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Published on 12/08/1997 All articles from this issue

New Year's resolution? Explore mediation

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By Ralph Vetterlein

Special to the Town Crier

Let's start 1998 right. Clear the slate of all the concerns you have carried through 1997. Whether your problems are with neighbors over noise or property rights, or are tenant-landlord, or customer-business related, why let another day go by being troubled with unresolved problems?

The Los Altos Mediation Program is there to help.

If all the concerns that people in our country carry with them were to end up in our over-crowded court system it's estimated there would be more than one new case per family. That's about 100 million new court cases. The cost, the time required, and, the uncertainty of the results make it difficult to consider a lawsuit for many of the problems you want resolved.

Mediation is a voluntary settlement process used to resolve conflicts between two or more people in a non-adversarial setting with the aid of a neutral third party.

It may sound formal and controlled, but in reality, every mediation improves understanding and identifies the basic concerns of the parties.

The Los Altos Mediation Program reaches a settlement, that both parties find to be satisfactory, 90 percent of the time.

Mediators usually can help the parties find solutions in a 2-3 hour meeting. Meetings are held at a mutually convenient time and place.

The services provided by the Los Altos Mediation Program are free.

Los Altos mediators are professionally trained in the processes of mediation, facilitation and effective communications. They live in our community and volunteer their time because they believe that people can best resolve their differences in a supportive, non-threatening environment.

Contact the Los Altos Mediation Program at 949-5267 if you are a resident of Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, or unincorporated Los Altos.

Mediators will answer your questions and get you on the road to positive steps to resolve your concerns and disputes. You can't lose when you take the win-win approach of mediation.

Vetterlein, a Los Altos Hills resident, is chairman of the Los Altos Mediation Program.