Saratoga News
Letters & Opinions
Proposal for North Campus property a win-win-win
Saratoga residents Alan and Lisa Beck, along with their partners Nieves Diaz and Juan Menendez, seem to have come up with a proposal for the North Campus property that appears to be a win-win-win for the applicants, the city and the community.
The plan is to demolish two buildings and the front roadway on the property and construct a child development center and a gymnasium. The applicants would run the childcare facility, and the members of the community would get access to a gym for recreational use. And the city would seem to be the biggest winner of them all--getting new buildings where old ones now stand (buildings the city cannot afford to replace); getting much-needed revenue from the North Campus property; and getting a gym that would be operated by the city with all proceeds of the rental of the facility going back to Saratoga.
We're having trouble understanding the reservations that two council members have regarding this proposal. We agree with Vice Mayor Ann Waltonsmith who said, "The bottom line is we don't have the money to build anything there. I think we should start with this utilitarian plan that is doable."
The Saratoga Recreation Department requires gym space to meet the needs of the community. However, the only space the rec department has now is the Saratoga High School gym, and then only when the high school teams aren't using it. The construction of a gym for community use--one that private money would fund--would be a great benefit for the city.
The council voted 4-0 to move forward with the proposal (Mayor Aileen Kao was absent), but Chuck Page and Jill Hunter expressed reservations. While Hunter's reticence was typical of her civic background, we were surprised by Page's reluctance to support the plan when he said, "We may be stepping a little too quickly."
He said it himself: "The property has sat vacant for five years." Now the city faces a win-win-win proposition, and it's time to pull the trigger and make something positive happen at that site.
