"Ah, there, sonny boy," said Sam. "From the furrowed brow and glazed eyes, I'd say you were searching for a column idea. I've got a four-letter word that applies to your column--no, not the four-letter word you're thinking of, even though it rhymes. The word is 'quit.' You've outlived your usefulness, column-wise. Time to throw in the towel."

"Maybe so," I said, "but right now I'm up against a deadline and I can't just flake out. I have to turn in something, and it has to be about Saratoga."

"Well," said Sam, "don't say I never did anything for you. I just happen to have an idea that you can build on. Think back to your days as a scrivener on that daily rag in San Jose. What kind of news was it that sold papers? I'll tell you what kind: it wasn't the goody-goody, nice-nice stuff. It was conflict, violence, crisis, disaster. That's what people want to read about. That's why they buy newspapers. So, if you're going to write about Saratoga, I'd say to look on the seamy side, the dark side, which we just happen to have. Here's a city facing a fiscal crisis and forced to sell property that has a high potential for worthwhile civic use; the city needs it. And here's a main business street that's a potential ghost town, with vacant store after vacant store, and a sidewalk in need of repair. That's only part of it. Saratoga's going down the tubes. What more could you ask?"

"I'm not so interested in selling papers as I am in filling space," I replied. "However, you have given me an idea." Before I could elaborate, Sam mercifully disappeared from consciousness.

My idea? Just the opposite of Sam's; namely, what's right about Saratoga? Granted, the city is facing some serious problems, but let's consider the things it has going for it. The logical place to start would be Saratoga's matchless location against the hills. Really, how scenic can you get? And here's that mile-long stretch of Saratoga Avenue wisely preserved as a tree-lined Heritage Lane, which goes by another wisely preserved asset, the Heritage Orchard. Then there are other related features such as the Historical Museum, the McWilliams House, the Memorial Arch and the highway-intruding stone wall along Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, fragments of the past that occupy a significant place in the present. I would list history and tradition as being highly important in considering what's right about Saratoga.

Another of its major plus-factors is Saratoga's status as a city. It almost didn't happen, and I don't care to think about what we'd be like today if San Jose had intruded into what are now our city limits. The mid-1950s was the era of defensive incorporations as San Jose pushed its borders across the valley. This was at a time when there still were many orchards, prime targets for "uninhabited" annexations with the assent of, or on petition by, the owners. For an orchardist contemplating selling land to developers, San Jose--with its fairly small residential lot sizes--was an inviting prospect. The more lots, the more money.

The first to meet the annexation threat was Campbell, the "Orchard City." Residents there voted to incorporate in 1952, after one failed try. Cupertino was next, in 1955. In 1956, enough Saratogans got worried about the annexation prospects to launch an incorporation movement, which met with instant opposition. Opponents argued that nobody was going to be annexed if they didn't want to be, and there was no point in setting up another layer of government, what with the county and special districts doing an adequate job.

The opponents came close to winning. Seventy-five percent of Saratoga's 4,473 registered voters turned out, and incorporation passed by a slim, 159-vote margin. So, for almost 50 years, Saratoga's course has been charted by qualified leaders chosen by, and responsible to, the electorate.

Whatever the problems we face, and there are many, I have confidence in our governmental structure and in the people in charge. While I'm engaged in local flag-waving, I'd like to point out again that next year will be the 50th anniversary of cityhood. How about staging a commemorative Blossom Festival?