Saratoga News

SONIC had a very good idea

By James Shaw

On behalf of SONIC and the many people who worked so tirelessly on Measure G, I want to convey our deep appreciation to the entire community for their support and for Measure G's resounding victory on Tuesday. This was not a victory for SONIC; it was a victory for schools, for open space, for parks, and for neighborhoods. This was a victory for our entire community.

I hope that Saratogans realize what an extraordinary event this was. We believe that we were outspent 3- or 4-to-1 and had both the San Jose Mercury News and the Saratoga News editorializing against us. We also had the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Good Government Group, the Realty Board, the League of Women Voters, a county supervisor, and the Chamber of Commerce all aligned against us. All we had was a lot of grassroots effort, widespread support and a very good idea.

In the face of a substantial campaign of scare tactics and falsehoods, Measure G's success reaffirms the wisdom and values of most Saratogans.

For those Saratogans who voted against Measure G and may have been persuaded by fears that home addition projects or home remodeling projects would be affected by this initiative, they will not. Members of SONIC want to reassure you that we will closely monitor the procedures the City Council develops to administer Measure G, and we will speak out at any attempt to use this initiative in any manner that violates the initiative's intent and specific language.

As many Saratogans now know, Measure G was modeled after a Napa County initiative that passed some five years ago. The Napa measure is very similar in structure, although its primary purpose is to preserve agricultural space rather than parks and neighborhoods. The initiative in Napa has worked very well. Because of it, Texas developers who purchased hundreds of acres near the city of Napa, and wanted to convert those agricultural lands into a subdivision larger than the town of Monte Sereno, did not even ask Napa County to put the project on the ballot. Instead, they circulated their own initiative petitions and qualified two related measures for last week's election. The developers spent a small fortune, but the residents of Napa County voted both measures down by approximately 85 to 15 percent!

Without Napa's Agricultural Preserve Initiative, there is every chance that this project would have been heavily lobbied and perhaps approved and built. Saratogans now have the kind of control over major changes in our community that Napa County residents have successfully exercised for the last five years.

On a final note, there is not space to attempt to thank all of the many individuals who deserve recognition for their work on behalf of Measure G, including some individuals whose work was truly extraordinary. However, this was one of the first times that neighborhood associations and individual citizens throughout Saratoga coalesced to reject the arguments of traditional power brokers. Saratoga neighborhoods have to be willing to support each other and work with each other, rather than waiting until it is your own neighborhood that is under siege and wondering why no one else is willing to get involved.

Whether it is the Quito area opposing 24-hour business establishments, the Montalvo neighborhood contending with yet one more intensification of the Montalvo concert schedule and noise, or the Allendale and Fruitvale neighborhoods facing another attempt to undo the stadium ordinance at West Valley College, it is our hope that the Measure G election effort will provide a template for Saratoga neighborhoods to support each other's interests.

James Shaw is the treasurer of SONIC