By Sara Giles
Brandishing a bush on the podium, Gwyn Dukes erupted Thursday at the city council meeting adding green to a heated discussion of the maps of the pathways in Los Altos Hills.
Shaking the bush, she admonished those concerned about privacy along the paths to “just plant a bush.”
While Dukes, resident of Los Altos for 33 years, chose a very proactive way to attack the issue that is dividing the community, many others were not as shrub-hugging.
The question of the revision of the maps of the pathways seems on the surface quite a simple one but has more citizens fired up than any other issue that has come before the council in decades.
More than 80 people made their three-minute case for and against the map; but in the end, Mayor Bob Fenwick announced that the decision regarding the publication of the map would be postponed until Nov. 7, two days after the Nov. 5 election. Pat Doud, city clerk, confirmed the reason for the extension is “for further research.”
Pathways supporter Les Earnest said the council held off because of a technical issue rather than in response to resident complaints about the map’s containing numerous errors.
City Manager Maureen Cassingham said she doubts deliberations on the Pathways map will continue past the November meeting when the council will review comments from environmental consultants.
“Something tells me they’ll be ready to act,” Cassingham said.
The potential changing of the guard on the city council on Nov. 5. will probably not affect the decisions of the current council, Cassingham said, as the cermonies for any new council members will not go into affect until December.
The map, which shows pathways that riddle the hills, was last revised in 1981. For the past four years, a tentative map has circulated which depicts pathways, off-road and on-road and easements. Many citizens claim it is inaccurate and does not show dozens of miles of paths.
Easements are small areas of land on property lots available for the city’s use, should a path need to run through it to connect to other paths. The easement issue is another hot button, dividing old-timer homeowners and the newcomers in town. The old-timers, many who have lived in Los Altos for over 30 years, adamantly insist that easements, or the accessibility of paths, is an integral part of being a good neighbor.
“The pathways connect the community-pathways make it friendly,” said Kay Sasaki, resident of 12 years. She said instead of pathways causing safety issues, they prevent them by turning the paths into a neighborhood watch.
“We are not the kind of people to cause trouble. If we see something odd or strange, we’d be the ones to report it.” By eliminating many of the pathways on the new map, she said she feels like the neighborhood “will not be as friendly.”
Ann Duwe, a resident of Los Altos for 26 years, has easements on both sides, meaning that on either side of her property, she has people coming and going on the pathways.
“What’s the point of eliminating things (easements) that may be important in the future? We don’t need to build on the easements but we do need to retain them. I’m happy to see the people on the pathways by my house. It makes Los Altos neighborly,” Duwe said.
The new blood just wants to know why they have to foot the bill. Robert Knapp, a resident for 9 years bought a home in Los Altos in 1993. When he wanted to put a pool in his backyard, he said the contractor told him he had an easement on his property that he had to take care of. Knapp spent $1,800 putting a 200-foot path along his property.
” I wasn’t happy about how I was coerced. My question is why did I have to use my own money to build it? This whole thing is supposed to be about volunteering but I never volunteered.
Knapp did admit he is OK it is there now because people use it instead of a sidewalk. He is in support of this new map because “you’re never going to please everyone and I think this is the most accurate map so far.”
