rishi kumar july newsletterversion1

Ju ly 20 1 5 NEWSL ETTER HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN….

Dear Friends,

The summer days are just so delightful! Our city is buzzing, and almost every week, there is something going on in our city. Are you plugged in?

JULY EVENTS: We started the month with the city’s annual 4th of July celebration at Kevin Moran Park. It was a fabulous turnout, a celebration of our history and the finale with the grand parade was just spectacular. What a fantastic community gathering. How about the Saratoga has Class(ic) Car Show. That was a big hit. Is anyone missing our street party now? The flashmob that day had everyone on Big Basin Way dancing and the drone-cam hovering over Saratoga? The Saratoga Chamber and Tiger Teerlink just created history. Recognizing Saratogans at a special Saratoga Historical Foundation event had me enraptured with Saratoga’s fascinating history. We have had a cherished past, and there is an opportunity to create an amazing future, and that is why we need to continue to address our challenges strategically. ONLINE BOOKING: Towards making our city services cheaper, faster, better and easier to access, we have taken our city facilities rental process online i.e you can now make city facilities reservations (limited scope initially) via our city website. This is something that was on my campaign charter and I am very happy to see it happening. Why should we physically have to walk into the city office to make a rental booking in this day and age? Ultimately, many of our city services will go online to make it easier for our citizens to leverage our city services.

SAFETY: Safety is an issue that has emerged as a major concern. This month, on the city council I brought up this topic. Saratoga had been the safest city in California 2 years in a row - 2012 and 2013. Last year we were the 5th safest city in Calfornia. But the break-ins this year have gone up, compared to last year WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO TO ENHANCE THE SAFETY OF OUR NEIGHBORHOODS? Take the 2 minute survey – click on tinyurl link. Below are some ideas I presented at our council meeting today, and thus, we have agendized SAFETY by inviting our Captain Sung to present to the council at a future meeting. The quest for a Safer Saratoga continues. Here 1. Coffee with a Cop - once a month at a Starbucks / Peets for 1 hour. Allows an interactive dialogue - apart from the annual crime safety forum 2. Communicating with Neighborhood Safety Watch groups. Maintaining an email list of the Leads for every Neighborhood Safety Watch in the city, communicating with them once a quarter. 3. List of surveillance cameras - this list managed by Santa Clara County. Simple UI via a website or mobile app for citizens to provide this information 4. Mobile app - managed by Santa Clara County, but allows citizens to select their city of choice to get relevant data. These were some ideas - I would love to get yours on the survey http://tinyurl.com/SafetySurvey100 As always, let me know how I can help. Email (rkumar at Saratoga.ca.us) is the best way to reach me. Thanks - Rishi

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

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We conducted the second Reading of the City Code Update: AMENDING CHAPTERS 2, 3, 12, 14, 15 AND 16 OF THE SARATOGA CITY CODE. As part of this, certain sections of the City Code were amended in order to remedy internal ambiguities, clarify existing requirements, codify staff interpretations, omit redundant terms and provisions, and amend grammatical and other errors

Our City council adopted an Ordinance amending the City Code Regarding Ground Movement Regulations. In some instances, the geotechnical remediation measures required to obtain the required clearances to determine that the project is structurally safe from earth movement may not be technically or financially feasible for relatively small projects such as minor building additions. For example, deep landslides and/or recommended repairs sometime extend onto adjacent properties which are beyond the control of the applicant, or the scope of recommended slide repairs (and associated costs) are so large that they are disproportionate to the project size and financially infeasible for a single property owner. …(continued top right)

Valley Transportation

Plan 2040

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is required to have a 25 year countywide plan that lists projects aimed at improving our highways, local streets, and transit. This plan of Santa Clara County is called the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP) with the latest edition labeled VTP 2040. Deadline for city of Saratoga projects into this list is August 31, 2015. This is tied to a proposed sales tax increase in 2016 “Envision Silicon Valley”. We had a few ideas at the July meeting, and we would love to hear from you too. Some of the projects Saratoga is proposing are listed to the right

Tree ordinance UpdateD

Saratoga waived fees for dead trees; We approved Amendments to the Tree Regulations, Article 15- 50.070, of the Saratoga City Code. As proposed, a property owner will be able to submit a tree removal permit application and photos of the dead tree to the Community Development Department. The application fee will be waived if the photos document that the tree is dead and the permit issued. No notification of neighbors needed. The proposed revisions will allow permits to be issued over the counter or within a day or two of submittal.

