The Whack a Mole approach
I am NOT ready to move forward with the Housing Element "Whack a Mole" flawed process. It is still a train wreck in progress. I am not ready to go through and consider sites when this is not driven holistically as I have explained at www.RishiKumar.com/TheSaratogaPlan.
What is concerning is how Saratoga and almost every city has been setup for failure with overtly inflated RHNA numbers.
◙ Saratoga is setup for failure?
The Housing Element’s inflated* housing goals, i.e RHNA numbers, has been rigged for cities to fail and for developers to make money. Yes, Saratoga has been setup for failure thanks to politicians who have sold out to the real-estate industry as this op-ed points out. Bills like SB-9 and SB-10 will lead to an exponential exodus. Read my op-ed piece here. Once a city fails, SB-35 kicks in. SB-35 is essentially triggered by developers failing to pull building permits. If building permits are not pulled, cities are blamed. But a city government is not in the business of building housing as we all know. The city hands out permits and Saratoga has NOT refused any permits in the 8 years and more. If developers don’t pull permits, then developers circumvent the city council (as per the definition of SB-35) and go through a ministerial approval aka rubber-stamping approval without public hearing. The developers get a free rein over the city.
We need the voice of reason rising against this terrible plan that will disfigure Saratoga forever. We have a choice - rollover and play dead to allow Sacramento to wreck Saratoga’s future. Or approach the problem from a standpoint of knowledge, engagement and action to protect our neighborhoods. The very future of our city is at stake We have a year left to submit this to the state, and we can still right this ship with some common sense thinking.
◙ We are NOT against housing
I don’t believe anyone in Silicon Valley is against housing. In fact, my Mega Silicon Valley Housing plan will create a huge number of affordable housing. But pragmatic thinkers that we are, we believe it has to be done right! Where is the plan for infrastructure, for traffic, for parking, for sewers for schools? Who will be handed the tax increase bill? The people of course! The land developers are off the hook - they are just going to be recipients of cha-ching cha-ching. When politicians sell out to real-estate developers, nasty things happen. California is in a perfect storm that is bringing real-estate groups from Texas - who are rubbing their hands with glee based on what is going on in California (real story). The California land grab is on, thanks to illogical and ill-conceived Sacramento laws sponsored by sold out politicians.
Below is my statement from today's 9AM Saratoga City Council meeting.
NOTE: I was interrupted and I couldn’t go through all the points below that I had planned to make at this meeting
”The Housing Element approach is off-track and I cannot stand by a faulty approach that is not serving our citizens well. This plan was sent to all the council in advance of today’s meeting.
I have been repeating like a broken record - asking for a do-over. I don’t see that happening!
◙ I asked today that all the proposed sites be marked as a NO from me - until I can see a better plan. Saying Yes to a flawed plan would not be kosher.
My pledge - I will never let the people of Saratoga down. You may have seen that - I don’t take this platform conferred upon by our people lightly.
There is nothing in the housing element today that a principled man who hasn’t sold out to a flawed system would support.
As you can tell - I have been frustrated with sheer incompetence and tax-payer dollars that are being spent spinning in circles.
Sorry - saying Yes to a flawed plan would not be right by my standards.
Back in December I asked for a do-over and a plan of equity - and I am sticking to it.
◙ My plan:
My plan click on the link has been written - like many of my plans written as a tech executive seeking to right a wrong - to distribute density across the various school districts based on population %, equity and a proper urban plan that includes General plan elements like the Circulation element and Open Space, keeping Saratoga's current story limits and height limits. We have to conduct a metrics driven analysis site by site, as mentioned in my plan to get this right. Palo Alto for example has a spreadsheet arranged with multiple metrics and visible criteria to help the council make a decision. Why can’t Saratoga do the same? We will not be able to design this on the dias at our city council meeting based on limited data. We need a regimented plan which is put together meticulously based on a variety of grading factors. The onus lies upon staff to do it - but the council needs to make that ask of them and provide us what we need to make a decision. It is up to the mayor of the city to develop the direction and I have zero confidence in the ability based on what I have seen.
◙ The approach and the adopted process is broken today.
I am puzzled that only after a year we discovered that we forgot to include school sites or church sites - which is fundamental to creating housing for our teachers, firefighters and essential workers. How did we miss that? Beats me completely!
