Saratoga Stereopticon
Old newspapers shed light on town character
By Willys Peck
'I'm an old newspaperman myself, but then people quit buying old newspapers." I always liked that gag, one reason being that, for me, it cuts both ways. My "old newspaperman" status derives from the time 51 years ago when I started as a scrivener on the San Jose Mercury Herald, now Mercury News. And I have accumulated a collection of old newspapers that take up quite a bit of space. One example is the overseas edition of the Army newspaper Stars and Stripes telling of the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in April 1945. Then there are the souvenir editions of the San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle (two competing morning newspapers then) and the afternoon San Francisco News when the Bay Bridge was opened in November 1936. Here's a Dec. 8, 1941, Chicago Daily Tribune (how did I ever get that one?) describing the attack on Pearl Harbor. And who, of those around at the time, could forget the snow that fell and stayed on the valley floor on Jan. 21, 1962? It was the top story, with pictures, on Page 1 of the San Jose Mercury the following day.
More recently, I have found some copies of the Saratoga News that merit preservation. Here's one from Feb. 8, 1984, with some Page 1 soul-searching under the headline "What is the character of Saratoga?" (No, I am not trying to bring up the December 1997 proclamation signed by then-Mayor Gillian Moran naming me official town character.) The piece was written by Ed Handell, editor at the time, about some kind of mandate from the state concerning housing. It seems the state wanted the city to develop a housing element in its General Plan calling for 1,073 low- and moderate-income housing units. I am not making this up: 1,073 low- and moderate-income housing units proposed for Saratoga.
Not having kept a finger on the municipal pulse, I'm not sure what became of this housing element in the General Plan. Maybe it really was implemented; after all, we're talking about relative terms regarding income. For instance, a Saratoga fixer-upper in the mid-$900,000 range should be within the reach of a low-end dot-com executive. Schoolteachers? Well, there are always the towns of Manteca and Salida on the other side of the hill; check the real estate ads. Sunol Grade and Altamont Pass make for a fascinating commute--if you don't mind driving in a parking lot.
But about that piece on the character of Saratoga. Mayor David Moyles, who grew up in Saratoga, said: "To my mind, the overwhelming characteristic is family orientation. Everything we do is geared around the family--homes, parks, schools ... . We don't resist inevitable changes, but make those changes subservient to the values of the community."
Council member, later mayor, Marty Clevenger, saw Saratoga as having "a special role in the county. It provides a slower paced retreat from the hectic and frenetic life in the Silicon Valley. When people come home, they have some peace and quiet; you don't step out your door and get run over." (Avoid Saratoga Avenue.)
City manager Wayne Dernetz had some pointed comments. "Stimulation, energy, diversity: most Saratogans don't want it and don't expect it. They want harmony over divergence, homogeny over diversity."
A couple of years later, on June 11, 1986, The News published a section devoted to extolling the town's various attractions but with an element of self-analysis. "Is Saratoga running out of space?" was the headline on an article by Rob Vardon. "There's not very much space left to expand housing," noted Bobbie Cadwalader, a clerk in the building department. "There are some orchards close to City Hall and we're still developing the hillsides, but it's getting pretty full."
As an illustration of what can happen in 14 years, here's what the article says about housing prices. "With prices on most of the new housing units ranging from $200,000 to $400,000, Cadwalader said the developments (four tracts containing 124 houses) are in line with going market prices. "The J. Lohr developments are a little more expensive," she said, referring to 18 houses being built by J. Lohr Properties Corp. on Chardonay and Via Escuela courts. Those homes are priced at $450,000." I hope you are sitting down as you read this. "A little more expensive" at $450,000.
OK, if you want to agonize over prices, think back to the 1960s when houses in the exclusive Argonaut section were selling for $60,000. And it doesn't seem so long ago when I was establishing my "old newspaperman" credentials and 50 bucks a week looked pretty good.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
