Saratoga News
Letters & Opinions
Speak Out
North Campus property is
valuable park-like land
Saratoga has houses aplenty, but empty space is limited. The choice is a concrete jungle, or to enjoy that feeling of breaking free and seeing the sky meet the earth and soaring birds in unobstructed space.
The North Campus provides desperately needed open space as well as meeting areas. It is a lovely park-like piece of land that is easily accessible and will provide open area for all Saratogans to enjoy. Anyone who has attended events at the current Community Center or Senior Center knows that additional space is badly needed for children, youth, senior and community events. Selling the Prospect Avenue property will be a serious mistake, an error we citizens will regret for years to come.
The North Campus is the only remaining viable property that can meet our current needs and provide for future expansion.
Gloria Watson
Farwell Avenue
Parents demand that
children be challenged
Elaine Hocker's rancorous letter ("Teachers offering their opinions with liberal bias," April 19) would be funny if it didn't insult the intelligence of parents and students in the local community. To imply we are susceptible to indoctrination by "liberally biased" local teachers is to align us with the insular and curiously timid members of her ad hoc study group. And that's a frightening implication, indeed.
Like many parents in this community, Ms. Hocker, I demand that my children be challenged by the thoughts and opinions of their teachers, liberal, conservative or otherwise. I want them to be stimulated by dynamic, interesting, worldly and provocative classroom conversations. If I'm really fortunate, my kids are tutored by those with the courage to express their opinions and inspire my children to think differently, question, argue, agree, or better yet, to demonstrate similar courage by challenging these opinions. If I'm unlucky, they languish in boring classrooms, hostages of the uninspired rote teaching practices tailored solely to secure a coveted space for students in the country's so-called top universities.
Well, Ms. Hocker, I'm glad to hear that your efforts have yielded little success. By your own admission, even the media has ignored your cause. Could it be that your argument is jaded, boring and irrelevant? Perhaps it's just that your petulant whine of "liberal bias" has been unmasked for what it truly represents--an expression of fear. Fear of the progressive, intelligent, compassionate, curious and funny thinking that emerges in classroom discussions often ignited by a teacher's opinion. The kind of independent thinking our kids will need to prosper in this era of globalization. No need to protect my children from that, thank you very much!
I'm glad we don't need to waste energy on sinking the ill-advised efforts of your study group. Sounds like it self-destructed.
Jane Evans-Ryan
La Paoloma Avenue
Release of movie will
not lead to any riots
I would like to make a prediction: No heads are going to be chopped off because the Vatican is upset with the Da Vinci Code, the movie. I wonder, is this a cultural phenomena? Why don't Christians take to the streets when someone "disses" their religion?
I don't want to belabor the point, but it would seem in this politically correct world that taking artistic license with a major religion would cause a bit more of an uproar. Look at the Muslims: an innocuous cartoon in a Danish newspaper causes mayhem and death all over the world. The Christians simply call for a boycott of a major motion picture that would have us believe that Jesus Christ frolicked with Mary Magdalene.
Are Muslims just more religious than Christians? Murder, riots, mayhem and beheadings versus a boycott. What a comparison!
Dennis W. Farmer
El Camino Grande
Streit setting the
'record straight'
In early May, each household in Saratoga received a mailer regarding Measure J on this June's ballot.
In that mailer the citizens behind the "No on Measure J" took it upon themselves to print a 2002 quote of mine, plus my picture, that dealt with the purchase of the North Campus four years ago as if I was supporting their side of Measure J.
Nothing more could be farther from truth, and it's time to set the record straight.
First and foremost, only a desperate campaign would use a desperate measure of taking a 4-year-old quote out of context from the very person who signed the ballot measure for the "Yes on Measure J."
I voted to sell the North Campus because it's the only fiscally responsible choice of action.
In the four years the city has owned the North Campus, we have had only sufficient excess funds to make one of the four buildings safe, ADA approved and rentable for public functions. The city of Saratoga priorities should be its existing city hall, theater, senior center and parks and rec buildings and the very lifeblood of our city--its infrastructure, streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, storm drains and parks. Not a second campus we cannot afford.
