By Paul Jacobs
On March 26, Saratogans approved Measure G. Since then, some have questioned whether, given the City Council's unanimous opposition to the passage of this law, we will enforce it, or will instead seek to evade it. No one should have any doubt whatsoever that the council will absolutely and without hesitation enforce the law and thereby carry out the will of the voters.
In implementing Measure G, we must create legal, procedural, and equitably enforceable rules. While the measure sets forth many standards, it does not adequately set forth the procedures to be applied to implement them. City staff and the city attorney are now engaged in the work intended to accomplish this.
The city has had offers from individuals and groups to assist us in translating the "intent" of Measure G into procedural rules. While we welcome suggestions from anyone, it is our responsibility to formulate policies that will implement the measure itself. Regardless of the intentions of the drafters of Measure G, it is the voters who passed it. Their intentions may have varied widely and we simply cannot rely upon unspoken intentions of either drafters or voters. We must look primarily to the document itself, and attempt to draft rules which are in conformance with it, and which can be enforced uniformly, sensibly and impartially.
It is now our responsibility to defend Measure G from all challenges. That means that it must be able to withstand a court challenge. In the event of such a challenge, a judge will not ask individual voters what their intentions were. He or she will look to the document itself. Our rules and procedures must be consistent with what is written in it. If application of the law catches some property owners whom the drafters intended to exclude, that is unavoidable. The rules must be applied uniformly, objectively and impartially to all. To do otherwise opens us to criticism that we are evading the law.
To those who have expressed concerns that this law may produce inequities, I would remind them that human beings make laws, and being imperfect ourselves, it is impossible to write a perfect law. Laws such as this carry on the age-old conflict of the rights of the individual versus the rights of the broader community. The application of the law, as with all such laws, will sometimes produce results which are, or may be perceived to be, unfair. In such an event, it may ultimately be necessary for the courts to decide whose rights shall prevail.
Whatever may come of such challenges, the council is committed to making Measure G work efficiently and effectively.
Paul Jacobs is the mayor of the city of Saratoga.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 24, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved