It's not for himself--rather, he's heading up the Citizens Committee to Save Saratoga's North Campus.

On May 18, the Saratoga Foothill Club was packed with more than 120 people who came to hear three speakers make a special presentation, hosted by the Saratoga Historical Foundation. Mallory was one of the speakers, and discussed the need for the community to join together to save the North Campus facility, and raise the funds needed to purchase it from the city of Saratoga.

Mallory says the city is running out of valuable land it needs to build necessary facilities. Before his presentation, he said he had attended the city council meeting the night before and heard the members discuss trying to find a location to build more playing fields for the community.

"Land is disappearing, and I think the city is waking up to that," he said. "Maybe it's not 'little old Saratoga' anymore."

In his presentation, Mallory presented a list of reasons why it was important to save the North Campus. He said, "the city has no land for future community needs," and that costs of purchasing land in the future would be "prohibitive," estimating such a purchase down the road will cost around $9 million.

Mallory said in order to procure the North Campus, the goal of the citizens committee would be to raise $6.5 million--$4.5 million to purchase it, and $2 million to refurbish and remodel it and move the current senior center over there. Mallory said one of the next efforts by the committee will be to attend the city council meeting on June 1 and ask the members for more time.

Before Mallory's portion of the evening, speakers from the Saratoga Historical Foundation and the Foothill Club welcomed Steven Hayes Young and Connie Young Yu, who spoke a bit about Saratoga's past.

Young gave an introduction, speaking about his childhood in Saratoga. He read an excerpt from his book Sandlot Stories, which is a collection of stories about such memories. He then welcomed Yu, a historian, who gave a presentation titled, "The Hidden History of Hakone Gardens." Young's great-uncle and Yu's father, John C. Young, was a member of the of six families who joined together to purchase Hakone in the 1960s, and spent much time and money restoring the gardens before they sold them to the city of Saratoga in 1966.

Following Yu's presentation was the appeal to save the North Campus, which Mallory ended with a final request.

"My mission is to say--please help save the North Campus, for Saratoga's future, just like we saved Hakone," he said.

Two members of the Saratoga City Council were present--Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao.

"I am hoping the council will take it into consideration," said Kao of the committee's intention to ask the city to delay selling. "The council really wants to serve the community."

"I just think if we don't look at and remember history, we're just doomed to repeat past mistakes. The city council has to look at [the fact that] there really is a large group of citizens who wants to save [the North Campus]," said Waltonsmith. "We really need to work together--the citizens and the council--to find a way to save it. I'm really encouraged to see a sellout crowd here tonight."

For more information on the Citizens Committee to Save Saratoga's North Campus, contact Jack Mallory at 408.252.7447 or Mallory58@aol.com.