◙ Saratoga is facing an unprecedented crisis
This is like nothing we have faced in the past 6 decades. Yes, we are in crisis mode. But THERE IS NO PLAN and there is no decisive leadership.
◙ We are playing the "Whack a Mole" game.
Everything is very haphazard. It is a failure of leadership. We are not solving anything except pitting neighbors against neighbors. We have successfully divided up our city - something that had never happened in the 65 years of our history. But there is still no plan - “Let us have meetings till 2:30AM and vote on stuff when Saratoga is sleeping and then we change that to let us stop all meetings at midnight.” We hear - Let us push for transparency - it is very important to me - and then - let us have meetings on a work day at 9am.
◙ We need leadership at the helm
Time for Leadership and Action - from a public testimony
Consensus insanity by the mayor. Does she have a thought of her own? - quoting a neighbor’s feedback
Tina is driving the train - she has been driving a train that is rudderless and she has not suggested anything so far - not a plan yet. She is relying on what our staff is telling her; the fact is that staff should be taking the directions of city council and acting upon it. Tina has made zero site recommendations prior to our meeting today when that was the ask of every councilmember. No value add yet - sorry to say this. A crisis is the time for leadership and I haven't seen anything. No one knows what she wants or if she understood the operational framework of what is involved. Given that this is such a significant issue - why are we voting at 2:30AM when Saratoga is sleeping? Or holding public hearings on a weekday? Why don’t we have a clear plan for upcoming Housing Element meetings so that our residents can plan their calendar around it? The process that was defined today by Tina is faulty - will still have us spinning in circles, there is no method to the madness. I am not enthused right now of a positive outcome that is fair and just.
◙ Where is the equity?
With two councilmembers proposing only 2 new sites (Kookie and Yan), and another zero (Mary-Lynne) prior to the meeting today, it seems that we are clearly not interested in an equitable model. Our neighbors asked for sites to be distributed all over Saratoga - given that it was heavily concentrated north of Cox. Yet, Kookie suggested 2 new sites that were also north of Cox. Unfortunately my colleagues here are not listening and have refused to go down the rational route. They have not tried to construct a plan of equity and an urban plan. Our city council is NOT listening to our community. We are spinning in circles, lost and rudderless. I hope we can correct course.
◙ A do-over!
I am not the guy who likes to be stuck in a groundhog day situation, just a crazy inefficient approach, wasting taxpayer dollars. I am asking for a do-over - let us do it right ASAP. There is plenty of time.
I tried my best to slow the train and stop this train wreck but even today everyone is determined to move forward fast and furious.
Cupertino is weeks behind Saratoga and their population is 2x compared to ours. No other city in the vicinity is ahead of Saratoga. Why the rush?
If they are moving forward with due diligence, why can’t we?
Thank you”
I will always fight for fairness and to do the right thing:
My branding is that I have always challenged the system, unafraid to be the dissenting vote. Why would I roll over and play dead now?
If I hadn’t done what I did - we would not have rejected 9 San Jose Water Company’s water rate increases that benefited a million people of Silicon Valley, or reduced burglaries - the largest reduction compared to any other Silicon Valley city, and stopped a potential 300-room hotel mega development project on a hillside in a high fire hazard zone. When my colleagues on the city council proposed a road tax, I was the only dissenting vote, pushing for a budget optimization approach instead to free up dollars for road repair. The council ultimately put the brakes on the road tax. I was the only councilmember who spoke against the ministerial process for SB-35 projects i.e The Quito Village housing project . Los Altos decided to fight it Should Saratoga give up without a fight over what is right?
Bedtime reading material - please take the time to educate yourself
◙ White paper: RishiKumar.com/ManagedGrowth
◙ Have you sent in your request to audit the RHNA numbers? https://rishikumar.com/hcdaudit
◙ Help me get signatures for the Housing Ballot Measure. Email me at Rishi<At>RishiKumar.com. We have a team of 128 volunteers already in Saratoga. Join us!
◙ Rishi’s Housing Element Plan for Saratoga https://rishikumar.com/thesaratogaplan
◙ Real time updates at https://www.facebook.com/groups/managedgrowth
◙ Take the survey tinyurl.com/StopTheTrainWreck