Opinion

Have you ever wondered how prominent figures like Benjamin Franklin achieved remarkable success? One key factor in his rise as a writer, publisher and politician was his mastery of “social intelligence.” What follows is my analysis of how Franklin’s lessons might apply to our...

Jak Van Nada considers the consequences of Los Gatos failing to get its Housing Element certified, despite sending in multiple drafts.

A much-discussed course of action to bring housing affordability to our area is to create more housing. And if we are to build more housing, why does it take so long?  While serving on the San Jose City Council’s Ad-Hoc Committee on Building & Planning,...

Perhaps I’ve read too many articles and listened to too many podcasts decrying the level of vitriol and partisanship existing in Washington D.C. and in many communities throughout the country. Add to this sorry situation the scenes of conflict I’ve seen on television and...

Project must be stopped I recently wrote about the new developmental proposal at Ace Hardware store in Los Gatos. Now they want to construct the Cafe Dio building, a four-story, 30 residential unit-building, with underground parking, where Los Gatos family physicians used to be. I used...

The Laurel and Hardy film “Perfect Day” is a masterclass in irony. In about twenty minutes, it captures the unraveling of a well-intentioned Sunday outing. The boys and their wives are dressed and ready for a relaxing picnic. But the car won’t start. Tempers...

In early May 2025, the Los Gatos Town Council introduced a proposed Boards, Committees, and Commissions (BCC) Code of Conduct Policy designed to set expectations for commissioners’ behavior, public communications and interactions with Town staff and the public. The intent is reasonable: to promote...

So there we stood… on the corner of N. Santa Cruz Ave. and Main Street two weeks ago, ready to start a weekly newspaper in Los Gatos. Again. Randy Frey was there, as was Roger Sanford, who always manages to show up at the...

Back in 2015, Elon Musk made this pronouncement about the future of self-driving cars, “We’re going to end up with complete autonomy, and I think we’ll have complete autonomy in about two years.” At that time, I was a technology leader at Trimble, a...

I have read the story "Woman who threw parties" (Los Gatan, Dec. 29, 2021-Jan. 4, 2022) six times and still cannot understand what the author is trying to say. Grammatically, the article is written so poorly that the reader loses the ability to understand...