These are famous words. Though often attributed to Hillary Rodham Clinton, she borrowed them. The Yale Book of Quotations traces the proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child,” back to 1989. Subsequent to the publication of the YBQ, Toni Morrison was quoted in Essence, July 1981: “I don’t think one parent can raise a child. I don’t think two parents can raise a child. You really need the whole village.” The forthcoming Yale Book of Modern Proverbs notes: “The saying is often referred to as an ‘African’ or a ‘West African’ proverb; however, no prototype from Africa has been discovered — though several sayings from that continent do urge cooperation in child rearing and other enterprises.”  But I am going to borrow the quote for another purpose… literary license. It’s like poetic license, but different.

A village…What is it? Well, for anyone who has even casually followed local development in our downtown, it is THE subject of debate. Village charm and character can translate as old, single-story buildings, pedestrian friendly, charming, quaint. It’s hard to define for some, clearer for others. But we all know it when we see it (as the saying goes). Carmel is a charming village… San Jose is not. Murphy Avenue in Sunnyvale remains a charming street, but there is no village here. Perhaps just an abandoned Town Center with great visions for the future…

So when I read that San Antonio Center (with the now closed Sears store) was being renamed “The Village at San Antonio Center” I did a double take. Was this the case of a developer trying to plagiarize our beloved Village, as in LOS ALTOS? Before accusing the developer of pulling a “bait and switch,” I wanted to see who else was using the “village” name. Town and Country Village -hmmm.  Not a village the way I think about it, but certainly a charming group of stores and restaurants.  Then there is Los Altos Village Court. Okay, technically it’s in Los Altos, and while it does have an assortment of retail and services, it’s not exactly a village experience. Not to be forgotten is Cupertino Village, which according to the City of Cupertino is, “the multi-cultural center, home to over 40 different businesses, including specialty retail stores, restaurants offering a wide variety of cuisines, and professional and financial services.” Okay, not really a village, more like an outdoor shopping center-a mall without ceilings. Weighing in at over 100K square feet of retail, one wonders.

So, back to our good friends who want to call their new development, The Village at San Antonio Center. Well, it’s not in San Antonio. It’s in Mountain View. Secondly, according to the developer, Merlone Geier Partners of San Francisco (definitely not a village) the site will have 330 high rise residential units, 5 stories tall, one or two large retailers and several boutique-size stores, a pharmacy, restaurants, office space and a 65,000-square-foot Safeway on 16 acres of land for a total of over 300,000 square feet of retail. Some village!

What is almost more interesting is that the City of Mountain View made the developer pay $5.5 million in park fees. I like parks as much as the next guy (and I do appreciate that all the Mountain View parks are open to resident and non- resident alike). However, does the Mountain View City government recognize that the biggest issue facing the Los Altos School District and Los Altos Mountain View High School District (which happens to include the 330 new units being built on that side of El Camino) is schools, not parks?  Well, those of us who live in Los Altos (and get to deal with increased traffic from the new development as students are driven to Covington and Los Altos High) should take consolation in that, according to a study commissioned by the City of Mountain View, “the city is losing millions of dollars annually in taxable sales revenue to neighboring communities. “ As a result, money earned by Mountain View residents is funding public services in other communities.”

It takes a village to be one-and it should take a village to be called one. And it takes a village to ensure that a key priority is the education of our children. So what’s my take…?  San Antonio Center ain’t a village. Perhaps Los Altos and San Antonio, Texas should band together to sue the developer for identity theft.  Of course in Texas, they hang horse thieves.