rishi kumar saratoga council october 2015 newsletter

OCTOBER 20 1 5 NEWSL ETTER

WWW.RISHIKUMAR.COM || WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/VOTERISHI || RKUMAR<at>SARATOGA.CA.US

A VISION – HALLMARK OF LEADERSHIP

Dear friends,

A new park in Saratoga? When was the last time that happened? Our city opened our new 64-acre Saratoga Quarry Park (maps www.saratoga.ca.us/quarrypark) on Halloween morning officially to the public. This simple public event was kicked-off by our Mayor Howard Miller, and the other speakers were Former Mayor Ann Walton Smith, representative from MidPeninsula Open Space, San Jose Water Company’s Government Affairs representative John Tang, our district County Supervisor Joe Simitian and our Senator Jim Beall. Pictures and videos at https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/quarrypark

It took more than a decade of diligent effort and consistent push to make this happen. It started with a vision, and then a flurry of activities in keeping with that vision, passing the baton to new councilmembers, collaboration, planning and working with local groups, organization and area elected leadership help to make this happen. Our city staff led by Public Works Director John Cherbone, worked furiously behind the scene to deliver this on time and on budget. It has resulted into a phenomenal offering for our citizens that Saratogans and area residents will enjoy for a long time. A trail to the sea starting from the Quarry Park? Yes, that is a possibility too. Stay tuned! There were two active quarries on the site in the early 1900s. Both were converted from lime quarries into one gravel quarry after the purchase of the properties in 1908. In 1921, Santa Clara County bought the property and operated it as a rock and gravel quarry, which supplied the material for the county’s roads. The County closed the quarry in 1967. The City of Saratoga acquired the property in 2011 by investing a mere $250,000 with a conservation easement and joint funding from the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District and our county Parks and Recreation Dept. The easement assures that the property will be retained as a natural scenic and open space area by restricting the property’s use. Go check it out. Address 22000 Congress Spring Roads. Quarry Park will be open 7 days a week ‘from dawn to dusk’. Hope to see you soon there and kudos to such incredible vision to making this happen! Take the survey here - Rishi

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: YOUTH INTERN SHAUNAK VAIDYA

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The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office would like to introduce a great resource website called CrimeReports.com. It allows free access to the last six months of reported crimes, including jurisdiction and location. CrimeReports.com also hosts a Camera Registration Program. This is a great way for the public to take a more active role in helping solve crimes in their community while protecting their own homes. By registering the location of your home security cameras, you might assist the Sheriff’s Office in supplying information needed to catch criminals that have burglarized your neighbors. Having camera footage of suspects is one of the most valuable tools law enforcement can use to identify criminal suspects. Your information is kept secure and never made public. You would still own the cameras, and your participation is always voluntary. To register your security camera, go to www.CrimeReports.com and click on the “register my camera” link. Then select the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office as your local law enforcement agency.

Envision Silicon Valley Feedback

for the Vta

Santa Clara county Sheriff’s Office tracker

C i t y c o u n c i l u p d a t e a n d P a s t H A p p e n i n g s

The California Department of Food and Agriculture has discovered an infestation of an exotic insect pest, the Oriental Fruit Fly, in Saratoga. The California Secretary of Agriculture has issued an emergency proclamation authorizing the implementation of an eradication project. The eradication treatment will encompass 12 square miles and will likely around 5 days. The process started on the 19 of October, but will be repeated every two weeks for 2 months.

Oriental Fruit Fly Infestation

in saratoga

For the past several months, the public gave VTA feedback about the Envision Silicon Valley goals that was developed in collaboration with community volunteers. Here is your chance to select your top five priorities. This will help VTA understand the community’s values as we consider the trade-offs involved in decision-making. For those that do not know, Envision Silicon Valley is an interactive tool created in order to allow the citizens to help the Valley Transportation Authority examine the area. Take the survey here http://www.envisionsv.org/

CALIFORNIA NOW HAS A TECH CAUCUS

On Saturday, California now has a tech caucus founded by our own Assemblymember Evan Low. Absolutely needed to keep Silicon Valley thriving. Caucus members includes our Senator Jim Beall . The focus on technology is good...not only for the valley, but the rest of America.

DMV – AUTOMATICALLY REGISTERED TO VOTE

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a measure that would eventually allow Californians to be automatically registered to vote when they go the DMV to obtain or renew a driver’s license. The Governor’s office said will "help improve elections and expand voter rights and access in California,"

COUNCILMEMBER RISHI KUMAR NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2015 of 12

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2015 saratoga holiday wine

stroll

On Friday, November 27th, we hope you will join us for another Holiday Wine Stroll from 5 to 8pm! Saratoga Village will delight you with its beautiful old world charm while you stroll up and down Big Basin Way. You will be able to sample the wines from over 20 local and boutique wineries, while savoring scrumptious “bites” from local merchants. Enjoy the fine wine, the valley’s most beautiful village lit up with music, and even Dicken’s Characters in Victorian attire! Come and experience the fun. Participants must be at least 21 years of age. Remote ticket purchasing for the Wine Stroll Experience is closed. Tickets can now be purchased at the Chamber office at 14460 Big Basin Way.

