Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Letters

Now that O'Shea's is closed, there are some real problems

Last year, several residents made a lot of noise about O'Shea's Bar and Grill. We are one of the neighbors who supported O'Shea's right to be in business and expressed that we had no problems with it.

O'Shea's closed last September, much to our chagrin, but to the delight of a select few. We'd like to ask those few, how do you like it now that O'Shea's is a weed-growing eyesore, homeless camp and dump? Thank yourselves, 'cuz you turned a nice, respectable local gathering place into what it is today.

While there were a lot of people disappointed when O'Shea's went out of business last year, we're sure there are even more now.

Lynn and Robert Murphy
Los Gatos

Community opens its checkbooks to help others

I don't know the people of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, but I owe many of them thanks.

My name is Eric Rice, and I am training with the Leukemia Society of America's Team in Training to run the San Francisco Marathon. As part of my fundraising commitment, a close friend of mine whose father has leukemia sent my fundraising letter to her aunt, Monte Sereno resident Carol Blissard.

Ms. Blissard then did something extraordinary. She took the letter and went door to door, business to business around Los Gatos and Monte Sereno, collecting checks for the Leukemia Society.

Her fundraising prowess must be impressive because she collected more than $900 in contributions ranging from $5 to $100.

Even more impressive was the fact that people in your community opened their wallets to contribute to a cause to which they have only a remote, tangential connection--a neighbor soliciting funds for her niece 50 miles away, who's helping raise money for a friend.

The generosity of all those who contributed, the 28 individuals and couples, many of them Rose Avenue and Barry Lane residents, as well as the five businesses--Quality Cleaners, The Sweet Water Stores, Los Gatos Camera Center, Asian Man Records and Kirk and Bob's Drive-In Pharmacy--speaks well of the community. Your contributions will help find a cure for an illness that strikes an estimated 102,000 every year and kills 56,000. Many thanks.

Eric Rice
Pacifica

New sheriff faces many challenges

The voters of Clara County will soon have the opportunity to cast their ballot for the position of sheriff; they must vote for the candidate best qualified to fill that position.

The department has a budget exceeding $150,000,000. In addition, the Sheriff's Department has been given the task of administering the Department of Corrections. This may be a much greater task than we can envision due to past politics and the demand by the corrections officers for the right to carry sidearms and eventually receive pay equal to that of sheriff's deputies.

One problem the public may not be aware of is the loss, in the near future, of experienced personnel in the Sheriff's Department due to attrition and retirement. The average age of our deputies is around the mid-40s.

What it all boils down to is the new sheriff will be facing lots of challenges and monstrous administrative problems.

Of all the candidate's, we have only one, Capt. Brian Beck, who has had experience working and being in charge of every major division within the Sheriff's Department. Please take the time to read the candidates statement in the voter pamphlet, and I feel confident you will join me June 2 and cast your vote for Capt. Brian Beck.

Egon Jenson
Los Gatos

Golf course should be considered on its own merits

I am writing this letter as a resident of the Santa Cruz Mountains first and as a golfer second. My family and I have been living, hiking, mountain biking and enjoying these mountains for many years. We are happy here and have no desire to leave. As a mountain resident, I get much of the local news and views from the Los Gatos Weekly-Times and the Mountain Network News.

I am in favor of the proposed golf course on Bear Creek Road. I like to golf and I want my kids to be able to golf in the most beautiful setting around.

It seems to me that the majority of letters published, usually drawn along environmental or sociological lines, are against the golf course. Many of these arguments seem to be more emotional than rational. Going ahead with a golf course does not mean that logging will become rampant. Lexington Reservoir will not become a bare, lifeless crater. The hillside will not become covered with tract housing, nor will it become the enclave of a "privileged few."

Wildfires will not break out, nor will an epidemic of carbon monoxide poisoning.

We're talking about a golf course, not a strip mall, prison or multiplex cinema. Golf courses, when done properly, are beautiful, environmentally friendly and, yes, fun. Golf course design and management has evolved, especially in the last decade, with an eye toward the environment, maintaining the character of the surrounding landscape and its topography.

Let's not condemn the golf course based on perceived problems or "what ifs." We all live on top of perhaps the most active series of fault lines in the northern hemisphere, after all. The mountains presently support, have supported and will continue to support thousands of families, schools, services, grange halls, ball fields, vineyards and businesses. The mountains can support a golf course.

I have two final points to make. I am not in favor of logging or housing developments. These must be perceived as they are--separate from golf course construction. Going ahead with the latter does not mean that the former will become a reality. Finally, there must be no windmills or colored lights.

Terry Delaney
Los Gatos

State goes back to stealing from local communities

Again, the state is trying to steal from the city and county governments? In an effort to demonstrate that he will reduce taxes, Gov. Wilson is expected to sign away the vehicle license tax, one of the last vestiges of revenue specifically directed to local governments. The vehicle license tax was enhanced to compensate for the budgetary shortfalls that were the result of lower property tax allocated by Proposition 13, and to provide revenue for vital public safety and health services.

