Letters

Neighbors are opposed for good reason

We have lived on Placer Oaks Road for the last 14 years. During this time we have endured on almost a daily basis test driving of vehicles in an unsafe manner, trash dumping from employees who park on the street, blocked roadways from Swanson Ford using the public street as an extension of their facility to unload vehicles (maybe they should pay the town rent on this space), fumes from their paint booth, speeding cars driven by Swanson sales personnel, blaring loud speaker announcements, a facility that has to be the worst looking and most unkempt facility in all of Los Gatos and worst of all, the Swanson's family attitude.

Your article and Bruce Swanson's own words underscore why we are up in arms about their request to expand their facility.

One other aspect that was not covered in your article is that the proposed structure is HUGE. It would dwarf all surrounding buildings and bring a big box activity to one of the most critical intersections on the boulevard. To put a mega-size auto service center so close to residences is insane.

And finally, maybe Len Pacheco should design it. He would probably reconsider the use and put something there that would benefit the community, a consideration that the Swanson's don't seem to understand.

Lisa Kleissner
Los Gatos

Hillbrook teachers attended many training sessions

As one of the five teachers who left Hillbrook School last year (there have, in reality, been more teachers and staff who have left since the arrival of Sarah Bayne), I was surprised and distressed by the comments of Rob Dunne, Hillbrook's board president, in your recent article on the school.

Last year I found it very difficult to leave Hillbrook, a fine school that I loved very much. Of course, at the time I didn't know that I had already been marked for "demolition" since I had reached a certain age.

I also found it interesting to learn that the board felt that the faculty needed to be "updated" in our teaching skills.

In our years at Hillbrook many of us had attended educational conferences (which the school encouraged), voluntarily shared in professional growth meetings and actively requested training in technology and other areas. Also, our Hillbrook students did very well on entering high school.

As proof of our skills, all of us former Hillbrook teachers have gone on to teach quite successfully at other schools. (In fact, one administrator has enthusiastically raved about the teaching talent that has arrived from Hillbrook.) Despite Sarah Bayne's concerns, we veterans have entered the 21st century in fine form!

It saddens me that Hillbrook's board felt that we teachers were so expendable, a "natural" attrition in the face of change. Our longevity at the school was proof that we loved the place and were successful as teachers; our departure from Hillbrook should indicate, not that we could not change but rather, that something was intolerably wrong.

Joanne Walsh
Hillbrook teacher, 1982-1999

Council ignores concerns on Nina Court proposal

The Nina Court development proposal is spiraling out of control, but the town refuses to recognize this. The parcel of land in the 35-year-old Nuevo Mundo Development lacks sufficient street frontage for any more than one home, but the town council sits and watches as the developer tweaks plans and reaps the benefits from clearly pro-development interpretations of town building ordinances.

The developer has found a loophole that will allow it to build four homes by injecting a street into the narrowest section of the property. However, this street will entrap two homes on Pinta Court, and all but surround them with street frontage. The Nolan residence (123 Pinta Ct.) will have over 70 percent of its lot perimeter front a street. The Flood residence (131 Pinta Ct.) will have street frontage along the entire back property line (177 feet). Considering that these lots are in the area of 10,000 square feet, this is not insignificant.

On numerous occasions, the neighbors have attempted to work with the developer, proposing various two or three home layouts that are more suitable to the lot. The neighbors have been stonewalled each time.

One has to question who is working for whom here. It appears as the town council and its staff are favoring the developer, and not the people they were elected to represent.

Word of warning to those who live near undeveloped property; you may be next.

Ed Nolan
Los Gatos

Swanson proposal more appropriate for Stevens Creek

I want to thank the Los Gatos Weekly-Times for bringing the proposed Swanson Ford development to the attention of the rest of Los Gatos. The plan at Swanson Ford is to build a huge monolithic structure exactly like the ones up and down Stevens Creek Boulevard. This building is planned to cover almost the entire corner.

The current drawings show a building that in no way complies with the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan. The Ford architect told me that Ford would not be forced to comply with the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan.

They plan to put parking on the roof of their new structure. They plan to put light poles on top of that rooftop-parking area. This will produce a huge lit up parking lot as the focal point of the neighborhood with bright lights 40 feet or higher above the surrounding area.

Their plan to beautify the "Gateway to Los Gatos" is to put one of their Excursions on a pedestal at the corner. I am guessing that we will need to put up a sign at the intersection saying, "Welcome to Los Gatos land of the monster SUV".

Aside from the neighbors' concerns with the current operation of Swanson Ford this proposal heads us down a very bad path. Once a building like this goes in, I can see the rest of Los Gatos Boulevard turning into something exactly like Stevens Creek Boulevard in San Jose.

If an EIR is done for this project that is exactly what will have to be considered, more projects of this scale. We know what the EIR will say. We will see a higher volume of traffic and more noise.

This will destroy any hope for livable neighborhoods on this side of Los Gatos.

I hope the other residents of the town will help us prevent this out-of-scale and out-of-place development from rolling over us.

Marc Jensen
Los Gatos

Family takes issue with story in newspaper

True to form and certainly as expected by our family, the Los Gatos Weekly-Times has once again printed a malicious and inaccurate article about our father Brian Burnett. The employees and editors of the Weekly-Times obviously become so elated when they learn of a misfortune in our father's life that they forget what they were taught in their journalism courses.

Shame on you Nathan Huff for editorializing a newspaper article. When you shook your finger at our father and stated "you can run but you can't hide," we could see the self-satisfied smirk on your face.

Nobody could have read your article without picturing our father as a fugitive. The implications you made in your "adage" are ugly, hurtful and most importantly, untrue. Had you performed proper research, you would have found that Brian Burnett has neither run from nor hidden from his problems. He lives in Los Gatos, just a couple of miles away from your office.

