Editorials

Local, regional needs must strike a balance

Lately Los Gatans seem to have a raised consciousness about grass-roots organizing and neighborhood coalitions. It's not as if neighborhoods haven't always had a voice in local decision-making, of course. But with prosperity driving development, there is genuine fear throughout the community that changes are coming that will destroy the uniqueness of Los Gatos.

That explains the flurry of interest in the specific plan for the North Forty, some 40 acres at the corner of Lark Avenue and Highway 85.

The Neighborhood Alliance, which made its first splash with a meeting that attracted some 100 people last August, has now named neighborhood team captains to further its aim of involving more of the community in the planning process.

So along comes a coalition of Silicon Valley organizations, spearheaded by the powerful Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, calling for cities to put housing development on the fast track.

The report recommends that housing developers should not have to come before cities as often as current regulations require. What's more, it suggests there should be limitations on the ability of neighborhood groups to derail projects.

Which leaves the question--is Los Gatos hopelessly out of step with regional thinking? Are Los Gatans selfishly turning their backs on the critical need for housing--especially affordable, high-density housing? Some 200,000 jobs have been created in the Silicon Valley since 1992, but between 1992 and September 1998, the valley has built only 38,000 new housing units.

Industry, which is represented by the Manufacturing Group, clearly has a vested interest in housing. Unless more housing--and particularly more affordable housing--can be created in the valley, the high-tech boom is going to backfire.

Developers complain that the process of tearing down once-desirable strip malls and replacing them with now-desirable housing requires a long and expensive process that involves rezoning. Meanwhile, city officials have to be wondering what's in it for them to rezone from commercial to residential when the current state tax distribution makes commercial development more profitable for cities than housing.

We do understand the need for housing; we understand the need is urgent, and the need is for high-density, affordable housing. But we also fear that cutting off public participation and sidestepping local regulations may well lead to the kind of hasty development that leads to the slums of tomorrow--a tomorrow when the Silicon Valley may no longer be the center of the universe.

The importance of regional planning should not be ignored, but neither should the value of local communities having a say in those things that affect their quality of life.

Photo: Sunrise Cleanup

For parents, youth soccer isn't just a game

Photo: Day of the Dead

Photo: Woodhaven West concert

Picture From the Past

Sports Briefs

Wildcats win cross country championships

Los Gatos football team defeats Palo Alto

Wildcats earn field hockey division championship

Kenny Heimer leads frosh-soph to win