Saratoga's new state senator will be stretched thin by new district

By Oakley Brooks

Pismo Beach is 200 miles and a world away from Saratoga.

The city draws millions of tourists every year to its broad beaches that stretch out from its downtown pier. Over the next few weeks, the city of 8,600 will host its annual clam festival and later a contest and fete.

"It's a funky beach tourist Mecca, and I can't think of anything that's similar between it and Saratoga beyond that they're both cities," said Saratoga Community Development Director Tom Sullivan, who spent 24 years in the nearby communities of Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande.

But due to recent reorganization of state senate districts, as required after the nationwide 2000 census, Saratoga and Pismo Beach will stand as the northern and southern extremes in an expanded Senate District 15. Future state senators will face the challenge of uniting disparate communities from Silicon Valley down through much of the Central Coast.

"You go down the coast further, the problems are different," said Saratoga City Councilman Stan Bogosian. "We're a built-out community, but down there you have major development and coastal protection issues. It makes it difficult to represent your district and handle issues effectively."

The shifting state Senate district lines, along with those of state assembly and congressional districts, were the result of a political deal struck last month among state legislators who sought to strengthen their party's voting base.

The reorganization is the first since California legislators set term limits for themselves in the early 1990s, with assembly members allowed only three two-year terms and senators two four-year terms.

Gov. Gray Davis made the new districts official just two weeks ago.

As part of the final deal, Saratoga, a Republican stronghold, was dropped from Democrat Byron Sher's state Senate district, which encompasses much of the peninsula, and added to Senate District 15, currently held by Santa Cruz Republican Bruce McPherson.

Sher will continue to represent Saratoga until his term runs out in 2004. At that point, Saratoga will be represented by whoever succeeds McPherson, whose final term ends in 2004.

The city was dropped from Democrat Mike Honda's congressional district, as he gained more Democratic voters in eastern Santa Clara County. Saratoga now sits in Anna Eshoo's strongly Democratic congressional district, stretching from eastern San Mateo County south into the Santa Cruz Mountain communities. The changeover for Assembly and congressional seats will take place in 2002.

Democratic Assemblywoman Rebecca Cohn kept her home city of Saratoga in her 24th District, but that now extends into more Democratic sections of San Jose. Cohn may be a familiar face in the city, but Saratogans probably couldn't pick Byron Sher out of a crowd.

City officials, however, say he's shown during the last five years that a state representative in tune with local issues can serve a small city like Saratoga.

In February of 2000, he introduced a bill that later became law, and brought nearly $400,000 in property tax revenue back to Saratoga. That money had been lost to the county in 1996 when Saratoga voters repealed a utility-users tax. Before that, the county had matched funds raised under the utility tax as part of the statewide Tax Equity Allocation program.

Money received from the county under Sher's bill coincided with the approval of the library bond in March 2000. With that tax being raised locally, the county returns the annual matching funds that ceased with the repeal of the utility tax.

"Byron really helped us out in terms of getting some justice there," said Bogosian.

Bogosian said Sher has also recently held hearings about repaving Highway 85 to reduce the noise levels on the part that goes through Saratoga.

"This is typical of American democracy," Bogosian said about the recent redistricting results. "It's handled at the state level rather than with the local constituencies."

Sher, like nearly all of his colleagues in the Senate, voted in favor of the new districts.

Sher staffer Mike Potter said that in crafting the new boundaries, legislators had to accommodate California's continued population growth--senators each now represent roughly 850,000 people.

"The alternatives are to stop growth or add more legislators," said Potter.

Expansive districts are not new. Potter notes that McPherson reportedly uses the most gas of any state legislator in covering the present Senate District 15, from South San Jose down to Monterey.

Even in a smaller geographic district, it has been challenging for Sher to keep abreast of issues in his 22 cities, according to Potter.

The new senate districts, which include one that stretches along the Sierra range from the Oregon border to the Mammoth Lakes area, will put increased pressure on staff and cities to keep representatives informed, said Potter.

Bogosian agreed that Saratoga would simply have to work harder within the given restraints to continue to build relationships with future state senators.

"That's the best you can do," said Bogosian.

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