Why This is Make-Work and Another Self-Promotion Stunt.
The following is coming up at the Council Meeting this Tue evening, 11/19/24. It will be at the end of the agenda, so you may want to send an email protest if you cannot attend, but please send it no later than tomorrow.
Council to Discuss at 11/19/24 Meeting sanctuary city status for Los Gatos AGAIN!
This next Paragraph Has Been Copied From the Agenda
It was Ristow, Rennie and Moore who are primarily responsible for the massively tall buildings coming to Los Gatos who couldn’t get the Housing Element passed in time to avoid all of these buildings. They were 18 months past the due date. Was this intentional or were they just too busy doing other things? Why are they even considering another sanctuary-type position when the Town and State already have laws on the books?
What can you do? (1) Send in your thoughts for the Council meeting. See a copy / paste at the end of this post that has the address to send your comments to, and the item id is already on the email example. Your “job” is only to express your own thoughts. We expect the pro-sanctuary people to be in attendance to “bang their pots and pans” in support of Moore’s self-promotion tactic. If you remain quiet, they win, and the Council will again waste time on the sanctuary issue that we already have. (2) Go to the meeting and speak, but it is the last item of the night according to the agenda.
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Our Opinion:
Councilmember Moore’s proposed resolution pledging that Los Gatos will not assist in deportations, persecute the unhoused, or interfere with reproductive healthcare is a glaring example of political grandstanding. With no actionable steps or measurable impact, the resolution serves as little more than a public relations stunt to signal Moore’s “progressive” values without addressing the real needs of the community.
California already leads the nation in legal protections for immigrants, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ individuals, and environmental policies. Senate Bill 54 (the “California Values Act”) prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. State laws also ensure robust safeguards for reproductive healthcare and civil rights. Councilmember Moore’s resolution doesn’t offer any new protections—it merely regurgitates what is already guaranteed by state law….and takes more Council time away from the real job they need to be doing
Even more baffling is Moore’s justification for this proposal: that it is necessary to “insulate Los Gatos from the consequences of this election.” What consequences? There is no evidence that the issues outlined in this resolution are relevant to Los Gatos. Immigration raids? Nonexistent. Attacks on reproductive healthcare in California? Imaginary. Moore’s rhetoric feels more like a bid for applause than a response to any real threats.
Meanwhile, Los Gatos faces massive challenges, including overwhelming “builder’s remedy” development applications threatening the town’s character, bone-crushing weekend traffic clogging streets, growing unfunded pension liabilities straining the budget, and aging infrastructure in desperate need of repair. The Town Council should refuse to agendize this hollow resolution and focus instead on addressing these urgent issues. Councilmember Moore’s proposal is not leadership; it’s empty virtue-signaling. Los Gatos deserves real solutions, not political theater.
EXAMPLE: Send a Comment to the Town Council, Town Manager, Town Attorney regarding an item coming upon completion of the agenda for the 11/19/24 meeting
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Send to: Town Clerk: clerk@losgatosca.gov
Please forward my message below to the Town Council, the Town Manager and Town Attorney re: item : “COUNCIL / MANAGER MATTERS”
Post your message here:
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You can sign, or not. Make sure you send your email comments ASAP. It gives the Councilmember’s time to read what you have to say.
Because the Town allows non-residents to send emails regarding items on our agenda, or make comments in the meeting, I suggest that you state that you are or are not a resident of Los Gatos. You are not required to state this, nor are you required to give your personal information. But it helps to know the resident have “skin in the game” vs. non-residents’.
Patti Smith
To: Town Council, the Town Manager and Town Attorney
I’m a long-time resident of Los Gatos (I grew up here). I DO NOT want this town to become a sanctuary city! We can not support protection of criminals. It is not Moores role to “insulate Los Gatos from election consequences”. I feel Moore and the other council members have taken this town in the wrong direction with their far-left progressive values. They’ve been using sneaky tactics in council meeting agendas to get the items they want passed; three people should not be able to decide town issues for their own personal progressive values.
