Small Town Mess

Kylie Clark (LinkedIn photo)

Two months ago we noted how the Los Gatos City Council censured planning commissioner Kylie Clark for writing to the State that "rich, white, anti-housing men” controlled housing policy in Los Gatos. The ACLU threatened to sue the town for violating Ms. Clark's free-speech rights, and the City Council removed the censure.

Los Gatos caved to the ACLU because its planning commissioner purportedly was speaking as a private citizen.

[Los Gatos Town Attorney Gabrielle] Whelan said the lawsuit would potentially have cost the town upwards of $400,000.

Since Clark identified herself as a planning commissioner in her email to the state but said she was speaking as a private citizen, she is protected from being disciplined by current case law, the ACLU argued.

To this non-attorney it seems disingenuous to claim that she was speaking as a private citizen on a subject (housing) that fell under her purview as a planning commissioner. Where does this stop? Whenever a politician makes a controversial statement, he or she could walk it back by claiming it was a personal opinion as a private citizen.

But there are further complexities. In real life Ms. Clark has a conflict of interest.

Councilmember Matthew Hudes voiced concerns about Clark’s role as assistant manager of advocacy and public policy at West Valley Community Services (WVCS) overlapping with her role on the planning commission. WVCS provides food, housing and support services to low-income and homeless people in South Bay communities including Los Gatos.

Paid advocacy for a social service organization would seem to color (in a manner of speaking) Ms. Clark's opinion.

But here's the best part:

Clark is in a relationship with Councilmember Rob Moore, who chairs the policy committee, and Hudes said it’s not appropriate for Moore to provide feedback.

Los Gatos, home to Netflix, is very wealthy, but it's still a small town of 33,000, and this is a small-town mess of its own making. Whether Los Gatos continues to chew on this problem or not should not make a difference to the rest of the Bay Area.

Language Pushback

We're accustomed to hearing accusations of racism, class-ism, and sexism thrown about in any discussion of housing; what's unusual is that this time there was pushback:

Kylie Clark (LinkedIn photo)

Los Gatos Town Council censured a planning commissioner for using “divisive language” in a letter to the state, in which she said “rich, white, anti-housing men” organized the referendum on the town’s plan for future growth.

Council voted unanimously Feb. 15 to censure Commissioner Kylie Clark, an action that serves as a formal disapproval of her comments.

The City of Los Gatos is 72% white, and the median house value is $1.8 million, so Ms. Clark may well be factually correct that leaders of the housing referendum were rich, white men.

But by describing them as such to the exclusion of other attributes, she is strongly implying that their decision-making is due to their race, class, and sex and not to other factors, for example, environmental considerations, traffic, and infrastructure.

If she had evidence to support her claim, she should have presented it. In its absence, the Town Council was right to call her on it.

Know What You're Getting Into

Welcome to the 21st century: guinea pig ultrasound.

Our adopted guinea pig had been losing weight steadily. A blood test and X-ray had not revealed the cause, so the next step was an ultrasound exam. (We had decided that if six-year-old Pumpkin had cancer, it would be time to say goodbye.) The images showed that she had a couple of small (6mm) ovarian cysts. They were not malignant but could diminish appetite. The vet proposed spaying, a riskier procedure on an older pig but one which we will consider if the weight loss continues.

We have written before about the financial and time commitment involved in taking care of pocket pets. They're cute, but know what you're getting into.

We Didn't See Any Cats, However

Running an errand in the South Bay, we stopped for lunch in tony Los Gatos. As in other Bay Area towns, Los Gatos real estate prices are exploding because of the Silicon Valley tech boom; Netflix is headquartered here. On Monday afternoon traffic was heavy on narrow roads that were designed half a century ago.

We had a juicy burger and pungent garlic fries at the Super Duper Burger on Los Gatos Blvd.

The small chain was celebrating its sixth birthday. It posted a sign that said there were "free" burgers from 3-4 p.m. We returned at the appointed hour.

We're not too proud to admit that a free hamburger will draw us out.

Surely there wouldn't be a line in the the 33rd wealthiest city in the United States.

We were wrong.

Note: Los Gatos ("the cats") is named for the cougars and bobcats that once roamed the area. We didn't see any cats, however.