Columns

Regardless of how appealing many of them are in home gardens and landscapes, vines are flagrantly exploitative. They rely on shrubbery, trees or anything they can climb on for support. As they reach the tops of their supports, they extend their foliar canopies above....

There are drought-tolerant, warm season turf grasses that are tougher, require less water/maintenance/fertilizer and, if maintained properly, will equal or exceed artificial grass in quality, safety and perhaps usability. Natural grass fields also have many other health and environmental benefits such as providing oxygen,...

Fruiting warm season vegetables that are now in season, such as squash, tomatoes and beans, are more abundant with regular harvest. Plants that produce such fruit respond to their natural obligation to generate seed. Deprivation of the fruit that contains their seed stimulates production...

With all the controversy surrounding California’s mandated housing bill, let’s take a look back to a time when our very own Town Council considered making an even more draconian move. During the 1960s, downtown businesses were losing customers to the popular new concept of shopping...

On April 5, the Los Gatos Town Council will consider whether to approve the Los Gatos Meadows rebuild, which would bring 174 units of senior housing online. As a 24-year Town resident who lives near the site, I believe that the project is essential...

It strikes me that the major reason for allowing cannabis dispensaries in Los Gatos would be to generate more revenue. Assuming for argument’s sake that this is correct, there are options for generating revenue other than from allowing cannabis dispensaries in town. I often...

“He won’t go away until you come out and see him,” our exasperated office manager, Marilyn Fitch, who’d been trying to protect me from the unscheduled visitor to our Royce Street office, came back and informed me.  “Who?” I asked. “Harry Cohen.” I was always happy to...

As a young journalist, I was once invited to a meeting with Sheriff Bob Winter at a Los Gatos insurance office. At one point, one of the attendees asked the folksy sheriff if there was anything he could do to help. I remember Winter...

With plans underway for a massive redevelopment of the sprawling Los Gatos Meadows complex, I thought it might be interesting to share a brief history of this property. In 1886, workers put the finishing touches on the first structure to occupy the site, a magnificent...

A week before the 2022 New Year, I received a text from a friend expressing his dismay at the great number of dead newts he saw on Alma Bridge Road while he was biking. This was right after one of the December winter storms....