Mere days before the Super Bowl, Los Gatos residents and town officials seemed to have different ideas about game day priorities.
The town council on Tuesday unanimously approved the establishment of entertainment zones, where people can publicly consume alcoholic beverages, in time for the big game. However, about a dozen residents attended the meeting to ask the council to reassure them that the police and the local government would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — a request that remained unanswered by the end of the meeting.
The new law will allow entertainment zones to be established in the downtown commercial areas in coordination with special events. In a letter to the town council, chamber of commerce CEO Jennifer Lin wrote in favor entertainment zones to support economic vitality.
“We support the focus on activating public rights-of-way, voluntary participation by businesses, prioritization of brick-and-mortar establishments within the commercial zone and coordination with the police department through the existing special event permit process,” Lin said in the letter.
The entertainment zones will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., opening up possibilities for daytime events as well. Vice Mayor Maria Ristow suggested that Village Lane could be activated for wine walk during the day. The hours were suggested based on San Jose’s law governing entertainment zones, which start at 6 a.m. in that city.
Resident Linda Swenberg submitted a letter to the council in favor of entertainment zones because they allow restaurants to sell alcoholic beverages to go.
She wrote, “When to-go options are available, customers can enjoy their purchases in true moderation. They don’t feel pressured to finish everything on site, which actually encourages responsible consumption rather than waste or overindulgence.”
While the entertainment zones may be a win for sports fans, around a dozen residents spoke during public comment to persuade the council to release a statement promising that they and the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno police would not work with ICE, whose presence during the Super Bowl was confirmed.
Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition president Jeff Suzuki drew parallels between Japanese American incarceration affecting Los Gatos and the council’s silence in the past to the lack of solid stance against current violent immigration enforcement.
“Would you have said something then if you understood that ripping families from their homes and throwing them into detention centers would not have made our country any safer?” Suzuki asked the council. “Would you have stayed silent, or are you willing to stand up for what is right when it really matters, when it is hard?”
Coalition vice chair Nigel Chandler encouraged the council to stand with other Bay Area municipalities that openly refused to work with ICE, like San Jose, Oakland and Santa Clara County.
Carmen Lo, a member of the town’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee, suggested actions the council could take to show residents that they would not work with ICE, including affirming that town has operational independence from the federal government and that police would not be working with ICE, stating that town property should not be used for any ICE activities, working with police to protect protesters’ First Amendment rights and working with community and faith leaders to get more ideas on how to protect people in town.
“It’s truly time for you to show clear and strong leadership and to lead with the values of community safety, protecting our rights, and that we’re truly stronger as a community that looks out for each other and that’s not afraid to stand up against the wrongs that we see,” Lo said.
The Mercury News
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