Saratoga News
Letters & Opinions
More funds for infrastructure--vote 'yes' on J
Saratoga has traveled down a bumpy road over the past four years since the purchase of the Grace Methodist Church property on Prospect Road, also known as the North Campus facility. And we mean that in more ways than one.
Saratoga's roads are bumpy--literally. Poor economic conditions in recent years have impacted the city budget to the point that cuts had to be made, and infrastructure--including repairs to roads, gutters, sidewalks and curbs--has been adversely impacted.
More specifically, though, the "bumpy road" is a metaphor for the controversy surrounding the plan to sell the North Campus to a developer who has plans to demolish the existing buildings and construct nine new homes.
The controversy has boiled to the point that the situation has become an election issue, Measure J on the June ballot. Voters will decide on June 6 whether to sell the property with a "yes on J" vote, or retain the property with a "no on J" vote.
The Saratoga News recommends a "yes" vote. Saratoga cannot afford to maintain two city campuses. What's more, the city council should never have entered into the arena of real estate speculation in the first place and needs to return the money invested in the property in 2002 to the city coffers.
The council has voted 3-2 to sell the property--Norman Kline, Nick Streit and Kathleen King voted in favor; Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao were opposed--and use the proceeds for community needs: $3.5 for pavement management; $750,000 for Village sidewalks; $750,00 for improvements to the senior center and community center; and $2 million for new city space at the civic center. We believe that is a good plan for the residents of Saratoga.
However, a grassroots effort to oppose the sale, spearheaded by former councilman Jack Mallory, led to the issue being placed on the June ballot. Those promoting retention of the property have no plans for use of the site, only saying that Saratoga can ill afford lose to any more of its land.
But this is no pristine slice of real estate. It's a square parcel on the edge of the city that borders the busy Prospect Road. It will not become a park, nor will it become open space. As a piece of property, it is undistinguished. We believe Mayor Kline when he says that the opposition is less about the North Campus property and more about political control of Saratoga.
So how did it all begin? In the spring of 2002, the city council voted 5-0 to purchase the site for $4.5 million. The plan was to move the senior center to the location, and Grace Methodist was offering the property at below market value with the hope that it would be maintained by the city for community use.
As it turns out, though, the seniors didn't want to make the move from the Civic Center to the North Campus. So, in July of 2002 when it became apparent that the cost of renovating the site would prohibit any such move, the seniors were happy. In a July 24, 2002, Saratoga News article the senior center members were said to be "overjoyed" by the news that they were to remain at the Civic Center. Sometime between July of 2002 and now, though, the senior leadership changed its collective mind and determined that the North Campus would serve its needs.
The original plan was to move the seniors to the North Campus to make more room for the sheriff's department substation at the Civic Center. When the substation moved to Cupertino, the city no longer felt the urgency to relocate the senior center. The North Campus became obsolete in the eyes of the council majority.
The council decided to sell the land, and accepted a bid of $7 million from developer Majid "Mike" Masoumi to purchase the 2.5-acre site. When the opposition forced the issue onto the June ballot, the sale price was discounted to $6.75 million is the measure passes.
A "yes" vote, as we see it, means tangible improvements to a city facing critical infrastructure concerns. A "no" vote means holding onto and maintaining a piece of property with no real vision for its usefulness.
