Other Voices
Once while driving along the coast of Wales, I came upon an old man sitting in a rocking chair in the middle of the road. "The Queen's Road ends right here and begins again over there," he explained. "If you wish to pass between, you must pay me a shilling."
How typically British and charming, I thought, and gladly paid the shilling.
Today the Queen's Road no longer comes to my neighborhood and many others in Los Altos Hills, and this situation is hardly charming.
The abandonment of public roads in Los Altos Hills was perceived as a painless way for the city to save money. If the city could shed responsibility for streets while continuing to collect taxes from the people, budget meetings were sure to be a great deal easier. Forty years ago when the town was new, procedures were bound to have been a bit sloppy. All we have to do is search the catacombs beneath town hall for official documentation that the early city councils actually accepted each and every street for public use. No document, no more public street, no more responsibility. Voila! The searchers could not find documents for half the streets in town.
The city's argument that it cannot afford to maintain all its streets is bogus. City officials are elected and appointed to set funding priorities. If the money is indeed not there, then the city should establish a practical process for forming assessment districts that require all homeowners to contribute to street repairs and pay through the property tax.
The Olive Tree Lane neighborhood off Magdalena Road provides a good example of how the current privatization policy is working. Olive Tree Lane is an arterial accessing one other public street, five private roads, three water tanks, an unincorporated neighborhood and Midpeninsula Open Space District property. The area was subdivided in 1962. As required by the city, Olive Tree Lane and Olive Tree Court were dedicated to public use, and residents acquired land up to the right-of-way. While the subdivision was accepted by the city, the staff could find no document specifically accepting the street.
Thus, city staff has refused to help one property owner with a storm drain problem and make any street repairs. "But the city has always considered Olive Tree Lane to be public, has maintained the storm drains, made repairs to the roadway and even applied a slurry seal," a group of residents argued.
"We simply made a mistake," the city attorney's office replied in an argument that Judge Judy would entertain for less than a New York minute. "It has always been a private street."
"What permit do I need to make the road repair," a contractor asked the city engineer's office.
"Nothing. You can do whatever you want as long as you have permission from the people up there."
Faced with such legal precision, the contractor decided not to bid.
If it is not the city's, ownership of Olive Tree Lane is indeed murky. Do the developers still own it? Is it owned in common, or does each homeowner now own the street in front of his house? What about the people who use the street, but don't live on it? Until these questions are answered, the street is essentially open range, and that is how we treated it when making the road repair.
Which brings me back to that old Welshman in the rocking chair. As the owner of the first property on the street, I am in an excellent position to put out my rocking chair and charge tolls. Building inspectors and planning officials probably could not afford it. Elected officials would have to surrender half their campaign contributions.
Of course, sitting in the middle of the road isn't really practical. In truth, when the Queen's Road stops short of your neighborhood, you have about as many opportunities for financial gain as Roger Miller's "King of the Road."
Myers is a Los Altos Hills resident.