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Saratoga mayor takes a look back at the last four years

By Norman Kline

I sometimes think of politics as a long-distance race. The winner isn't always the fastest nor the strongest. You focus on the next segment ahead, the next bend in the trail and the runners around you. Rarely do you get a chance to look back and enjoy the scenery. I'd like to attempt to stop, take a deep breath and review the last four years. With any luck, I will do this without falling over or tripping up my fellow runners.

When I was elected four years ago, the council was at war (as close as a council can get) with many factions in the community. Some of these conflicts were decades old. Most were based on real issues, but magnified by personality conflicts and lack of real communications. While dealing with these battles, the council also had to reduce spending on operations and deliver on long-promised capital improvement projects.

The city council tackled these issues by opening up communications and removing personality issues from policy decisions. We were not always successful, and had some spectacular failures along the way. The achievements of these efforts are worth noting and remembering.

The "war" with West Valley College, which resulted in legal battles all the way up to the state Supreme Court and the loss of one major bond issue by the college, had been going on for 30 years. This city council, with the help of new college leaders, solved the core issues. Instead of an adversary relationship, the two organizations now work closely together to solve issues in their shared community.

Hakone Gardens, not only a local but national treasure, was almost sold and closed because of funding issues. This city council set up a new foundation with a new director and board that turned the troubled park around to become a financially sound and self-supporting cultural center.

The "conflict" with the Saratoga Fire District, which almost resulted in legal action, has changed into a strong partnership. Thanks to leaders in both organizations, the fire district and city are stronger, sharing resources and expertise in case of major emergencies. A side result of our relationship with the fire district was returning the Memorial Arch to the redesigned Blaney Plaza.

Who can forget the Saratoga Chamber vs. Saratoga City Council battles? The he said-she said stories in the press had become almost comical. Although the Chamber and city do not always see eye to eye, the current relationship is a good and healthy one. This council understood how important a strong Chamber is to a town and helped and continues to help the Chamber fulfill its role in the community.

During the worse recessions in the valley, the city council kept long-promised capital improvement projects alive and moving forward. Almost 100 percent of the city parks were restored, the meridians re-landscaped and the long-promised Gateway project was funded and built.

Although the Gateway was funded, Caltrans almost squashed the deal by requesting the replacement of a railroad-crossing signal, to the tune of more than $500,000. Reaching out to state leaders, this council made that requirement disappear.

While investigating the creation of a redevelopment agency for the Village, an effort that failed to meet legal hurdles, the council was able to identify how to take ownership over the Village sidewalks and did so. The city now not only owns the sidewalks, but was granted more than $750,000 by the state to maintain or rebuild them.

The PG&E Trail was approved, but greatly reduced in scale to meet neighbors' concerns. An EIR is pending to determine if other measures are needed before this trail can be finally approved.

The Kevin Moran Park redevelopment issue seems to be winding down to a good solid compromise. Buying rights to two soccer fields at West Valley College opened the way to reducing the intensity and size of flat grass needs at the park. Now the city council has approved installing two half-size fields at the park for practice use only. This deal could still unwind and fall apart, but its looks very solid right now.

Mountain Winery and Montalvo concert noise concerns have been greatly reduced, due to council encouragement of both organizations to engage neighborhoods and understand their concerns.

North Campus. Yes, I was one of the first to say let's sell it. In defense, I was also the first to provide a serious plan to use the North Campus as a teen center more than three years ago. But now the council has approved more than $500,000 to redevelop the campus for community use. With the cover of an overwhelming vote to keep the campus, the council will move forward quickly.

Highway 85 is a great asset, but it also had a major noise problem in our community. The city council worked closely with the VTA to approve a micro-grinding process that has helped reduce the noise impacts. Long-term solutions to significantly reduce noise can be accomplished if Saratoga stays engaged with the VTA.

The Tax Equalization Act issue, a very complex problem that resulted in our city not getting its fair share of property taxes for the last 20 years, has been finally be solved. Thanks to this city council's premier position and help from three other cities, we are about to see our fair share restored by the state. This represents an additional $1 million (and growing) yearly to the roughly $10 million operational budget.

All these achievements, and some failures and missteps, were done by your volunteer city council members. I want to thank not only my current peers on the council--Kathleen King, Nick Streit, Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao--but also several former members including Stan Bogosian, John Mehaffey and Evan Baker for helping on many of achievements.

If you ask well-respected public leaders why they run for office, most reply consistently along the following lines. "I think I can make a difference in people's lives by bringing them together to solve problems."

That's a high standard to work toward.

I have not always agreed with other council members on specific issues, but I think this city council has lived by that standard, and I will always cherish my work with them for doing so.

Public policy is not a race where there have to be winners and losers. When we can all be winners, then the race is really worth running.

Norman Kline is the mayor of Saratoga.