Browse archives: 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995

Published on 09/28/1998 All articles from this issue

Letters to the editor

printer friendly version

Kerns explain their building plans

After reading Elayne Dauber's letter to the editor in the Sept. 30 Town Crier, we feel compelled to write to ensure that the facts are known regarding our site development application to build a one-story, three-bedroom home on our 21-acre parcel in Los Altos Hills.

The town staff now acknowledges that our latest revised plans meet all of their written objective criteria, including driveway slopes, building size/height, retaining wall heights, etc., and that we have fire department written approval.

Of the neighbors who can see our home and are within a .5- mile radius, 93 percent support us. The two closest neighbors, longtime residents of Los Altos Hills, strongly support us. We have more than 160 signatures and 10 letters that show overwhelming neighborhood support.

In 1988, when our lot was created, a tentative subdivision map was filed with the town. This map shows two exceptions to conservation easement: one at the top, with a sketched outline of the intended primary residence, and one at the bottom, shown without any structure. The published minutes from the Nov. 16, 1988, Town Council meeting show that a condition was added "to require that the house on lot No. 3 shall be a single-story home as it is on a ridge line." It was clearly the Council's intent to permit a home on the upper site.

Elayne Dauber states that a driveway to the upper site would have "average slope of about 17 percent and retaining walls in places 12 feet high ... with potential drainage problems." Our present application, on file at Town Hall, shows a driveway with an average slope of 15.3 percent, the highest retaining wall of only 5 feet, and a storm drain to Adobe Creek. Our proposal meets all of the Town's written objective criteria.

The home that was approved for the very steep lower site in 1993 does not meet the Town's present grading/building policy. It had a three-story facade, required 10-foot cuts and 15-foot fills, destroyed 15-20 mature oak and bay laurel trees, including the largest tree on the property with a 150-foot canopy, and it was strongly opposed by the adjacent neighbors.

We trust that the Council members will uphold their commitment to fairness by approving our revised application, which meets all of the Town's written objective criteria and has neighborhood support.

Bill and Betty Kerns

San Jose

Ticketing an effective message

In response to Laura Teksler's letter printed in the Sept. 9 edition of the Town Crier, I wish to make the following comment.

While we await the arrival of utopia, what other traffic laws should we ignore? Our neighborhoods have no sidewalks and therefore vehicles must share the pavement with people walking and bicycling, often with children and pets in tow. The answer to safety is indeed slower cars. Los Altos residents deserve enforcement of the posted limit precisely for the safety factor.

Ticketing those who exceed the posted limit is the only way to get the message across that safety is our priority and traveling at unsafe speeds will not be tolerated in our neighborhoods.

Lisa Newton

Los Altos

Beware of 'ghetto schools'

I read with interest your articles on the Los Altos elementary schools bond measure on the Nov. 3 ballot. My wife and I raised three children in Los Altos. While our nest is now empty, I believe we must continue to support the exceptional schools in our community.

I urge you to publish photographs of school sites along with statements by members of the independent task force who have studied this matter.

We owe that committee our special thanks. This is a very crucial issue. We have a chance to make things right for our wonderful teachers, but first, we need to see the evidence and get the full picture.

At the kickoff breakfast, one anecdote told had to do with a visitor to Los Altos. She commented on the run-down condition of one of the schools, wondering aloud about a "ghetto school" in a town like ours. Her query prompts the following :

They paid a bundle for the house,

And find it hard to keep their cool.

Their scenic view has gone to pot:

Right next door - a ghetto school.

Bob Simon

Los Altos

A down side to pushing kids

I rarely write letters to the editor, but felt I had to respond to your cover story regarding soccer moms in your Sept. 30 issue. I find glorifying women who push their kids to the brink of insanity quite disturbing. Chauffeuring your children from activity to activity does not mean you have excellent parenting skills. I believe extra-curricular activities can certainly enrich a child's life and skill levels, but what has happened reading to your child or digging in the dirt with them?

The type of schedule outlined for some children is nothing short of child abuse. These children are candidates for the neurotic adults of tomorrow who are incapable of enjoying any personal time and wind up in a therapists office wondering what happened. Kate Dolan states that "you have to start young, stay with it, or you'll get behind." Get behind what? The line of Prozac-ingesting adults who can adjust in a world that does not allow for down time?

Please wake up and smell the roses. Read to your child, play dress-up with them, let them get dirty, give them hugs. Don't run them into the ground having them "compete" in a world already gone nuts with "hyper-activities."

Nancy Rock

Cupertino