Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Why we're giving you a 'heads up'

By Dale Bryant

A couple of readers grabbed my attention recently by responding to my oft-asked question: Why don't people get involved in the process early enough to have some real impact? More than a few times, I have reflected on these pages what seems to me a defining characteristic of the local political process: no one pays attention to important community issues until the 11th hour. Frequently, those who turn out at the last possible moment to protest an action by the Town Council or Planning Commission complain that "nobody told us" what was going on--as if the town, in complicity with the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, were trying to keep its activities a deep, dark secret.

I don't think the town is trying to keep local citizens out of the decision-making process, but then, I can't speak for the town. I can speak for the Weekly-Times, though, and I guarantee that keeping our readers in the dark is the last thing we want to do. The roar of lively debate at a Town Council or Planning Commission meeting is music to our ears.

In an effort to alert readers to meetings about community-wide issues, we add tags to the bottom of stories about upcoming meetings. Sometimes we preview council meetings in our Newsbriefs column, and many of our stories are about issues at upcoming meetings for which we provide the time and date. So I ask: What are we supposed to do? Hit people over the head?

The answer several readers gave me was: Yes.

People are busy, these readers told me. Too busy to go to meetings on a regular basis. Besides, they told me, many issues that come before the council or the town's various committees and commissions are of little interest to the majority of the community. Whether someone builds an addition to a house, for instance, is primarily of interest to immediate neighbors. No one else cares much unless the addition would mean a gargantuan building on a small lot, and then it's not so much the addition as the precedent it sets that interests the broader community.

We probably wouldn't write about a home addition unless we felt the story had a broader community impact. Still, we don't jump up and down and wave our hands and say: "Pay attention to this story; it has long-range implications; you should go to this meeting if you're concerned about oversized houses on small lots."

Maybe we should jump up and down and wave our hands, though.

And in the future, we're going to try to do just that.

We'll continue to tag stories with upcoming meetings, and we'll do it with more regularity. We'll also continue to be alert to important development issues when they first enter the town's planning process. This week, for instance, we're running a story about several proposals that went before the Conceptual Development Advisory Committee, including one by the Toll House to build a walkway over Main Street to proposed additional rooms.

This is a committee that often warns developers their ideas won't fly. Some developers choose not to go to the CDAC; others ignore the advice committee members give them. It is, after all, an advisory committee only. Still, it is the first step in the process, and we think that readers should know that a proposal as dramatic as this one is kicking around, even if it may go through many changes before it reaches the Planning Commission. Some readers might even have suggestions on the proposal that they would send along to the Planning Department or to our letters page.

We're also going to begin giving readers a "heads-up" to draw attention to important meetings. Since it's not so easy to jump up and down and wave our hands in print, we'll try to get your attention with a "Heads-Up" standing headline and bold type. We'll give you a very brief synopsis, including the larger implications, of the issue and tell you when and where the meeting is being held and how to get background information.

What do we hope to accomplish with our heads-up approach? Not simply more involvement, but more enlightened involvement. Too often, people stay away until months--sometimes--years of effort have gone into an issue before they show up, teeth bared, arms flying, exuding hostility. We'd like to see them show up earlier, armed with the facts and a commitment to constructive criticism. It would not only be more civilized, it might make a difference. It's not about winning or losing, after all; it's about making decisions that are right for Los Gatos for a long time to come.

Dale Bryant is editor of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.

Town Council meetings are held first and third Mondays at 7:30 p.m., and the Planning Commission meets on second and fourth Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Both meet in the Town Council Chambers, 110 E. Main St. Council and planning agendas are available no later than Friday at 5 p.m. the week before the meetings. Agendas can be picked up from the Town Clerk and are available to read in the library. Agendas and minutes are also posted on the Virtual Valley Community Network, an online service of Metro Publishing Inc., owner of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times.