Fools rush in where...
Today’s city council meeting had over a hundred public testimonies - about 540 in attendance. Our city council decided to not deliberate and move forward on the housing topic at this late hour to ensure transparency with decision making. Democracy is at work and so many Saratogans are exercising their right to speech and expression. They are providing valuable input! Our city council has to listen.
Public testimonies today had many common threads:
Seemingly no one has discovered that happy state with the current housing plan.
Some are urging the city council to pull back from this accelerated path forward and come up with a better plan: Time to Go Big & Bold, Time for Leadership and Action
Some are calling this an empty exercise as Saratoga is between a rock and a hard place, and has been dealt a really bad card. They are urging the city to hold ground and fight the bad policies from Sacramento.
My take - why rush in where angels fear to tread?
I polled a few Silicon Valley councilmembers on what their city’s status and stage is with the housing element.
I heard, “What Housing Element sites?”
My conclusion - Saratoga is way ahead of the game and for some inexplicable reason we are seemingly “running out of time."
We have roughly a year left in the Housing Element certification.
Shall we slow down this impending train wreck and change course to a better path?
CALL TO ACTION:
◙ Send the audit support letter to the California State Auditor team as explained at https://rishikumar.com/hcdaudit. The Housing Element is being imposed upon us through a flawed process that does not solve anything, just turns over our city to the land developers. Please read the gory details at http://rishikumar.com/managedgrowth
◙ An Internship Opportunity to focus on the housing challenge:
I would love to team up with your student at home to continue the fight against ill-conceived housing laws or fighting San Jose Water company against their rampant rate increases. Point your high school students - including rising high schoolers - or college students to our internship program. College applications, devoid of SAT or ACT scores have increased emphasis on the essay and the community leadership story - impact that students have made with local issues and challenges. Did you know that one of our interns designed and developed the Silicon Valley Water app that thousands in Silicon Valley are using to send their protest emails to PUC in less than 10 seconds. Registration for the summer internship is open now at RishiKumar.com/Fellowship.
◙ Join my efforts to restore housing sanity with a ballot measure targeted for the November 2022 election. If this ballot measure is passed, local housing laws will prevail, and prior bills like SB-35, SB-9, SB-10 will become null and void, marking the end of the blank check to land developers. Email Rishi@RishiKumar.com if you are interested in collecting signatures in your neighborhood. When push comes to shove - each of us need to wear the activism hat. The power of the press is fading, and we now have the power of change.org and ballot measures - as that is the power of the people and that is where the power should rest and has always rested!