"Thank you for making history with us tonight," Mayor Sandy Decker said in her opening remarks.

For the next two hours, the group of 26 residents, 17 town staff members and five council members that assembled inside the Belwood Cabana Club heard the concerns of those living in the eastern part of town.

The deteriorating condition of camphor trees, the need for traffic-calming measures in the neighborhood and more crosswalks near schools, teenagers at Belgatos Park at 2 a.m. and lack of media coverage of the area were all issues identified by residents.

With each concern that residents brought up, council members either responded to the issue raised or had one of the 17 representatives for the town respond. Representatives included many of the town's department heads, two people from the police department and one person from the county fire department.

"Having a real-time answer from the directors of the departments added tremendous credibility to the efforts of town staff," Decker said.

In response to requests for speed humps and street signs, Councilman Joe Pirzynski noted that the town has implemented a traffic-calming program that Belgatos residents can apply for. Pirzynski also said after the meeting that the residents' lack of awareness of this town program was revealing.

"That says to me there probably are other neighborhoods that do not know the services provided by the town," he said. "We haven't communicated as effectively as we could or should have."

When longtime Los Gatos resident Carol Nolan mentioned that teenagers sometimes party at Belgatos Park until 2 a.m., Vice Mayor Steve Glickman said the town has engaged in a "massive effort" to identify healthy activities for youths through the "Alive ... and Loving Life" program.

Nolan said after the meeting that she felt the vice mayor did not really address her concern.

"Finding activities for teens to do is a great idea, but not for 2 in the morning," she said. "What he had to say was valid, but not appropriate for my concern."

Glickman said later that the council tried to answer all questions raised. "Anybody in the park at 2 a.m. is a problem. We patrol as best we can, but we also rely on people to notify us," he said.

With the exception of the park issue, Nolan said she was pleased overall with what she heard from council members.

"They were there to listen," she said. "I didn't feel it was just an appeasement."

Nolan also said she saw parks and public works employee Tim Boyer inspecting trees in the neighborhood the morning following the meeting. Boyer had promised to do so when residents raised concerns about the condition of trees in the area.

As the town council wrapped up the town hall meeting, each council member encouraged residents to continue the dialogue with town staff. Residents were handed packets with a brief history of the town, an overview of town services and key contact information.

Councilman Mike Wasserman suggested everyone take home a pen with the town's website address (www.town.los-gatos.ca.us) inscribed on it.

"This could be the single most important thing you take home tonight," he said, explaining that residents can sign up for a periodic email update of town news through the site.

Wasserman had originally proposed that the council's first town hall meeting be staged in the Belgatos neighborhood. "What my desire always was was to reach out to the residents in the far east part of town. [This] was the first step," he said.

Likewise, Belgatos residents said they were pleased by the effort demonstrated that night.

"This is impressive to me, that the council would come out to the community. I was even more impressed we were the first neighborhood," said resident Jeff Lee.

Both residents and council members also expressed a desire to see more public participation in future meetings.

Councilwoman Diane McNutt said though she was pleased with the number of people who attended, the majority came from the immediate Belgatos neighborhood. There was not a good representation of residents from the entire eastern part of town, she said.