Town plans to spruce things up with beautification month

By Gloria I. Wang

Springtime in Los Gatos, already considered a beautiful season, is about to get better.

The town is coordinating a series of events and programs in April for "Keep Los Gatos Beautiful Month." Most are volunteer opportunities for the community that will improve landscaping and the environment in public spaces.

A cleanup of Los Gatos High School is scheduled for April 20, and an Arbor Day celebration at Oak Meadow Park is to take place April 26. Booths staffed by local environmental organizations will be at every Los Gatos Farmers Market, and the Los Gatos Senior Center is giving away seeds on Earth Day. Along with those activities, the town is pushing its graffiti abatement and adopt-a-park program.

The Los Gatos High School Interact and Rotary clubs, both community service organizations, plan to be at the high school from 8:30 a.m. to noon on April 20. Their activities include pulling weeds, planting flowers, painting garbage cans and washing windows.

Volunteers are needed for that event, as well as the adopt-a-park program. Although the town does not yet have a program in place, members of the community are welcome to help clean up local parks.

According to Mary Gillespie-Greenberg, Los Gatos Parks and Public Works Department's administrative analyst, participants in adopt-a-park can be a group of citizens who walk together on a regular basis and offer to pick up litter on their route or people who want to plant additional landscaping in the parks.

Gillespie-Greenberg is also looking for community members to help with cleaning up Los Gatos trails and footpaths.

Los Gatos Community Services Director Regina Falkner says the town had gotten requests in the past to do some kind of event on Earth Day. What was planned for this year was a seed giveaway April 22 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Los Gatos Senior Center. That activity, coupled with the town's existing Arbor Day celebration, was the basis for the town to declare a beautification theme for the entire month.

The Arbor Day celebration, at 11 a.m. on April 26, consists of town officials participating in a tree planting ceremony at Oak Meadow Park. The town will celebrate its being named a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation for the 22nd time.

Graffiti abatement is not a new program but is included as part of "Keep Los Gatos Beautiful." The Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department asks anyone who has seen graffiti around town to report the incidents to the graffiti hotline at 408.354.6863.

"What we wanted to do was tie some of these things together with the emphasis on the environment," Falkner said. "We wanted to start out by enhancing what we've got."

As a result, the town asked various organizations to provide information booths at the weekly Farmers Market. The organizations--Santa Clara County Home Composting Education Program, Green Valley Disposal Company, Santa Clara County Recycling & Waste Reduction and Commission, and West Valley Clean Water Program--will provide materials giving the public tips on everyday use and conservation of the environment.

Falkner says the theme of "Keep Los Gatos Beautiful" is also meant to give the community a sense of pride.

Service organizations will also be working with the town to beautify the community. The local chapter of the Rainbow Girls--the Masonic Lodge's group for young women--will plant flowers at Oak Meadow Park.

The Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce's Beautification Committee and Baha'i Faith of Los Gatos will help out certain seniors in the community by cleaning up their back and front yards.

Linda Gallo, Los Gatos senior coordinator, says the town identified four seniors who needed help with sprucing up their properties but could not do it themselves. The town then contacted various service groups; Baha'i and the Beautification Committee responded. Representatives from the town will coordinate with those two organizations and the seniors to set dates and times for cleaning up.

Next April, Falkner says the town will try to expand on the goals and activities for the beautification of Los Gatos. One such new element would be including art by painting murals around town.

"I think this is something that the community will really embrace," Falkner said.

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