A recent town-wide survey on the proposed new town hall shows that an overwhelming majority (94%) of residents who responded oppose the current plan and favor a more affordable, less conspicuous design. I believe that most residents who responded were not “confused” in any way by the survey and expressed their opinion - well aware of the issues involved.
The current plan depends on at least $1.5 million in donations to be fully funded. So far only a small fraction of that amount has actually been pledged.
Over 1,000 residents have signed a petition opposing the current design. Only about 36 residents have gone on record supporting it, including current members of the town council, and planning commission and their spouses.
This raises an obvious question: With so little public support and insufficient funds, will the council-backed plan ever be built?
Yet the town is spending approximately 100K a month in design fees for detailed design plans.
I believe that it would be fiscally prudent at this point to stop squandering town funds on design fees at least until the proposal is fully funded.
It’s now time for our elected officials to realize who is serving whom and that fiscal responsibility means that you don’t throw good money at something that may not ever float.
Vince Zunino
Los Altos Hills
Be the voice of students Nov. 5
I wish I were 18 years old. Not because of the usual list of freedoms about which many teen-agers dream, but because if I were 18, I could vote in favor of the parcel tax (Measure H) next week. Although my parents say I’m growing up fast enough, it will take a few more years for me to reach voting age. Until then, I have to put my faith in you.
The students of Los Altos are ever grateful to those in our town who donated time and money to our schools last spring to keep class sizes to a minimum and retain our electives. But it is important to understand that we cannot rely on donations to maintain our educational standards every year.
People come to Los Altos for our stellar schools. We are known throughout California as a community that puts education first. Because of that, our community has had the strongest public schools in the state.
While it makes me feel helpless that I cannot vote, I can at least do my small part by writing this letter. I hope that you will take into consideration that your vote will not only affect your taxes, but the lives of teachers, students and school staff throughout our town. Be my voice, and the voice of all other students in the district.
Siena Kramer
Blach School, eighth grade
Measure H is not a fair tax
I am voting no on Measure H and urge others concerned with fairness to do the same.
Like many in my neighborhood, I am “between jobs” or “semi-retired,” and this may last for a long time. I can’t afford this tax.
It is not fair to ask single people with no children and no job to pay for better schools above our normal property tax. I understand our schools are already highly rated, so any extras should be paid for by those who will benefit the most. Since I plan to live here a very long time, higher property value from marginally higher test scores doesn’t matter to me. How much higher can Santa Rita and Egan schools get on the tests anyway?
Taxpayers in Los Altos have already given parents exceptional schools. If the parents want even better schools, then I suggest they make donations to the schools in lieu of the private school tuition they save by sending their children to our fine schools.
Please vote no on Measure H as it is not a fair tax.
Kirk Lindstrom
Los Altos
Support the health of your schools
The health and well being of a community is directly linked to its school system. Whether you agree or disagree with the performance of school district management the reality is that many people want to live or move to Los Altos simply for the schools.
More bluntly stated, if having good schools is not your prime focus, consider the positive effect it will have on your property value. Seniors’ exemptions are easily available.
You may not think much of our choices for governor or other elected officials but it is critical that we support measure H on November 5th. Voter apathy should not be the deciding factor in this election. The vote on measure H is critical enough to be the sole reason for showing up at the polls.
Please support the health of your schools and community. Vote yes on H.
Kurt Ayers
Los Altos
Two scenarios: Which do you choose?
The Los Altos School Districts Board of Trustees has asked the Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance (CACF) to make recommendations on how to balance its budgets for at least the next six years. We are studying two scenarios: assuming the passage of Measure H and assuming it doesn’t pass.
Although we don’t expect to complete our recommendations until late November, we have reached some general conclusions which we shared with the Board in a resent public study session.
If Measure H passes, the CACF believes the district will be able to continue balancing its budgets without damaging its excellent educational programs.
If Measure H does not pass, the district will have to cut an additional $4.2 million per year on top of the 15 percent in cuts it has already made over the last two years. Teacher salaries will be curtailed, teachers will be laid off, libraries, science programs, computer labs and electives will be affected, class sizes will increase dramatically, and neighborhood schools may have to be consolidated. We believe there is no way the district can maintain the quality of its current programs if it is forced to make these cuts.
Both scenarios assume the district will become a Basic Aid district within a few years as explained in last weeks Town Crier. We believe Basic Aid status will not eliminate the need for Measure H or the current parcel tax, but it should eliminate the need for parcel tax increases in the future.
Dick Hasenpflug, Chairman
Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance
Don’t put politics ahead of open space
As co-chair of the Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Committee and co-founder of the non-profit Los Altos Hills Recreation Programs, I take great exception to Council Member Steve Finn’s blatantly untrue assertion in a recent campaign flier that Westwind Barn’s “public recreation” redesignation as proposed by the LAH Citizen’s Open Space Initiative would expose that property and its neighbors to a future soccer field, hordes of non-resident people attending to watch, and untenable parking.
