Importance of trail grant to Los Altos
Aaron Grossman
Thank you for the very good article on June 8 about the trail in Los Altos, or rather its lack of progress.
The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail is a small, registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a very limited budget. However, we felt it important enough for Los Altos to acquire the VTA Trail Study Grant that we offered to put $5,000 towards the city’s required share.
We can only keep this offer open for a limited time.
As the article mentioned, delaying a year could easily cost Los Altos the entire grant. The importance of the Trail Study grant should not be underestimated.
Besides basic safety, there are many traffic, land use and other issues to be considered in creating a proper path. Just posting a few signs does not make a good path. It needs careful and professional research and planning.
This all takes time, and the Mountain View Trail could reach the Los Altos border in five or six years. It could easily take that long for Los Altos to do all the necessary planning it will need. Delaying another year could be very costly in the long run.
While the article said, “The path’s primary purpose is to serve as a safe route to school for children,” its purpose is really much bigger.
It’s to be a safe path for everyone - walkers, joggers, skaters and bicyclists of all ages, both as individuals and entire families. It’s to get people outside in the fresh air and enjoy and appreciate nearby nature without using motor vehicles. It’s to promote healthy exercise, fitness and fun!
The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail is the only organization focused on making this happen.
Local citizens need to be involved, and we would welcome Los Altos residents to find out more about the trail and about us. See www.stevenscreektrail.org for more information.
Intolerant comments by city leaders
Eren Goknar
During the Los Altos City Council meeting at which the Gay Pride Proclamation was voted down, I was surprised to hear intolerant comments by leaders elected to represent the entire community.
The piece of paper requested by the young students would have cost the city nothing, but would have helped them to feel a part of Los Altos.
On the con side of the issue, I heard four or five middle-aged men who claimed to be speaking for all the “adults” in the community. Apparently some of them had been asked to speak by a councilman who alerted them to the item, which was buried on the agenda.
The virulence and hatred in some of their voices was frightening and intimidating, even to adults. A few speakers said Gay Pride Day was too political for the city council.
Should we then not celebrate Martin Luther King Day in Los Altos because it doesn’t involve us? Civil rights issues start at home. Rosa Parks’ refusal to move to the back of the bus indicated her refusal to be treated as a second-class citizen.
Why should these kids be pushed to the back of the bus?
This is not the sort of community atmosphere that I would like to live in and I refuse to believe that the council’s action represents the “adults” of this community.
I feel it behooves the council to encourage tolerance and compassion. Councilman Packard mentioned the Bible in his closing comments but nobody mentioned the Golden Rule.
Judging others for their sexual preferences or the color of their skin is discriminatory, and discrimination is city council business.
Sell Bullis? Yes, for 5 reasons
Chris Vargas
Yes, the Los Altos School District should sell the Bullis site, for five reasons:
1. The town of Los Altos Hills would receive a public school, which is positive for everyone.
2. LASD would receive a huge injection of funds, which is positive for LASD.
3. The town of LAH and the charter school would almost certainly drop their lawsuits, which would be positive for everyone.
4. The two communities can begin to heal and move past the issue.
5. The charter school & LASD can move past the issue and focus only on peaceful, mutually successful coexistance.
Your question implies that Bullis is worth $5 million, which has not yet been determined. And it confuses the real issue: whether or not LASD should consider selling the site for its fair market value (FMV).
FMV is calculated by taking into account the property, its current condition, state education code (which states how a school district can sell property and requires a specific discount to FMV for certain parts of the site) and considering that Bullis is zoned for public education only, i.e. it cannot be used for private school or residential homes without a rezoning.
Don’t sell Bullis site
Tamara Logan
Once again the proponents of Bullis Charter School have made a bold political move in their attempt to force the Los Altos School District to give up the Bullis school site.
I find it incredible that the Los Altos Hills Town councilmembers continue to apply pressure to both LASD and the LA leadership when they are not even representing the opinion of the majority in their own town. In their own poll, it was shown that more town voters wanted to return a district school to the Hills than wanted to bring BCS there. Many more LAH children attend LASD schools than attend the charter school. Who on the LAH council is representing those families?
Further, the donation of $5 million to support about 200 children when district budget pressures threaten art, music and library programs that enrich 4,000 children is simply unreal. Some of these cuts are a direct result of the thousands of dollars in district losses created by BCS. I have no doubt that the charter’s project-oriented, individualized education program is great - maybe just as great as the project-oriented, individualized program offered throughout LASD, but what is the benefit to our community?
Apparently the BCS and council version of the “win-win” so often espoused can only result in BCS at the Bullis site.
These leaders continue to drive wedges into our community while claiming to desire unity. Maybe if BCS could step back from the Bullis site issue and focus on helping the community, we could actually find a resolution.
