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BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Los Altos is at a crossroads between residents who want to preserve the city’s “village character” and city officials pushing to become more modern.
The opposing viewpoints clashed at a Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, when commissioners discussed a General Plan that describes the city’s vision for the next 25 years.
“The conflict in the document, which I think is ultimately the main conflict of Los Altos, is the tension of wanting to keep everything exactly the same and also this huge necessity to grow,” Commissioner Mehruss Jon Ahi said.
Residents Maria Bautista and Catherine Nunes encouraged commissioners to keep words in the General Plan like “historic preservation,” “quaint” and “village.”
“We are not modern. We are a quintessential town that everyone is striving to live in,” Bautista said.
10-story buildings downtown?
Ahi disagreed. He said downtown will eventually have 10-story apartment buildings because of state housing laws, and everyone has a different definition of “village character.”
“We can’t keep fighting so hard to keep Los Altos like it was 50 years ago,” Ahi said. “I was born and raised here, and I’ve seen it barely change.”
Resident Cindy Andrews said she cringed when she saw the General Plan describe Los Altos as a “truly modern small town.”
Andrews said she helped write the General Plan with residents in 1987, and consultants are leading this update.
“I didn’t see anything about the character of our town, the history of our town,” she said.
‘Toxic nostalgia’
Commissioner Eric Steinle criticized “toxic nostalgia” and said the city needs to plan for thousands of residents to move in.
“Toxic nostalgia is holding onto a past that doesn’t help us now,” he said.
The debate between the past and future will go to Los Altos City Council on Tuesday.
Residents have gathered enough signatures to place a measure on the November ballot to require voter approval before the city develops its downtown parking lots.
The city’s downtown plan calls for a future hotel, offices, apartments, parks, a theater and garage across 10 lots.
But residents are worried about losing trees, surface parking and small businesses.
“We believe that decisions of this importance deserve the vote of our community,” said Draeger’s Market owner Richard Draeger, one of 16 business owners to endorse the measure.
Council on Tuesday will consider an advisory measure asking voters about the potential consequences of the parking lot measure.
For example, City Manager Gabe Engeland said the advisory measure could ask: “If voters approve the Los Altos Downtown Parking Plaza Ordinance, shall (council) allow increased housing density and height in single-family residential areas?”
More idiocy to destroy another downtown by removing parking in the name of “progress” and then being shocked when sales tax revenues dry up.
When will it end??? I’ll take nostalgia over toxic idiocy any old time.