In our current and future plans as a committee, we have never considered soccer fields or any other construction of recreation facilities on the Westwind Property. Our goal is and always will be to provide recreation programs for the residents of Los Altos Hills with a focus on using existing facilities such as Byrne Preserve, Westwind Barn, and the Little League Fields. In fact, it was in a meeting with the Town’s Finance and Investment Committee in September 2001 that we were first alerted to the possibility of the council looking at Westwind and other Town properties for possible sale. This prompted our Committee to issue a statement to the Town supported by our Council liaison Emily Cheng, that Westwind Barn and its property be reserved for the existing Ohlone Children’s Camp, Westwind Riding Camp and other resident-oriented events held by our organization.
As a Los Altos Hills resident, I am supporting the LAH Citizen’s Open Space Initiative because it is more complete in its protection of Town-owned lands than that offered by the current Town Council. I hope that Council Member Finn can put politics aside and do what is best for our Town and its residents and support this initiative as well.
Rebecca Hickman,
Co-chairwoman, Los Altos Hills Parks and Recreation Committee
Council path plan may increase taxes
The Toni Casey controlled Los Altos Hills Town Council’s proposed pathway system amendment may trigger property tax re-assessments and increases for a large number of homeowners when pathway easements are abandoned. The County Tax Collector will make these determinations on a case-by-case basis. Both homeowners who want to keep pathway easements that the Council opposes and homeowners who want to block pathway easements on their property may pay higher taxes under the Council’s plan.
It is not clear if the Town Council knew their plan could have this effect. If they didn’t know, it makes you wonder what else they’ve overlooked. If they did know, it makes you wonder why they didn’t inform the public.
Perhaps they hoped to keep the possible tax increases hidden because they knew residents would object. In either case, we can now expect them to claim, as politicians always do when caught raising taxes, that it would only be a “small” increase. However, tax increases are usually not small for the people who have to pay them.
It may also be they didn’t want Casey’s hand picked successors, Janet Vitu and Bill Kerns, who both voted for the amendment at the Town Planning Commission meeting on September 26 and are now seeking election to the Town Council, to have to explain to homeowners during the current campaign why they voted for what may be a property tax increase for many residents. The town’s residents deserve to know what the council knew and when they knew it. Since the Casey controlled council is unlikely to be any more forthcoming on this issue than it has been on other controversial issues affecting the hills, such as protecting Open Space and the proposed new town hall, the voters should demand explanations from Vitu and Kerns.
Kim Cranston
Los Altos Hills
Win-bigger, lose-smaller
During our annual Newcomers Event this past weekend, I was surprised at the range of emotions over the (former) Winbigler home’s demise — from angst to outrage (weighted at the heavy end) — expressed by residents and city officials. Yet, it is understandable.
With the present owners facing the possibility of having to absorb excessive losses, and possibly raze their $8 million, incomplete and nonconforming structure, I was asked what I thought a mediator might propose.
With there being none in the government process, and with the imminent possibility of expensive legal proceedings awaiting all parties, I offered this option:
Suggest that the applicants submit an appeal to the city council in which they offer to retain an expert historical preservation team to reconstruct and accurately restore the lost structure, in conjunction with an “in lieu” fee of, say, $1.5 million, in return for being given the rights to all previous variances, such as the 35-foot height permit. This fee can be directed into a Historical Preservation Fund to be spent at the discretion of the city council.
Separately, and not as a quid pro quo, I can think of a dilapidated town hall that could use help from such a fund.
Why not think Win-bigger, Lose-smaller?
Roger W. Burnell
Los Altos Hills
Committee didn’t favor sale of Westwind Barn
Writing to the Town Crier as a citizen of Los Altos Hills (LAH) and using my vantage point as a longtime member of the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC) for the Town of LAH, I would like to share my personal insights regarding the Town’s reserves and the ability of LAH to pay for a new Town Hall.
Our current reserves and projected reserves through 6-30-02 range from $10 million to $12 million.
To be removed from these sums are reserves for funding of the Five-Year-Capital Improvement Budget, the sewer fund reserves and the solid waste fund reserves.
In addition, $350,000 in an emergency operating budget reserve and $1,250,000 in an emergency repair fund are also set aside.
After all of the above reductions are accounted for, this budget shows a minimum of annual reserve funds still available of $5,060,000. Thus Town Council could use this cash to finance a new Town Hall without imposing on the citizens of LAH any additional tax, or bond funding and without the sale of any Town real estate.
The Town of LAH does not have a budget for any educational institution. Thus money saved on a Town capital improvement can not be re-allocated to any school.
The FIC has never advocated the sale of Westwind Barn or Byrne Preserve. See the FIC minutes of 6-10-02 which requested a correction (later approved and changed by the Town Council) to the minutes of the joint Town Council/Parks & Recreation/FIC meeting of 4-18-02.
Frank Burton Lloyd
Los Altos Hills