In the last five years and with the advent of Proposition 98, the state has continually "borrowed" more money from local property taxes to pay schools and state budget shortfalls. In the last three years the economy has risen due to a more business-friendly legislature. Local governments, through the League of California Cities, have petitioned the state to return revenues that were unfairly appropriated from them to meet the shortfalls from our previous recession. The cry was "Return to us what is rightfully ours!"

Now the legislature, through a bill authored by Republican Assemblyman Tom McClintock and supported by the governor and some local legislators, has decided to gut and eventually end the vehicle license tax. Cities are now crying, "Foul!" This is not the state's money to give away. It is a local revenue source for local governments.

In Monte Sereno, a city that is wholly residential and has no retail-sales tax revenue, this action woud be devastating. This sum, 15 percent of our total operating budget, could result in the increase to our citizens of the police assessment to its maximum, the raising of permitting and building fees, the reduction of our six-member staff and the depletion of our emergency reserves. Other larger cities in our county will lose millions of dollars!

The front page article in Wednesday's and Thursday's Mercury News reported two polls by Republican consultants, among others, showing that the majority of voters rank education funding a priority and that repealing this vehicle tax "was not important at all." The Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group was also quoted as saying that instead of a tax cut, "they are willing to invest in education."

California cities have taken the brunt of funding state expenditures with the siphoning of our property taxes, state unfunded mandates, the skimming of local sales taxes and now the elimination of the vehicle license tax. What is more important here: lower license fees that most people (66 percent) are unaware of or a better educated, safer community?

Suzanne E. Jackson
Mayor, City of Monte Sereno

Not everyone wants to be an athlete

Los Gatos High School is about to destroy something wonderful, timeless and beautiful in our town--the 4-H Farm, which is located behind the old Cub Scout building "Never Never Land."

In its place the high school wants to put in an all-purpose field. Just what the town needs.

The 4-H kids have housed their animals--pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and a ewe--on this farm for years. The 4-H club has helped the Santa Clara County Fair by providing its biggest draw, the animals. The 4-H club also provides a guide-dog program for Santa Clara County in which teens raise dogs for the blind.

The animals [housed in the pens] soon will be homeless. We have no other facility to house them. We feel the town doesn't even know this is happening. The school is trying to keep this a secret from the community until it is a done deal. We are asking the community to please support the 4-H kids.

Not all high school students are involved in athletics. Some, like my daughter, want to be veterinarians, agriculturists, farmers or botanists. Help us by showing your support. Call the school board. Call Dr. Rani, or Ted Simonson or both.

In the May 5 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, there was a lovely article about the garden at Daves Avenue School. The teachers there say, "It is not just a garden, it influences and nourishes the souls of our children." "Today our lives are so busy, this gives the children time to be who they are and develops a sense of self."

Liorad Linda Levenson
Los Gatos

Why do solicitors at grocery store have to be 'in your face'?

I'm running ragged. After a long day, typically an hour behind schedule, I stop at the local Safeway to pick up something to throw together for dinner. I have my mother waiting in the car, and I'm praying she won't figure out how to unlock the door and wander off while I'm doing my whirlwind shopping.

I limit myself to nine items in order to get through the checkout line quickly. Juggling the bags and my purse, I head to the car, only to be stopped for the umpteenth time by some guy in a white suit who wants me to give him money.

Sometimes I stop and rummage around for a dollar; sometimes I walk to the car, acting as though he doesn't exist.

Today, the annoying entreaty connects with something primitive in me. I drop my bags and my purse and let him have it. "Who are you? Who do you work for? Do you have any literature? No? I'm sick and tired of being accosted every time I come here. Is there an office close by that I can call?"

The man quotes me a phone number and says he works for "The Soldiers for Christ," and replants himself in front of the store exit door.

I am still angry when I get home. I try the phone number, and no one answers. I call information, and there's no San Jose listing for the "Soldiers for Christ." I call the store and get some poor assistant manager on the phone. "Oh, they're legal," he tells me. "The town has issued them a license to solicit, and there's nothing we can do about it. Believe me, I get calls from customers all the time." He's obviously as sick of the situation as I am.

If I owned that business, and unwanted solicitors were driving away customers and there was nothing I could do about it, I'd be fit to be tied. I'm all for outfits who try to help the planet and the people who live on it.

What I do object to is being preyed upon when I'm buying groceries. Why don't they sit at a table and let me come to them if I'm interested? Why don't they hand out some literature so I can see what percentage of my money is actually going to help people? Shouldn't there be some rules of behavior for these groups?

I call the town. There is nothing they can do, either. Apparently if the Girl Scouts and the Lions Club can solicit, so can anyone else with a license. OK. But shouldn't store owners have a say about who gets to use their premises?

I find it outrageous that there is no recourse for businesses. I am advised to write my councilmembers. I shall.

Granting the license to solicit? No problem, if the cause is legitimate and legal. Offering the freedom to occupy any commercial spot in town no matter how negatively a particular business is impacted or how strongly the business owner objects? Absolutely not.

