It's finally over, and all we can say is that it's about time. The Los Gatos Town Council made it final last week by voting to keep Music in the Park in the park at the Los Gatos Civic Center—and thank goodness that's settled.
The debate started last spring when John Tice and some of the merchants in the area near the Santa Cruz AvenueMain Street intersection started a movement to return the popular Sunday evening summer concert series to the Town Plaza where it had been for 14 years.
Music in the Plaza had to be relocated to the lawn at the Civic Center, though, during renovation of the Plaza in 2001. When the Plaza project was completed last fall, many thought that the music series would return to the corner of Main and Santa Cruz. The town, it seems, had other ideas.
The success of the 2001 and 2002 seasons convinced the arts commission that the Civic Center was a better location for the event, and town officials agreed. So the name was changed to Music in the Park, and the series continued.
That's when the controversy began. The group pushing for the concert series' return to the Plaza circulated a petition in an effort to convince the town to reconsider its decision for the permanent switch to the Civic Center.
Organizers claim that survey reports indicate that more concert-goers support the new location, and opponents countered that the survey results were not representative of the true feelings of most who attend the concerts. So they continued their quest to undo the change of location.
Their plea fell on deaf ears. Sure, there were meetings and discussions and negotiations, but the final outcome remained the same—Music in the Plaza would become Music in the Park.
It's a decision that makes sense, especially since the advent of the popular Wednesday evening Jazz on the Plazz program this past summer.
It seems that Los Gatos now has the best of both worlds when it comes to entertainment for local music lovers—Sunday evenings in the park, and Wednesday evenings in the Plaza.
And best of all, the decision has been made ... and at long last we can all stop talking about it!
Red Ribbon Week
Area schools will participate in a number of special activities this week—as they have been throughout the month—in celebration of Red Ribbon Week.
Students will wear sunglasses ("I don't see drugs in my future"), wear hats ("Hats off to being drug-free"), wear different colored socks ("Sock it to drugs"), and take part in a number different activities, all in the spirit of fighting drug and alcohol use and abuse.
But it's more than just a week of catchy slogans and activities. The bottom line is that all of the events are meant to deliver the important message to young people to avoid drugs and alcohol.
The official Red Ribbon Week is Oct. 2331. We should all support it.
