 |
|
|
|
|
Editorial
The political season gets an early kickoff
Although the heat has been remarkably absent, the calm around town bears witness that we have embarked upon the dog days of summer. It's August, the slowest, quietest news month of the year.
But summer's long days will soon be a warm memory as the community gets back to school, back to work and back to the business of participating in the political process.
In the next few months, Los Gatans can expect to see Diane Ogilvie's Main Street hotel before the Planning Commission for site and architecture approval. Annexation promises some heated debate, with the county seeking to unload county pockets in Los Gatos, the town somewhat ambivalent, but committed to doing "the right thing," and many in the county pockets vehemently opposed.
Mobile-home conversion is a topic that hasn't pushed a lot of hot buttons in the community yet, but the issue is fraught with pitfalls for the town, and the promise of dramatically increased density if and when the Los Gatos Mobile Home Park on Highway 9 becomes the housing development its owner hopes it will become. Everyone is threatening to sue, and the town is caught in the middle.
But of all the big issues coming before the town this fall, nothing will be as important or have such far-reaching implications as the general plan update.
That Joanne Rodgers and Larry Arzie have taken it upon themselves to organize a Sunday afternoon meeting to talk up community participation in the general plan process attests to the importance of this update for the future of the town. It also speaks to a perception--which may or may not be accurate--that the town is more interested in pushing an agenda than in listening to the wishes of its residents.
Both Arzie and Rodgers are members of the General Plan Task Force, which the town brought together to begin the process of gathering information about the community and its wishes for future development.
But both are concerned that, once the draft for the general plan update has been presented, residents will assume it's too late for farther participation.
Although the town intends to seek community participation in a series of public meetings prior to adoption, Arzie and Rodgers are probably correct in thinking that many residents need an extra push, that they need to understand the long-term implications of this plan-- the blueprint for growth for the community--before they'll realize that now is the time for them to get involved.
Anyone who's ready for an early start to the fall political season might want to drop in on the meeting. It's at 4 p.m., Aug. 8, at Larry Arzie's home, 18000 Overlook Road.
|
|
|
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