I beg you, please do not listen to a desperate campaign that obviously will go to any lengths to mislead the citizens of Saratoga.
Nick Streit, councilman
City of Saratoga
City manager remains
neutral on the issues
A campaign flier with my name, photograph and an old newspaper quotation was sent out to Saratoga residents on the weekend of May 5 by the proponents for saving the North Campus.
I want to reiterate my pledge of neutrality on this issue and would like to discourage the use of my name, photograph and statements from any future campaign literature on either side of the issue.
Dave Anderson
City Manager
City of Saratoga
Numbers say to sell
the North Campus
I'm trying to figure out whether Saratoga should keep or sell the North Campus.
There's little financial information and analysis to tell me whether Saratoga can afford to retain the property. If it sells, the city will collect several million dollars, the interest on the money collected ($150,000-$240,000 per year at 6 percent), property tax revenue (probably in excess of $100,000 per year) and sales tax revenues for the Saratoga-based goods and services used by the buyers.
If the property is kept by the city, our financial reserves will not be replenished, the buildings will require renovation and earthquake safety retrofits, upkeep and maintenance ($100,00 per year), insurance and the excess administrative and labor cost of having two separate campuses.
We live in an earthquake zone, and in a city which has depleted financial resources. Saratoga has no significant business or industrial tax base and there are no fairy godmothers to grant our "wants." We can't make decisions based on wishes when wishes will not pay the bills and Proposition 13 constrains the city's ability to raise taxes. It's not sensible to spend down Saratoga's dwindling resources for North Campus facilities with the expectation that FEMA will bail us out in the event of a major earthquake, fire, epidemic or natural catastrophe. Mature common sense dictates Saratoga's need for financial reserves and the sale of the property meets that need.
If the proponents of retention are serious, they should form a nonprofit foundation, buy the property at fair market value and shoulder the financial burden of the North Campus.
Unless someone comes up with reliable credible numbers, which tell me that I'm entirely wrong, I will vote for Measure J.
Henry Kaplan
Sevilla Lane
Keep North Campus;
no new condos
I have personally inspected all the buildings on the old Grace Methodist Church property (North Campus). They seem to be, in my opinion, in very good condition. A few repairs in the classrooms such as replacement of countertop edge trim, painting of outside overhang and replacing several sink fixtures, plus a bit of paint touchup. Otherwise leave it as is.
A cost for handicap access for the toilets in one building could be simply fixed by replacing two doors on two stalls with one large door to make a twoholer. Get an opinion of a wheelchair user instead of an architect. I hear ridiculous estimates of $200,000. Frankly, probably $2,000 with a few volunteers is all that is needed. We do not need nine more condos.
Robert E. Wallace
Foothill Lane
With no more concerts,
teens need a place
As a resident of Saratoga, a member of the Saratoga Youth Commission and as a teenager, I've recently learned the Warner Hutton House Teen Center will no longer host concerts featuring local bands as it has been doing on weekend nights each month for the past two years. The reason I find this news upsetting is not because I was extremely attached to the Victorian architecture and beautiful garden, but because I know that for a few more nights each month, I will have to find alternative ways to occupy my time.
I mean it when I say that there is nothing for teenagers to do around here on weekend nights. Each weekend, I find myself resigned to the mundane choice of either watching a movie or driving 10 miles to In-N-Out Burger, praying that someone I know will be there.
The concerts at the Warner were perfect for teenagers like me who were tired of wasting money on gas by driving around just looking for something to do.
All right, so the average person over the age of 35 may consider the music to be a bunch of loud noise, and we may even secretly agree, but the Warner was more than that. It was there that I was allowed to hang out with my friends, relax and have fun. The room may have been small, the bands may have been off-key and the parking lot may have been too full, but none of that mattered. What mattered was it got me out of my house and having a good time without breaking any laws.
I understand it may be too late to save the Warner Hutton House, but maybe there is somewhere in this little city of ours that teenagers can claim and make our own. The teens are bored, and it's time something was done to change that.
Tami Maltiel
Saratoga Youth Commissioner
Yuba Court
