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Live In Los Gatos

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Live In Los Gatos

Blog by Mary Pope-Handy

Los Gatos, California

Los Gatos real estate, neighborhoods, condos, houses, homes, market trends, history, events, lifestyle, parks, events, businesses, home, Mary Pope-Handy

Favorite Links

• Mary's Book on Home Selling

• How's the Market?

• Site: Haunted Real Estate

• Site: Belwood-Belgatos area

• Mary's Video Introduction

• 60 Second Slideshows of LG

• Free Digital Photos

• Los Gatos Town Website

• Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce

• Blogroll: Project Blogger

• Blogroll: California R.E.Blogs

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Live In Los Gatos

CBS Show "Eye on the Bay"
Features Hwy 17 and Los Gatos History

Jul. 16, 2007

Categorized in: Los Gatos History

Tagged with: highway 17, history, los gatos, mountain, road, santa cruz

Long-time Bay Area reporter Brian Hackney is the host for Eye on the Bay as the focus is Highway 17, the weavy windy road connecting Los Gatos and Santa Cruz. With snippets of colorful local history and some of the equally colorful current mountain residents, this video is a must-see. Enjoy!

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Sidewalk Aversion?

Jun. 11, 2007

Categorized in: LG Lifestyle

Tagged with: pedestrians, road, sharing

One of the better features of the San Jose Mercury News is the Mr. Roadshow column, done by Gary Richards. Just now, I read a question there that really hit home with me from a Los Gatos reader who wondered aloud why people in Los Gatos who are walking, strolling, or jogging don't just use the sidewalks, rather than the street?

Like my apparent neighbor, I have experienced groups of people, pets, strollers and other "stuff" taking up half the road (that is, the half I'm trying to drive on) and then also giving me dirty looks as I slow down and swing out of harm's way. I also have wondered why they don't just use the sidewalk, or at least just move to the side, for their safety and my sake both?

But I think I know the answer. In most of California, pedestrians rule. Seriously, they do. My sister-in-law used to attend Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and she enjoyed demonstrating to out-of-state friends that in California, you can step out into the road in front of a moving car and the car will stop. Every time. (Do NOT try this, just take my word for it that she used to perform this stunt to amazed friends from states where this act would be suicidal.)

There is almost a moral self-righteousness that pedestrians have here. It's not just Los Gatos or Saratoga or San Jose: it is all of California. At least it is all of urban California. It's as if being pedestrians gives them the right to be in the way, to be slow, to put their safety as primarily my responsibility. That is, of course, insane.

When I'm behind the wheel, I find this all very annoying.

And now I will make a confession. Sometimes, when I walk my dog over to Belgatos Park, we walk not on the sidewalk, but on the road. That said, we keep far to the side and I'm doing it in order to be a good neighbor. Bella, our pooch, often heels pretty decently for me. I just about have her trained to hold her business in 'til we get to the park. I don't want her "marking" someone's lawn, only to see a dead spot show up 3 days later there. By walking away from everyone's greenery, she doesn't suddenly stop walking and make a deposit. I get her to the park instead (and yes, I have baggies for cleanup).

So yes, I'm sometimes a little guilty, but with a big exception. When I hear or see a car, I move over to make lots of room.

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