Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (February 03, 2006)

City should mourn loss of the Pumpkin Patch

Editor:

I have read with interest the articles on the conflicting uses of the Cuesta Park Annex land. I am amazed that there has been no neighborhood cry or comment about the loss of the equally beautiful farmland known as the Pumpkin Patch on Grant Road near El Camino Hospital.

The last remaining farm in Mountain View, and one of the very few in the entire valley, will be lost to homes sometime very soon. Indeed, the surveyors have been out mapping the future street locations just this week.

Our surrounding cities -- Sunnyvale and Los Altos -- have set aside historical farm interpretation museums so that we can remember our area as it was. Mountain View should consider doing the same with some of the tiny amount of open space that remains.

Homes, playing fields and recreation areas for skating and tennis are important in our community, but so is open space for growing, walking, breathing, small animal habitat and remembrance.

How many communities can claim locally grown tomatoes and corn? I can't imagine fall without the little train and mounds of bright orange pumpkins, visited by hundreds of children.

We will miss marking the beginning of December by smelling the freshly cut pine trees, stacked and waiting to be carried home by neighbors. A small farm is a precious commodity in our area -- we should mourn its loss and mark its passing. Peggy Aoki St. Giles Lane

A sad goodbye to a beautiful farm

Editor:

Well, that's it. Goodbye beautiful farm, goodbye to the sense of community it brought; goodbye to the magical feelings of yesteryear; goodbye to the Pumpkin Patch.

I don't blame the daughters. I'd choose a gazillion dollars over beauty, too. And obviously it's much more complex and financially crippling than just that. In this country, and especially the Bay Area, we are all reduced to our net worth. Our only value as people is how much we can consume.

I hope a few people will go to the cul-de-sac of Mansfield Drive and watch the sunset from the "other side" of the farm. As you look across that beautiful field to the mountains, you may, for those moments, realize why the Ohlone people called this area paradise. Leslie Smith Tyler Park Way

Thanks for saving the heart of Rengstorff Park

Editor:

On behalf of all park users, I would like to thank city staff, officials, and council for listening to, and acting on, our objections to the plan to cut down trees, remove a picnic area, and put a building and parking lot into what many of us feel is the heart of Rengstorff Park.

That picnic grove near the tennis courts means a lot to those of us who frequent the park; we are so glad that the public will continue to be able to freely share in its calm, restorative energy.

The folks at City Hall probably know better than I do that when you want to simultaneously provide for our city's children, teens, adults, seniors, laborers, business owners, professionals, artists, teachers, students, visitors, newcomers, and long-time residents, it is not always an easy task.

However, take note: It something that our park -- with its happy balance of places to swing, skate, climb, stroll, dance, swim, cook, celebrate, perform, play ball, work out, raise a racket, or just sit and enjoy some much-needed peace and quiet -- does especially well.

May we all continue to preserve, enhance, and draw inspiration from this microcosm of our community to make Mountain View a better place to live. Once again, thanks for listening to the residents and thanks for saving the park. Alex Eulenberg S. Rengstorff Avenue

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