Saratoga News
News
Kumar wants to give back, and he gets his wish
By Shannon Burkey
When Rishi Kumar and his family moved to Saratoga in 2001, it was because they loved the look and feel of the city and its ambiance.
Now, Kumar, who was sworn in as Saratoga's newest planning commissioner on March 21, wants to help preserve those exact things in his new role.
"When we first came here, we really liked the country quality that Saratoga had," Kumar said. "It seemed very different from the sprawling subdivisions of the Midwest."
For the past nine years, Kumar has worked for IBM, and when the company transferred him from Michigan to California, he jumped at the chance because of the better weather, he joked.
Since arriving in Saratoga, he has become increasingly involved in making his community a better place.
After a series of break-ins in his neighborhood, he helped coordinate a Neighborhood Safety Watch Team. He also represented his neighborhood at traffic safety commission meetings when he and his neighbors saw a need to make their streets safer, and he worked on a neighborhood preparedness initiative.
In addition to his neighborhood work, Kumar is also a division manager for the American Youth Soccer Organization, which his two sons play for, and is a member of the Argonaut Elementary School Technology Committee.
Being involved in the community is something he said is natural to him. Born in India, he said that it's just the way of life in that country.
"India is a very spiritual society, and volunteering is about having compassion and contributing to society, so it's common," he said. "It's not just about getting value from just existing in society; sometimes you have to give back, too."
Wanting to give more, Kumar felt the next logical step was to join a city commission, and the planning commission seemed like a good fit.
"Having an engineering background will be very helpful to me when we have all of those analytical discussions and in making the right decisions from an analytical standpoint," he said.
His top priority as a commissioner, Kumar said, is to be in the position to continue to create win-win situations among the city, the residents and the businesses.
"Everybody needs to understand each other and continue to work with each other to continue to bring success to our neighborhoods," he said.
He defines success as trying to continue the ambiance that Saratoga offers.
"You don't go and make sudden changes. You have to keep in perspective what the impact of certain changes will be. Sometimes it will be a tough call, but we need to make the right decisions. They can't be made in a hurry. We need to make them slowly and gradually--but we need to make the right decisions," he said.
As for the businesses in Saratoga, he would like to help make them more successful while being mindful of what the residents want.
"We can't really go about reducing the number of businesses we have right now because they do contribute to the revenue of Saratoga, and I think that's critical right now," he said. "We need to maintain that but at the same time we need to make sure that we are making it easier for them to do business. In addition we need to make sure the surrounding neighborhoods are happy with the decisions we make."
Although this will be his first time on a city commission, Kumar said he is well prepared for his new venture since he has spoken with present commissioners and followed the issues at recent meetings.
"I didn't just want to jump into it without knowing the consequences," he said. "I think I have a pretty good idea as to what is needed and I am quite enthused about it right now. When my friends come to visit me from other areas, they are quite charmed with Saratoga, and I'm certainly in no hurry to change that."