Sharman Bacigalupi
Los Gatos

Turn on path leads to the diplomatic corps

Last summer, I was financially unable to attend the United States-China Youth Summit with the People to People Ambassadors as originally planned, but my sponsors were kind enough to allow me to learn more about positively impacting the world around me by continuing to support me in a recent endeavor.

As one of 430 participants at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Defense, Intelligence and Diplomacy, I gained special insight on such activities as the development of an international defense policy and military and/or foreign service career and the actual day-to-day experience of individuals already in these fields.

I spent six days with some of the brightest, most talented and ambitious people in our generation, and I am confident to say that the future of our nation is in wonderfully capable hands.

I met with other students from around the country to learn about similar career interests in foreign policy and national security; visited such places as the National War College, where they train the best and brightest from all the armed services to work together, and Quantico, the U.S.Marine Corps headquarters for development, training and education; and heard a wide range of speakers deliver messages.

I was encouraged by such people as special agents for the U.S. Secret Service and FBI, Navy S.E.A.L.s, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps and the former and current directors of the CIA--just to name a few. I made many friends who will be my future colleagues. One of them will be attending the Air Force Academy in the fall, and her career goal is to fly F-22s; many of my group members are planning to join the ROTC for one of the specific armed services when they enter college. It was refreshing for me to be surrounded by individuals who desire to learn discipline in order that they may serve our nation to the fullest of their ability.

Here in the Silicon Valley, we are focused more on achieving white-collared professions, forgetting that the rest of the nation may not be like our community. So many opportunities are available to us that may not be the "practical" occupations we are used to, yet it is our responsibility to search for those forks in the road that may take us down a nontraditional path.

I wanted to take this opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to those individuals who helped make my experience like no other: Armon Mills (The Business Journal), the Southern Lumber Company, Don Arnaudo, Michael Destro, Bob Jih, Ted and Jennifer Chang, Bob and Fran Lowry, the Bidermann family, the Panacy family, T-An Cheng, the Swab and Raether families, the Berwald family, LD Hirschklau, Sherry Benz, the Burt family, Bill Hoeft, Howard and Masako Shishido and the Cushing family.

I appreciate their community spirit, generous monetary contributions and emotional support. Without them, young leaders such as myself would only have a heart to serve but still lack the wisdom, experience and knowledge to lead effectively and positively.

As an alumnus of this program, my responsibility is to nominate future attendees. I would like to encourage anyone who is interested in a career in the military, foreign service, or intelligence sectors of our nation's government and will be a senior or junior in high school next year, to contact me to discuss the possibility of future participation in this program.

Angel Cheng
Los Gatos High School senior
halo47@hotmail.com

It's time to go back and do our freeways right

I've had it.

One branch of my family has been in California since circa 1939. With pride they watched our state advance until it became a very nice place to live. As of circa 1940 a population of approximately 8 million had adequate service for everyone. We had the finest road system in the nation. Our combined gas and electric rates were the lowest in the country.

True, we did have a misplaced real estate venture named Los Angeles that did have adequate services. "Importees" from the "hay belt" would brag about what they had in "L.A."

Now after about 50 years of growth to about 30 million, we seem to have a mess.

For example, we have Highway 17 over the mountain to Santa Cruz. The highway we built handled pre-WWII traffic nicely at its design speed of 45 mph. Now we expect the same highway to handle traffic counts far in excess of the design capacity at speeds up to...?

We almost got Highway 17 upgraded to freeway standards, but people shouted, "We don't want to become another Los Angeles."

When Highway 85 was in the planning stage, we had a chance to improve part of Highway 17. Now we have, among other things, the double weave between 17 and 85 and Lark Avenue. Someday one of us is going to get wiped out doing the double weave. I was surprised when our leaders didn't insist that Highway 85 be depressed under Los Gatos Creek.

Our local road system was adequate for 1940 traffic but obviously needed upgrading to handle growth. In a bond election on Jan. 6, 1961, funds were approved to start building a local, access-controlled, grade-separated expressways system. The 1961 funds were used to buy right of way and construct the first stage of the system. When the first stage of the system was completed, the plan was abandoned because newcomers who couldn't see what was going on said, "We've had enough. We don't want to become another Los Angeles."

At an earlier time, we had trouble with railroads and other monopolies. Under the guidance of one of our leaders, Hiram Johnson, we established a railroad commission. The commission established standards of operation and fixed rates. The rates were to be based on a fair return on the investment. Everything went well until our utilities, because of growth, were required to build additional facilities using inflated dollars to meet inflated costs. The place where the new people came from had the same old cheap system. Our rates changed from the lowest to the highest. Now we have deregulation that doesn't look like it is going to work.

Recently we hear a discussion about bicycle safety on Los Gatos Boulevard. No one seems concerned about how to get from Lark Avenue to Samaritan Boulevard on a bicycle. With the 85 project southbound Los Gatos Boulevard was upgraded, but the northbound side was compromised.

In passing, Los Angeles isn't its right name. Newcomers changed that.

Wouldn't it be nice if our leaders said, "Wha hoppa? Maybe we should go back a few years and pick up the pieces."

It isn't nice to complain while you freeload on someone else's providence.

Ed Steffani
Monte Sereno

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