What I do take offense to is the way that Councilman Joe Pirzynski took statements made by my neighbor, her architect and myself and used our words against us to support his political agenda. My opening statement was misquoted, and the meaning of other statements were deliberately misinterpreted in his follow-up statements. The words of my neighbor and her architect were twisted into the opposite of their positive and complimentary intent. This was an extremely disrespectful way to treat citizens of the community who had the nerve to get up and speak their opinion in this forum.

For someone who has been quoted by your newspaper as saying, "I think it is important to be the eyes and the ears of the community," I wonder what is really being seen and heard, and I have no trust in this council member to deliver decisions based on the opinion of myself or my neighbors.

—Jill MacAfee, Los Gatos


Some town ordinances unnecessary

Recently, while in the University retail area, I witnessed a traffic officer scolding a shopper (who was not a Los Gatos resident) for having a "For Sale" sign in his driver-side rear window. The officer just warned the driver, though, and let him go on his way.

I wonder if this car owner will shop in Los Gatos again?

An ordinance banning "For Sale" signs in cars seems to be against First Amendment rights. Are there also ordinances against yard sale signs or other offers for sale, like real estate or the newspaper classifieds that show up on my doorstep with articles for sale? If not, why not? Isn't the principle the same?

As I remember the First Amendment, the right of free speech lets you pretty much say or print anything you want, even if it is viewed by some to be unpatriotic, obscene, even an offer for sale, etc.

So, where does the Los Gatos Town Council get off restricting what kind of signs or wording one can have in one's automobiles? What if I had a license plate that read 4SALE, or 4SAIL— would they issue a citation for this, too? Does a non­Los Gatos resident have a responsibility to know all unposted ordinances before entering the town? Perhaps the town council should read the Constitution one more time to understand what the First Amendment says, and get a life. But, alas, I forgot that it was just Los Gatos and its hundreds of pages of senseless ordinances, like the parking restriction on one parking space on Main Street.

—Bill Ferguson, Monte Sereno


Congratulations to town council winners

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mike Wasserman, Diane McNutt and Joe Pirzynski on their election to town council. The town will be in good hands under their leadership. I look forward to working with them in any way I can to continue to keep Los Gatos the beautiful community that it is.

I would also like to congratulate Barry Bakken on a race well run and welcome our new friendship. And finally, I would like to thank all of those who supported me, and especially my election committee, which worked so hard. We can hold our heads up high knowing that we ran a good race. Thank you, Los Gatos.

—Paul Dubois, Los Gatos


Cartoon 'insulting, stupid'

Your recent cartoon titled "A Culture of Fear," depicting construction workers and mothers, was insulting, stupid and unfunny.

The issue of doing background checks on construction workers has nothing whatsoever to do with their "class" in society. There have certainly been enough horror stories in the news regarding children being molested, abducted and murdered to make children's safety a top priority for everyone. To insinuate that mothers are only concerned because the workers are "swarthy" is ridiculous and demeaning to mothers.

Also, the construction workers (in the cartoon) commenting that the mothers are "white, affluent and perpetually dieting" is not only appallingly insulting, but also racist and sexist. A great many mothers in Los Gatos are of varied ethnic backgrounds, many are not so affluent these days, and a great many are highly degreed, working professionals. The author of this cartoon seems to have crawled out of a caveman dwelling.

I don't think the issue of children's safety at school is one for hilarity, and it certainly is not one for snide sarcasm. Get with it, Los Gatos Weekly-Times! Find yourselves a decent cartoonist, and show some respect for your citizens!

—Jane Miff, Los Gatos


Nesbet the candidate of choice

Congratulations to Barbara Nesbet, who once again received the most votes in the Monte Sereno City Council election. I hope her fellow council members will take note that so many Monte Sereno residents felt Barbara was not only the best and most qualified candidate, but the one in whom they have the most confidence.

—Sallie Goodfriend, Monte Sereno


Home tour an uplifting experience

I want to thank all those who allowed us into their homes [for the Los Gatos Historic Homes Tour]. My husband, my mother-in-law and I had such a great time—the experience was very uplifting. I still feel good from it today. We have truly talented people working and living in this area, and we all benefit from it.

—Susan Narlesky, Los Gatos


Old Adobe is part of Los Gatos

Thank you for the article about our wonderful neighborhood in the Oct. 16 edition. My neighbors and I appreciate the inclusion of our neighborhood in your series on Los Gatos neighborhoods. But I wonder: Did the reporter visit the Old Adobe neighborhood or simply Old Adobe Road? She seems to have missed out on so much of the neighborhood!

The Old Adobe neighborhood is comprised of around 400 homes on several streets. If you've been on Bicknell, Montclair or Old Adobe, or Via de Tesoros, Elm Park, Mistletoe and Becky Lane, you've been to some part of the Old Adobe neighborhood. The neighborhood includes homes in both Los Gatos and Monte Sereno. For example, the site of the old Claravale Dairy is in the part of the neighborhood that is Monte Sereno. Many of these streets participate in neighborhood activities such as the neighborhood-wide garage sale. There is an extremely strong sense of community among those who live in this neighborhood.

The article contained some inaccuracies concerning the school districts and property values. With regards to the Realtor who shot herself in the foot (or was it the mouth?) with her comment about housing values being significantly affected due to not being in the Los Gatos school districts, I'd like to correct this oft-stated, not proven comment. Numbers are never provided when this claim is made, so let's look at some real numbers from publicly available information.

According to information provided by the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, the average cost of a home in Los Gatos today is $963,129. The average price of a home on the market in the Old Adobe neighborhood is $1,925,666. Clearly our lovely neighborhood holds its own, value-wise, against other neighborhoods in Los Gatos. Yes, some buyers choose not to buy here because of the schools, although our neighborhood elementary school, Marshall Lane, does as well as or better than Los Gatos schools in producing high test scores. However, opponents of district boundary changes have used property values as the reason we want to change the boundaries, and this is just not true for the majority of residents in our neighborhood.

There are two reasons our neighborhood wants to be within the Los Gatos school districts, neither of which includes a need to see property values rise. The first reason is the quality of the education our children receive, and the lack of interest in our needs that we have experienced on the part of the Campbell schools. (This is a particular issue at the high school level. Our elementary school, Marshall Lane, is awesome.)

The second reason is one of inclusion. Our children do not get the same level of recognition in the local newspaper. They are not eligible for scholarships from local organizations. As a neighborhood, we help to fund the Los Gatos­Saratoga Community Education and Recreation Department, but are not eligible to sit on the board. Our town council provides money, in loans and/or grants to the schools, which we pay for but aren't able to use. These issues have been raised multiple times but still exist.

You should also know that some (not many) of the homes in our neighborhood are in the Los Gatos school district. On some streets one house is in the Los Gatos district while its neighbor is not. My back property line is within the school district but my house is not. Many of these decisions were made one on one in years gone by, as individual homes were built, and parents made choices as to which elementary or high school they wanted their children to attend. In the past, neighborhood students frequently attended Los Gatos High School. It's a relatively recent phenomenon that this option has been closed to our neighborhood.

And finally, just a reminder: We are a part of Los Gatos, even though we are frequently forgotten!

—Debbi Behrman, Los Gatos