U p c o m i n g E V E N T S & o c u r r e n c e s

Road Pavement on Prospect/saratoga

sunnyvale

The joint paving work at the intersection of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and Prospect Road is scheduled to begin between the hours of 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. this coming Monday, November 2, and finish night work on Tuesday, November 3. Notices were sent out on Thursday, October 29. Additionally, electronic message boards were placed at the work site that same day to advise motorist of the upcoming work. Lowering of iron manhole covers during the day will begin as early as this Friday, October 30 with completion by Monday, November 2.

Earlier this month Governor Brown signed AB 57, which was approved by large majorities in the Assembly and Senate despite opposition from the League of Cities. The legislation declares that wireless telecommunications facilities have a significant economic impact in California and are not a municipal affair but a matter of statewide concern. It provides that any application for collocation or siting of new wireless facilities are automatically approved if a city or county does not approve or deny the application within the timelines that are required by the Federal Communications Commission (90 days for collocation and 150 days for new facilities) as long as the applicant has provided all required public notices and notice to the city or county that the time period has lapsed. It does not allow any additional time for public notice, public meeting, CEQA, or appeal issues. Our office will be working with the Community Development Department to ensure that the City processes applications in a manner that avoids automatic approval.


Wireless Communication facility update

Silicon valley turkey trot registration

The registration for Silocon Valley’s annual Turkey Trot Race is open and can be done online. The actual race will be held on the morning of Thanksgiving itself , the 26th of November. Our Mayor Howard Miller hopes to bring back to Saratoga the Mayor’s cup


VILLAGE SPECIFIC PLAN – OPEN HOUSE

PLEASE ATTEND

On NOVEMBER 17, 2015, the Saratoga Planning Commission and Heritage Preservation Commission will hold an open house from 6pm to 8pm at the Senior Center to discuss the Village Specific plan update process. Questions? Reach out to staff Kirk Heinrichs at [email protected] or call 408 868 1222

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G l i m p s e s F R O M O C t o b e r



5

WWW.RISHIKUMAR.COM || WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/VOTERISHI || [email protected]

With an eclectic

group, Assembly member

Kansen Chu, CA state

treasurer John Chiang,

COUNCILMEMBER BENNY

LEE FROM SAN LEANDRO

and SPOUSES

WITH ASSEMBLYMEMBER

CATHERIN BAKER AT FOG

DIWALI IN PLEASANTON

With the eagle scouts

that contributed to

MANY PROJECTS at the

QUARRY PARK


=


with President

Obama's cabinet

Secretary, the

United State

Secretary of

Labor Thomas E

Perez AT A

SILICON VALLEY

LEADERSHIP

GROUP EVENT

DIWALI CELEBRATION AT

THE SARATOGA HISTORY

MUSEUM

WITH CONGRESSMAN TED

LIEU, CD 33 at the USPTO

SILICON VALLEY LAUNCH


At thE UsS PATENT

OFFICE SAN JOSE launch

with congressman

mike Honda –

organized by SILICON

VALLEY LEADERSHIP

With the honorees at

the SVAPADC dinner,

Margaret Okuzumi and

Assembly member rich

gordon

At the CA League of

Cities Peninsula

quarterly dinner

networking, sharing

ideas, problems and

solution. The topic

WAS Affordable

housing.



Speaking at

the Silicon

Valley

Entrepreneurs

(SVE) SpeakerFest

at Prysm


SENATOR JIM BEALL

SPEAKING AT THE TEA

SUCCESS PARTY, ORGANIZED

BY CUPERTINO. Senator

Beall’s SB 107 brought

additional $650K to

saratoga


Delighted to meet

Nancy Johnson a

26 year Saratoga

resident who is

our new

Superintendent of

the Saratoga

Union School

District

At the region 7

quarterly meeting

with Kansen Chu,

Jim Beall, Ash Kalra,

Kevin De Leon and

JOSUE GARCIA

Congratulations to

Senator Jim Beall for

receiving the

Legislator of the year

award by the

California League of

Cities today in San Jose


COUNCILMEMBER RISHI KUMAR NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2015

API Caucus

dinner with

California’s

new speaker

ANTHONY

RENDON

Getting sworn

in as an at large

director into

the CALIFORNIA

LEAGUE OF CITIES,

Asian pacific-

islander Caucus




COUNCILMEMBER RISHI KUMAR NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2015 of

rishi kumar saratoga council october 2015 newsletter

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