Los Gatos Weekly-Times

EDITORIALS

Don't be buffaloed

Historical Preservation Commissioner Kathy Morgan summed it up well when she said of the Buffalo Trading Co. building: "It ain't pretty, but it's a real building. It's a part of our past."

Historical architecture doesn't always conform to contemporary aesthetic standards, but it reminds us that the present is but a link between the future and the past. Even a building that is a patchwork of styles educates us that Los Gatos was not always a wealthy community, but a town in which ingenuity carried the day when resources were scarce. It reminds us of what life was like before mass production and mechanization.

Unlike the valley's other communities, Los Gatos has character because it has preserved some of its traditional architecture. It must continue to be vigilant against creeping erosion of this heritage. Disneyland reproductions of traditional structures are no substitute for the real thing.

The edifice may not be as old as it looks or as quaint as its name, reminiscent of a trading post along a dusty trail of the old west, might imply.

But even if it's been there just 70 years, that's seven decades in the life of a century-old town.

The Historical Preservation Committee's vote was 3-2 in favor of preservation, with two members of the Planning Commission opposed.

Developer Dave Flick hopes the Planning Commission will see things his way. His offer: In return for the Buffalo Trading Co., he'll restore the historic Pucinelli house on College Avenue as well as the adjacent Soda Works building. Flick argues that unless he restores the Soda Works, the decrepit old structure will soon collapse and fall into the street.

The combined retail and residential structure Flick proposes on the site of the Buffalo building and adjacent vacant property is a massive structure, suggestive of the old Los Gatos Hotel that was destroyed by a fire. The Planning Commission will likely send him back to the drawing board over its scale.

With a little creativity and willingness to compromise, Flick can find a way to preserve Main Street's streetscape and create a financially viable project. He should take up the challenge.

Online Public Access

New technology is always a mixed blessing. As soon as people get an inkling of what the new gadget can do, expectations rise. How soon after the introduction of the fax machine was everyone expected to have one? It wasn't long after we grew accustomed to leaving messages on telephone answering machines that we became annoyed when we called and didn't reach an answering machine.

Nothing has made expectations accelerate like the computer. Except the addition of the Internet. We've come to expect instant access to information. But that ignores the cost of equipment and training.

The town is beginning to hear from its residents that it ought to make all public documents available online. That's a lot to expect in a short turnaround.

But once the technology is there, the expectation naturally follows. It won't be long before local governments will be viewed as secretive unless they use the available technology to make public documents electronically accessible. The town should develop a sense of urgency about this goal.

Correction

The editorial in the July 31 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times incorrectly stated that the Town Council had rejected an appeal by Challenger School on its proposed new school near Hicks Road and Camden Avenue. The Planning Commission did turn down Challenger, but the school is appealing at the Sept. 16 council meeting.