And although it has been painful and embarrassing at times, he shops and dines in Los Gatos and in the surrounding area. What you think about our father is obvious. That you do not know him is also obvious.

Shame on you also editor Dale Bryant for allowing a factually inaccurate headline and article to be printed in your newspaper.

We expect thorough investigations and accurate reporting. Your newspaper fails in the area of accuracy, and we suggest that in the future you work harder to make sure the citizens of this community get a fair shake when the "freedom of the press" grabs hold.

Allow us to paint a more accurate picture of our father: Brian Burnett has lived in Los Gatos for nearly 35 years. He is a decent human being who is not only intelligent but who is also an extremely hard worker. He has been very successful and he deserved his success.

He has also made some mistakes, and he has lost big: family, friends, reputation and, least importantly, money. There are many that may say he deserves what he gets. We are aware of these people and they are entitled to their opinions. There are others who love Brian Burnett dearly and who pray for him every day. Those of us in the latter group expect an equally gleeful but completely accurate article reporting our father's success in his court case.

Kelly Hall, Gregory Burnett, Christi Burnett, Jill Burnett
Los Gatos

What value does the development bring to the town?

Does our town really need four more homes over a million dollars?

Dividend Homes of Santa Clara has been working to get approval from the town since December 1999 for a new subdivision in the midst of the 35-year old Nuevo Mundo subdivision. Their proposal calls for demolition of the 100-year old original home and removal of numerous trees; creation of a street on a hillside (to be deeded to the town upon completion) running parallel to the backyards of existing homes and exiting onto Pinta Court just below the crest of the hill; and creation of four building lots uphill of this street with the backyards looking down into the existing Via Santa Maria homes.

The neighbors have requested at every meeting that the developer work with them so that we can have responsible development. Dividend Homes continues to stand by their street and four home subdivision.

This proposal in my opinion is not responsible development of this irregularly-shaped hillside parcel surrounded by existing homes. It presents traffic safety issues and privacy issues. Streets front and back for existing homes on Pinta Court.

The question keeps coming to mind, "What benefit is this proposed subdivision to the existing community?"

The town council has a very, very serious decision to make on Sept.18.

Laverne Nolan
Los Gatos

Neighbors don't need more of same

We read with interest your article in the Aug. 30 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times about Paul Swanson Ford's construction proposal of a two-story garage for car storage. Your reporter was correct. Swanson Ford's neighbors are quite upset.

This proposal is an increase in building space from 9,000 square feet to 55,000 square feet. Yes, it will increase Swanson Ford's inventory. It will significantly increase the noise and paint fume pollution already endured by its neighbors.

Further, the impact on neighborhood parking by its growth in employees, which Bruce Swanson says "may park wherever they like," will be a nightmare for the community.

Presently, Swanson Ford has a chain-link fence 12 feet high with barbed wire on top resembling a prison yard. There is barbed wire rolled up between this fence and the neighbor's fence "to deter vandalism," they tell us.

Presently, they have a paint shop that spews fumes throughout the neighborhood and can be smelled three blocks away near Highway 17. This cannot be environmentally safe; however, Swanson Ford's new proposal does not address any changes in this problem.

Presently, they have delivery trucks double-parked weekly on Placer Oaks Street with their present inventory.

Does the town really believe we want five times more of the same?

Ada McDaniel
Los Gatos

Closing highway exit in town is an elitist attitude

I was dismayed to read that town council candidate Sandy Decker advocates closing the Highway 17 exit at S. Santa Cruz Avenue. There is hardly a town in this populated valley that doesn't have some extra traffic load going on with regard to surface streets when there is a freeway problem.

Why should Los Gatos be exempt from its fair share of dealing with valley traffic?

What if Campbell, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and San Jose all decided to close off freeway exits leading to local throughway streets just because they were inconvenienced with extra traffic during a freeway problem? Does Sandy believe that Los Gatos is still a restricted, little country town? Where has she been for the last 20 years?

Additionally, that exit has long stood as a friendly back gate for your mountain neighbors to travel to and from town. Our children are in the Los Gatos School Districts (Lexington School, Fisher and LGHS) and play on town sports teams. We go into town to buy gas, buy groceries, drop off our dry cleaning, see our doctors, buy general supplies, volunteer on local committees, and swim and exercise at town clubs. Some residents own local businesses.

Despite the local prejudice that your mountain neighbors live in ramshackle cabins and keep goats, we are actually now quite mainstreamed into the lifestyle and economy of Silicon Valley--and spend our money in town.

Closing this exit is slamming the gate in our face. It is also an elitist and rude gesture to mountain residents. Would Sandy next propose closing Highway 9 and Lark Avenue? Maybe she would like to see a wall erected so that only town zip-coded residents can enter?

For decades those of us in the mountains you so enjoy having as your lovely town backdrop have lived with the nightmare of summer Beach Traffic, tons of garbage tossed out of your cars onto our properties, speeding drivers on 25 mph roads trying to avoid the traffic on 17, and the unwanted pets you abandon. But do we petition the county to close off our roads to everyone but residents?

I hope Sandy will rethink her position on this issue. A more productive effort on her part might be to partner with organizations pushing to improve conditions on 17 so that we have fewer traffic problems.

Terry Clark
Aldercroft Heights

Correction

In the Aug. 30 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, the story about the planting of 2,000 daffodils and hyacynths on Sept. 17, a line providing information about where to get more information was dropped. To learn more about the Bloom-A-Thon, call Malaina, 408.353.4424 or email query to BAP1452@aol.com.

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