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Letters
Concerned citizens brought issue back
Thank you to all the concerned citizens who brought the funding issue of the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley to the forefront. Thank you also to the members of the Town Council who clarified the nuances of the budget approval and appeal processes and who agreed to look at the issue further.
The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley funding issue has been put on the Sept. 20 agenda. The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley provides rescue and rehabilitation services to the entire Santa Clara County community, but in order to operate, they need contributions from all the cities whose areas they serve. Los Gatos needs to contribute its fair share.
Everyone who is concerned about this extremely important community issue is invited to continue writing the council and to attend the meeting on Sept. 20.
Freddy Howell
Owner, Wild Bird Center
AT&T/TCI are acting like the town bullies
AT&T/TCI and KICU-36 are planning to force a move of KCAT, Los Gatos Cable Channel 6, on Sept. 22. The action will result in KCAT being moved to some other slot in the AT&T/TCI lineup. Repeated attempts to contact AT&T/TCI and KICU, as far back as November 1998, by local government officials have been met with silence.
The AT&T/TCI position is that they must grant KICU the channel slot under the "must carry" federal statute. Stated in the cable franchise agreement with the town of Los Gatos, KCAT will occupy channel 6. AT&T/TCI spokesman Eddie Garcia told me that the franchise agreement was overridden by federal law. AT&T/TCI appears to have no appreciation for the effect this move would have on the local community.
KICU is up for sale. The AT&T/TCI corporate venue is to cluster "like content" programming around the same general channel slots. If KICU takes over channel 6, and is sold, say, to a media provider of food or home-improvement programming, the new provider will be moved again to the appropriate space on the channel lineup. KCAT will have moved for nothing.
Channel 6 is a prime location on the dial. KCAT has been there since 1983 and serves the local communities of Los Gatos and Monte Sereno with commitment and quality. The Christmas Parade, Los Gatos High School graduations, candidate forums and programs like Los Gatos Then and Now are supreme examples of the direct connection to the community by KCAT.
I urge each citizen of Los Gatos to voice his or her disapproval of the move of KCAT and to support its lawful place on Channel 6.
AT&T/TCI and KICU do not like being referred to as "bullies," but that is, in fact, the way they are acting.
Chuck Catania
Los Gatos
TCI could help KCAT improve its programming
The Los Gatos Weekly-Times editorial support of public-access channel KCAT-6 in its battle with TCI Cable is very much appreciated. It was disappointing, however, that neither the editorial nor cartoonist Steven DeCinzo acknowledged the already popular (as indicated by enthusiastic letters to KCAT) Classic Arts Showcase (CAS) which KCAT has been telecasting for the past several months, a change which you enthusiastically supported in a May 19 editorial.
I have to side with DeCinzo in that I think that too much time is given to repetitious public service announcements when that time could be used to show more of the CAS transmission, which is available 24 hours per day but aired by KCAT only during a portion of the day.
Viewers who enjoy CAS should let both KCAT (20 High School Court, Los Gatos, 95030) and TCI (Cecilia Dodge, Customer Relations, 3450 Garrett Dr., Santa Clara, 95054) know.
Although the Classic Arts Showcase download or "feed" is available free to TCI, our cable provider has been indifferent to numerous requests to provide this excellent foundation-supported channel on one of TCI's channels. Time magazine highly recommended this commercial-free channel in January.
Viewing it in Los Gatos became possible only by KCAT's picking up the satellite signal and rebroadcasting it. How infuriating and disappointing then to read that TCI spokesman Andrew Johnson (a person I have written to and tried to telephone, unsuccessfully, to obtain better programming on TCI--including carrying CAS on a separate channel) had arrogantly stated: "Perhaps their passions would be better-quality programming than fighting us on federal must-carry law."
Mr. Johnson and TCI could help us with this "better-quality programming" by downloading stereo Classic Arts Showcase with their equipment (I have instructions) which would cost them nothing as it is free, and would be a big improvement over KCAT's monaural transmission, the best KCAT can do with its present equipment.
When AT&T and TCI merged in l998 the Mercury News reported a "promised shift in customer-service standards ... one of ... TCI's greatest weaknesses." Here is a great opportunity for Mr. Johnson and TCI to fulfill that promise.
Don McCleve
Monte Sereno
Wildlife center gets a chance to be heard
The Town Council of Los Gatos has agreed to include at its Sept. 20 meeting the question of funding to help the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. This center is a nonprofit organization that has been taking care of injured and orphaned wildlife from [many areas, including] the Los Gatos area. It will be terrible if these creatures from Los Gatos have no chance of survival because of the lack of funding from the town.
Our society needs to learn to live with and care for these creatures because it is also their earth. Without funding, the Wildlife Center cannot care for these creatures properly. I hope everyone who is interested in this issue join us on Sept. 20 to let the council know that the environment and injured and orphaned wildlife are still important.
The Murray Family
Los Gatos
Show of support would be helpful
I am very pleased to hear that the Town Council agreed to put the funding request of the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley on the agenda for the Sept. 20 meeting.
The Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley is the only rehabilitation and release facility in our area since the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley discontinued those services. Not only does the center provide residents and businesses of Los Gatos with wildlife rehabilitation services, it also works in many of our local schools, educating students on the wildlife indigenous to our community. The organization also help solve pest problems with humane and safe techniques.
I encourage community members to attend the upcoming Town Council meeting in a show of support for the Wildlife Center.
Patricia Curtis
Owner, The Backyard Bird Feeder
Los Gatos
Fence helped allow serving beer and wine
Yolanda Mauras writes that the Fiesta de Artes was, in her opinion, neither good nor great. I disagree. As I understand it, her complaints were that it was too hot; the Fiesta is enclosed by a fence; visitors didn't buy anything; and that "there could have been a better plan to make this show successful."
How can someone plan the weather or make people buy things they don't want? If we want to serve beer and wine, it must be consumed on the premises; the fence makes this easier to ensure.
Speaking as a Kiwanis host for the past three Fiestas who was not involved in planning this year's event, I think it was an outstanding success. To me, the Fiesta is a show of the town's community spirit, a town party, and a fundraiser for all the charities, scholarships and constructive projects that Kiwanis of Los Gatos sponsors throughout the year.
As far as I know, we have never had a problem attracting top-quality artists and vendors, and, based on my conversations with vendors over several years, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Ms. Mauras again next year after all.
Alastair Dallas
Los Gatos
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
