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Letters
Parking should not be restricted just to residents
It seems to me that we are becoming inundated with requests from Los Gatans to reserve public street parking in front of their homes for their private use.
They don't like it when people park there to play in the park down the street, to shop at the store around the corner, to worship in the church next door, or to watch their children play soccer in the school yard.
These are the everyday activities of a normal community.
I, too, live on a street where people park in order to access an adjacent and very popular hiking trail. To request that they not use my street for parking would not even occur to me. For the most part, people who park near my home are courteous and respectful of my property.
Is anyone else interested in launching an initiative to prohibit restricted parking in Los Gatos, or working on a referendum to repeal any of the policies that are now in effect?
Trudy Esrey
Los Gatos
This town seems destined to become a city
I am writing about the project application under consideration for Hillbrook School. We live on the corner of Stonybrook and Kennedy roads and are on the direct route for parents bringing their children to Hillbrook School.
While I am pleased to note that a traffic counting monitor has been placed in front of my house, there is still the issue of the impact of additional traffic on Kennedy Road and traffic on all the small streets in this neighborhood, such as Marchmont, Topping and Englewood. This morning alone, at approximately 8 a.m., my friend, who lives on Kennedy Road, had to wait for 23 cars to pass before she could leave her driveway. This is already an unacceptable situation without allowing Hillbrook School to increase its enrollment now, or at any time in the future. I hope the council will not approve the expansion requested by Hillbrook School.
All one has to do is drive along Los Gatos Boulevard at almost any time of the day to realize this town is in serious trouble. I sat through two traffic lights at the Los Gatos Boulevard/Highway 9 intersection looking at cars backed up in all directions while I waited to make a left turn. I had plenty of time to think about the town of Los Gatos when we moved here 18 years ago and the "town" of Los Gatos as it is today.
Now that Los Gatos has strip malls, major chain department stores, houses on every possible square foot of dirt and traffic jams that produce gridlock, will we have to surrender the designation as a town that has been a source of pride in the past?
Is it too late? Do multiple houses have to appear on every lot that used to have an orchard? Will our children only know what an orchard is because of the pictures they can see in the Forbes Museum?
Can we not slow down the growth of Los Gatos to it will remain a "town"?
Jorja Silva
Los Gatos
Paid parking would negatively affect Methodist Church
I am writing on behalf of the Los Gatos United Methodist Church and our entire membership to express our concerns regarding the plan the town is considering to manage parking.
As we have been told, the plan is to establish a zone of roughly three blocks around downtown Los Gatos that will become all-paid parking. This proposal is to be implemented seven days a week from 10 a.m. to midnight.
This plan would have a major negative impact on our church for two reasons:
First, it is not reasonable to expect someone to pay $2 every Sunday to attend worship services. For many of our families, that would represent a significant burden. No one expects, nor should be forced, to pay for parking when going to religious services.
And second, our private parking lot, which is already very inadequate for our needs and is overloaded by a multiple of three or four every Sunday, would become an even greater target for people who are in the area on other than church business.
We have just embarked on a significant renovation campaign that is expected to improve our ability to serve the community needs in such areas as senior day care (Live Oak Adult Day Services), senior nutrition (Live Oak Nutrition Center which feeds needy seniors hot lunches five days a week), as well as our planned preschool. After having just reaffirmed our commitment to serve the downtown area of Los Gatos, to have this parking plan pushed through without a serious study of its impact on organizations such as ours is, frankly, unacceptable.
Tom C. Carson
Chair, Administrative Council
Los Gatos United Methodist Church
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
