happy those in favor of removing the pillars and those who wanted them to remain were both able to express their views openly. She said concerns about negative feng shui had been blown out of proportion. "I hope people will not see this issue as divisive and rather view it as an opportunity to promote a better understanding of each other."
In the hearings, Saratoga resident Nancy Leasia said, "I just want to say it is fiscally irresponsible to throw good money after bad. It's a done deal now, and they're here." She said tearing out the columns would amount to "sheer waste."
"I don't think they're very welcoming to visitors," Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith said. She compared putting a trellis on top of the pillars to putting lipstick on a pig. "To me, this is still going to be a pig."
Vice Mayor Aileen Kao went on the record stating feng shui had nothing to do with the council's decision on the columns. Both Kao and Councilman Nick Streit were in favor of modified plans that left most of the pillars in place. Streit said the project was approved in 2002 and he did not want to second-guess decisions made then.
The Gateway Project dates back to 2000, when the city took responsibility for Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road from Caltrans, which provided $2 million from the state of California for infrastructure improvements on the road. Another $880,000 was provided from a Valley Transportation Authority grant. The Gateway Task Force, a group of Saratoga residents and business owners, then developed a master plan for the Gateway Project.
According to a city report prepared by public works director John Cherbone: "The Gateway Task Force liked the idea of stand-alone columns without a trellis structure because it would differ from what other surrounding communities had in their medians. However, the final design of the columns, including height, width, number of columns and their shape was the project architect's vision of the direction received from the Task Force. There was no formal review of the final column design, which has led to uncertainty of what was approved."
Jack Mallory, who was on the Gateway Task Force, and Tracy Halgren, the chairwoman of the Arts Commission, confirmed their groups were not involved in the design of the columns.
"There was an enormous amount of work on this, but I don't think much on the pillars," Kline said. He said a gray area had been left in the plans for the median, leaving too much to the imagination of the architect. "We've got to take ownership of that mistake," he said.
"I take total ownership," King said. "I think we made a mistake." She said the pillars were only a small part of the Gateway Project budget, amounting to about 2 percent of the total. She said other aspects of the project, such as storm drains, sidewalks and enhanced crosswalks took up a larger portion of the expenses and are an improvement on what was there before.
In a motion that called for removing the pillars from the median and replacing them with trees, Kline, Waltonsmith and King voted in favor, while Kao and Streit voted against.
"I think the process was poorly managed by the city council," Mallory said after the decision. "But trees are nice. It isn't the strong statement that was expected for the Gateway, but I guess we can say it is an improvement. For that we can be thankful."
Ray Wallace, a 21-year Saratoga resident, was happy with the council vote. "My first impression of the pillars was that they were like a Maginot Line to keep people out. They're ugly as sin. It was never an issue of Chinese versus Caucasians. It was beauty versus ugly."
