West Valley College has been losing enrollment, largely due to the mismatch between student needs and programs offered. Its faculty union claims that this is due to lack of funding, and that is true enough, but it is also due to the waste of available funds on nonessential offerings, according to the politics and personal interests of its faculty.

When students attempt to enroll in a math class, they may discover that all sections are full. This has been the case for some time. The college will claim that it cannot find qualified instructors. What it means to say is that the qualified instructors it can find, and there are many of them, do not meet its "diversity" criteria. The college is reluctant to allow such non-diverse persons to acquire teaching experience, and even more reluctant to help them improve their qualifications if they are marginal.

According to academic politics, not unique to the college, it is better to let students suffer by offering fewer courses in an essential subject if necessary to meet social engineering goals. Meanwhile, there is a proliferation of nonessential courses in non-skills disciplines. Why should the faculty care? It gets paid the same, either way.

Robert Allgeyer

Aptos

Don't forget:
Green's for go,
red's for stop

I have just about had it with drivers perpetually running red lights. It is a true hazard in our town, and no one seems to be addressing the problem. After dropping my son at school this morning, while waiting to turn onto Blossom Hill Road, two drivers blatantly ran the red light at the school crossing in the school speed limit zone. It is also quite hazardous on Highway 9 at N. Santa Cruz and University avenues.

People have always tried to make it through yellow lights, but now it seems that it has been stretched to the first several seconds of the red light as well. Something needs to be done. Tickets need to be issued. How about some cameras for photo enforcement at some of our major intersections?

Self-monitoring would help, too. Remember, green means "go" and red means "stop."

Carol Peske

Monte Sereno

'Green' events
disrespectful
to teenagers

I read your article on the events that occurred on the "Day on the Green" with disbelief ("Disappointing end to 'Day on the Green,' " June 1). It really is hypocritical of the town, the police, the neighbors and the hotel to on the one hand cry in outrage at the wave of parties and "hanging out," to encourage the youth to find a positive outlet and then to shoot it down when an event that required so much work to organize and was planned according to the laws of the town finally takes place.

I really think it was the job of the authorities to support their effort and to let the neighbors and hotels know that since the high schoolers had notified the parties involved in due time, and received the necessary permits, they would be allowed to continue the concert until the determined time.

Do the weekly summer concerts that take place on the civic center lawn--affecting the same neighbors--ever have to be interrupted? I think not. But just as Forest [Gallien] and Jacqui [Kemp] felt, this town does not give the same rights to young people as it does to adults and that is wrong if the town wants to win the respect and allegiance of teenagers. These "kids" will be voting next year.

The article mentions in closing the success of other musical events. Let me laugh. For instance, let's take the summer concerts in Old Town; they were wonderful where they were--downtown. But that was not good enough for the neighbors, store and restaurant owners, and the events were relegated out of sight, out of mind, in a dark corner of town, at the Outhouse, the Place for Teens--where teens belong and no one over 18 is allowed in.

Let's face it: Los Gatos does not want to make young people part of its visible community. If these people had their way, downtown Los Gatos would look like a giant retirement community with classical music piped in the street and no junky cars allowed parked on Main Street. How great would that be?

Michele Jehenson-Chow

Monte Sereno

Loya deserves
much of credit
for the Venue

It was a great pleasure to read Mike Loya's letter ("An incredible year for Venue thanks to teens," June 1) in which he thanks the whole community for the stunning success of the Venue, A Place for Teens. Missing from the list is Mike Loya himself. He is the one who has dynamically instilled new life into the building, the Venue, behind Los Gatos High School. I say let's thank Mike for his enormous effort, which has proven so successful this year.

Mike instills discipline through respect. He inspires trust from the teens. He has implemented the true idea of this organization: It is a student union. His success goes way beyond the 300 students using the place per day.

We are very lucky to have this young man working hours way beyond his job description for a safe, relaxed place for our teens. I urge everyone if you have not met Mike and have not been at the Venue during lunch or after school or at an event, to go down to meet him and see "what's happening."

Sue Anawalt

Monte Sereno

CineCats gives
creative push
to young people

CineCats, the Los Gatos film showcase and contest, provided the creative push for my son and his friends to make a film.

There were several failed attempts at filmmaking last year--an adorable claymation set that had no story to film and a kid-written script that broke down over casting.

In January, I saw a tiny mention about CineCats with the April 15 deadline in your paper and rallied the kids once again. We shot the script written by one of them in Lake Tahoe and Los Gatos. It was great fun for the parents and kids. We all learned a lot. We attended the CineCats Showcase in May at the Los Gatos Cinema and will watch it again on KCAT this month.

Currently, we all have ideas for movies that we are working on. So, we owe a big thanks to CineCats, the generous sponsors of CineCats, your newspaper and KCAT for the continued inspiration to learn, create and have fun.

Mary Buxton

Monte Sereno

Vector control includes rats
and other pests

There is more to vector control than mosquitoes.

Although West Nile Virus is the most pressing problem at this time and will probably get worse, the vector control people also deal with our problems from skunks, rats and other pests.

It's not safe or legal for homeowners to act on some of their pest control problems.

With our large population of roof rats and tree squirrels, if bubonic plague ever got started in this area we would have a real need for more vector control experts.

Ralph Eddy

Cupertino