One of the best parts of Santana Row, however, is the pedestrian-friendly atmosphere. We ran into more than a few of our friends out for a stroll. People love to go to places where it is inviting and safe to walk around. In that regard, Santana Row reminded me of Los Gatos. But there are clear differences between this attempt at a town and the town we have here.

First of all, the setting is artificial. Santana Row is just at a great retail location between the Winchester Mystery House, the Century theaters and the Westfield Mall. Los Gatos, or, more formally, La Rinconada de Los Gatos, is the "corner of the cats." We are located here at a corner of the valley, presided over by the mountains El Sombroso, the watchman, and El Sereno, the serene one. Los Gatos—astride the pass to the ocean—is the gateway to this valley, not just at an intersection of two freeways.

And that brings up traffic, cars and parking. Around here we're used to complaining about how difficult it is to find a place to leave the car, especially when late to dinner reservations. And folks moan about the slow-moving, 15 mph crawl down N. Santa Cruz Avenue on Sunday afternoons. Well, neighbors, we have it good compared to what will happen when Santana Row is finished.

Oh sure, they have parking structures—big ones—so there should always be a space somewhere. It is just that when I drove out of the structure, I realized that the only exits were to Winchester or Stevens Creek. On Nov. 10 it was not so bad, but what happens when the new hotel is open, the new Cineplex lets out, and hundreds of new renters head for their overpriced lofts?

In our town we can zip onto a freeway from two directions and have Highway 9, Los Gatos Boulevard and N. Santa Cruz to spread out the crush. Where would you rather do holiday shopping?

And then there is the matter of authenticity of design. Santana Row looks good, but much of it is this era's attempt at classic architecture. Don't get me wrong, the optometrist's office and the Bloom's shop are beautiful, but the major facades look forced. It seems like a next-level revision of our Old Town, which, oddly enough, is the youngest-looking part of Los Gatos. The design just does not compare with our renovated buildings on N. Santa Cruz or Main. Folks 50 years from now will be hard-pressed to guess the age of our new Soda Works at College Avenue but will know at a glance when Santana Row was built.

So what can one say about San Jose's new mini urban center? Well, it's on the right track but in the wrong place, trading trendy quantity for classic quality. And it will worsen traffic in an already congested zone because there are no easy ways in and out without struggling through local streets. But since this valley needs to do something to increase tax revenues and build more housing, what else could have been done?

These worthy civic goals could be better achieved in a place like Los Gatos, following a plan Rick Guidace and I put together some years back. Designed for our authentic downtown Los Gatos, our plan had plenty of parking accessed directly off the freeway, leading to a long pedestrian plaza with lots of Los Gatos­style shops and homes. Best of all, it was organized to reduce the number of cars on our local streets.

Congestion, parking, tax revenues and housing would have all been improved, as well as access to usable regional transit. And it would have created more of the authentic-looking Los Gatos, through which we all love to stroll. But it was proposed during the slowdown of the early 1990s and no officials here could imagine such a large undertaking.

Ten years later, the problems of overcrowding are worse, even with the recession. Building more Los Gatos may be our only defense to hold onto what we now have. The lesson of Santana Row is that there are developers with money out there to create the civic structures we need to survive and thrive. The only question is whether we have elected the people with sufficient vision to understand that small answers will no longer work.

This recession will end—as they all do—with a boom. Will we do nothing and let the valley's sprawl choke the life out of our town, or will we grow it wisely to maintain our quality corner of the cats?

Mark Brodsky is a newly elected member of the Monte Sereno City Council.