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Published on 01/27/1997 All articles from this issue

A fresh voice for residents

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos Homeowners League re-invents itself

Tom Anderson admits that the Los Altos Homeowners League "has a lot of barnacles in its past."

And Jay Brandon, a former board member of the group, said there's "a cultural memory of those things."

But now the League is re-inventing itself and "we're working to shed the barnacles," Anderson said.

They say the Homeowners League of Los Altos is under new management.

"We still work for the homeowners of Los Altos, but how we go about it is new," Anderson said.

No more "recommending political candidates," said Ted Jones, current president of the 700-plus member 22-year-old organization.

And no more "insulting individual council members," Brandon said. "We're becoming a more civil, cooperative organization."

The League even rewrote its bylaws to get away from things confrontational, Brandon said.

Los Altos City Attorney Bob Booth said the League is "a very positive force in city government. They (League members) monitor activities at city hall. They express the views of their group to the government body, views that otherwise don't get heard."

The League is active in many areas. But two things stand out as ways members work for their group, activities in which they take particular pride: sharing information through their monthly newsletter and acting as neighborhood facilitators.

Board members attend council, planning and school board meetings and publish their findings in their newsletter. The League's goal: to be "upstream of information."

Many residents have said they pay the $10 annual dues to join the League just to get the newsletter.

Los Altos City Manager Dianne Gershuny said that the city staff appreciates how, in the past couple of years, the League members "have reviewed information with us before they put it in their newsletter."

As a result of their research, "we provide information (for residents) before it is generally known," Jones said.

As an example, Anderson said, the League published information about the proposed three-story Etruscan condominium project for the corner of El Monte and Fremont avenues last May.

"No one listened," he said. Residents didn't start to react to the news until fall. "The Homeowners League did not take a position (in May) but just worked in getting the information out to people, so people can make up their own minds."

Since then, as the project has made its way before the planning commission in August, the city council in October and November, and back to the planning commission in January, residents have become increasingly vocal about a three-story plan versus a two-story plan.

League board members have since taken a stand, for a two-story development, which they announced in their December newsletter.

Brandon said that "if the Homeowners League was in existence during the American Revolution, we would be saying the British are coming, not that the British have come."

Sometimes, though, a phrase slips in that they don't intend.

In the December newsletter, an article described a secluded parking lot adjoining a proposed office building on the Sunnyvale-Los Altos border as a "place for congregation of undesirables."

When asked about that, Anderson said he meant potential drug dealing and crime.

But Brandon admitted the phrase "does have a 'down the nose' tone and should be explained."

The second service the League provides members is to "work with neighbors to work with the city," Anderson said.

City Councilwoman Kris Casto said that League members have "been helpful to residents, especially in going through the planning process."

League board member Susan Walden agrees there's a place for the League here.

"Government is very bureaucratic. There were so many people we had to go through just to add on a bathroom (to her Los Altos home)," she said.

Casto also gives the League high marks for "facilitating neighborhood meetings.

"I think they (League members) do their homework and invite the players to the table. I applaud them for that."

Currently, League members are working with neighbors on Avalon Drive and Sunkist Lane regarding a request for a second living unit from a property owner with a lot that reaches from Avalon through to Sunkist.

"We're working with the neighbors to work with the city," Anderson said. "The Homeowners League board doesn't take a position, but we're advising the homeowners as to their best arguments to kill the thing if they don't like it."

Part of the re-inventing process of the League is to bring women onto the board. Currently, two of the 10-member board are women and both began their terms last September.

Walden, one of the two and now recording secretary for the group, said she wanted to know the city better, because "my husband and I plan to live here the rest of our lives."

She lives in the south part of town and remembers the role the League took in keeping the gate closed to development and through traffic in the St. Joseph area.

"It kept our children safe. And the gate is still closed."

For her, it is important to get information out to the public about issues coming up in neighborhoods.

Neighborhoods are important to Marla de Broekert, too, also new on the League board.

At the League's January board meeting, she suggested that members promote block parties and put out guidelines for them for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

"That's a perfect way to preserve neighborhoods," she said.

In addition to bringing women into the League, board members also want to recruit young people.

"We don't want to only reflect the views of the retired community which could affect views of spending money for recreation facilities," Jones said.

One of the League's goals is to increase its membership.

Each month, de Broekert, the membership chairwoman, sends out about 40 letters to prospective members. Anyone who lives in Los Altos or its "sphere of influence" is eligible to join.

The League receives 10 to 20 responses a month, Anderson said. But growth "is really tied into issues. When there's an issue, the League enjoys a growth spurt," he said

The League members also support community causes. Recently, they raised and gave more than $1,000 to the library's Vision 21 fund-raising campaign.

They also gave Walden $250 to buy books for the kindergarten class she teaches.

"We've been viewed as old moss backs," Brandon said. "We are fiscally conservative, but that really is the only conservative view we have. We want to be as supportive of good causes as anyone."

The new Homeowners League is reaching out and welcoming in.

As Anderson said, "We're trying to be ombudsmen."

For more information about the Los Altos Homeowners League, call 948-1974.