Anonymous
I’m curious as to why the town council is engaging Rob Moore with his “Resolution” regarding Sanctuary City status. This has been discussed and passed in 2017. Why is he bringing it up again? And what does he mean by insulate Los Gatos from the consequences of this election? I’m personally VERY TIRED of hearing all the fear mongering. I am also tired of people like Rob Moore who think either everyone thinks like him, or that everyone SHOULD think like him. He clearly is an aspiring career politician. It is also clear to me that he is not focused on what the MAJORITY of Los Gatan’s are looking for in representation. The REAL problems in Los Gatos are the Builder’s Remedy Project/Applications that will ruin this town and the road range inducing traffic.
Dana Juncker
I suggest we vote on a resolution that if the town’s council does not want to enforce the laws they are sworn to uphold, such as protecting the residents they serve, then the council members themselves should be liable for negligence should a resident be injured in any way either through bodily harm or property harm due to unvetted illegal immigrants or mentally ill or drug crazed homeless. Therefore, making the council members open to criminal and civil suits brought by those Los Gatos residents who experienced the harm.
I am a 3rd generation Los Gatos resident. My children being the 4th generation. I am totally disgusted by the idea of ignoring federal law when it doesn’t suit their personal “agenda of lawlessness” regardless of who it impacts.
Sutton Roley
Please stop wasting time on resolutions like Rob Moore’s that are merely a political statement that may or may not reflect the will of the town citizens.
Kamal Mehta
I disagree and do not support this resolution. This town can do a lot more to help anyone and everyone
Judy McCool
This is sooo wrong! I’m disgusted my tax dollars are paying for this! This is not what I believe in or stand by! Please stop!!! What is it you are trying to do/ destroy our town? Enough! Stop!!!
Cynthia Weintraub
I am and have been a LG resident and home owner for over 30 years. Instead of spending any time on LG’s Sanctuary status, which is already codified, the Council can focus on
1. Supporting the deportation of illegal aliens/those undocumented with criminal records,
2. Shipping the homeless/unhoused to newly built campuses hundreds of miles away in one of 3 buildings appropriate for their homeless reason — mental Illness, substance addiction, or unskilled — with 1 year of food, materials, resources, and support staff to allow re-entry into society. Uncurable mental illness patients will stay.
3. Keeping women’s health and reproductive rights intact.
Kenneth Edward Arendt
Hello Town clerk, council, manager and attorney!
This nonsense on the part of Moore deserves a recall. However, absent that, I implore all of you to overcome the fanaticism on his part by finding a way to mitigate his actions. Perhaps the Town Attorney might find language that would be useful in identifying how he has abdicated his oath of office to the Town and instead used his presence on the TC to further his own political agendas. In fact, he doesn’t hide it.
What is just as bad is the behavior of two other TC members, Renee and Ristow. They appear to enable Moore’s actions and support his nonsense. Perhaps they have fallen to political bribery looking for some favoritism or job in Sacramento? In fact, their resume’s will show that they were complicit in doing irreparable damage to the Town allowing for multiple builder’s remedies to occur.
So I urge any and all of the Town powers to be to take action and stop this waste and abuse of the Trust that the citizens of LG put forth by voting for them in the first place. We all were certainly misled. This needs to stop NOW.
Thank you for listening and taking action.
K.B.
To: Town Council, the Town Manager and Town Attorney
I’m a resident of Los Gatos who grew up here, and pay heavy property taxes.
I DO NOT want this town to become a sanctuary city! Nor I do not want my tax dollars to contribute to the protection of criminals, especially criminals here illegally. We cannot support the protection of any criminals. This town has become less safe in the last four years and that is a tragedy that still can be avoided.
It is not Rob Moore’s role to “insulate Los Gatos from election consequences”.
I too am tired of people like Rob Moore who think either everyone thinks like him, or that everyone SHOULD think like him. This sanctuary city proposal coming from someone who falsely presented himself on mailing postcards as a Republican AND canvassed door to door as a Democrat/Liberal.
These actions on the part of Rob Moore beg the question of whether he deserves a recall, as voiced by other residents.
Rob Moore is NOT representing the attitude or will of all residents of Los Gatos, but rather his own personal views or agenda. Furthermore, all town officials should work to protect the citizens of Los Gatos from crime and excessive building or design that does not at least blend in well with the flavor of Los Gatos. Falling victim to the builders remedy (particularly the Post Office site) is enough to forever change the flavor of this town. The protection of criminals, resistance and ignoring federal law should not be considered at all. The town council is there to protect and serve all residents of Los Gatos, and enforce the laws they are sworn to uphold.