AMENDING ground movement

regulations

City Code Update

C i t y C o u n c i l U p d a t e

(..continued)To net it out, we updated our city code to make it more reasonable for our citizens. Several cities in the Bay Area have similar geotechnical conditions for hillside areas but allow more flexibility for existing structures and new development than the City’s regulations. We did the same.

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How can you start your own neighborhood safety watch

How can you volunteer

Here are volunteer opportunities - mostly for kids, some for adults too

Saratoga’s Talent Competition: http://tinyurl.com/SaratogaTalentVolunteer

Saratoga’s Tech Day : http://tinyurl.com/SiliconValleyTechDay

Teach the Seniors: http://tinyurl.com/TeachSeniors

Help kids with back to school: http://tinyurl.com/wvcs-volunteer

Google - “Noise Exception Permit Application city of Saratoga”. You should find the city of Saratoga page for “Event Permits”. You can print the Noise Exception permit form from the city website, fill it, write a check for $50 and drop

off to city office. Yes, we are exploring making this an online permitting process

How can you get a noise permit for a outdoor party

Take the survey: Councilmember Rishi Kumar is interested to hear from you. What else can we do to innovate? Take this short survey here: http://tinyurl.com/SaratogaSurvey

How can you pick up your free

drought Gear

Next week, the Santa Clara Valley Water District is visiting five libraries across the county to distribute free drought gear to residents. We invite you come by and pick up your gear and also ask for your help to get the word out to the community about these events. At each library, residents will be able to pick up many free items such as Water Buckets, hose nozzles, moisture meters and shower heads. The events will take place next week from 10:30AM to 2:30PM at the follow locations: Monday, August 3: Santa Clara Public Library Tuesday, August 4: Dr. Roberto Cruz - Alum Rock Library Wednesday, August 5: Palo Alto Mitchell Park Library Friday, August 7: Los Gatos Library

Cannot make it? Just submit a request online at http://bit.ly/1Kktulr Call (408) 630-2000 to report water waste or for more information

If you are interested in forming a neighborhood safety watch, please contact Rishi. He has enabled safety watch for many neighborhoods – two more are in the works - and will be happy to walk you through the process. Also, join the citizen’s Safe Saratoga group. Find it here Facebook.com/groups/SafeSaratoga.

H o w c a n Y o u . . .

How can Saratoga innovate

How can you find out about Capital

Improvement projects

Here are capital improvement projects that are on-going in Saratoga. Here is the link http://www.saratoga.ca.us/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=8901 Details next month

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U p c o m i n g E v e n t s

FUNDS RAISED GO TO SARATOGA SENIOR CENTER Event is set for August 22nd, 2014 at Saratoga Community Center.This is our 4th year of our annual fundraiser supporting the Saratoga Senior Center

Saratoga Has talent annual

competition 2015

Saratoga Historical

Foundation: The great Indian

Railway

August Summer

movie nights series at el quito Park

7:30 pM

August 21st – Big Hero 6 The event begins at 7:30 p.m. with the movie starting at 8:30 p.m. Ticket? This event is free. But, do not forget to bring blanket, lawn chairs and snacks.

Saratoga annual Youth tech day

Saturday September 12th

Join us for the first ever Saratoga TECH DAY - September 12th between 1pm and 6pm... a fun, interactive learning experience for the young students interested in technology. WHERE: Saratoga's Joan Pisani Community Center 19655 Allendale Ave, Saratoga, CA 95070. WHEN: September 12th, 1pm to 6pm .Panel discussions, demos, interactive learning, hackathons and more Three panelists: Silicon Valley executive panel discussion, Silicon Valley youth coders panel discussion, Silicon Valley elected leaders panel discussion. RSVP and volunteering opportunity here: http://tinyurl.com/SiliconValleyTechDay No tickets needed, but RSVP is a must. Details at www.siliconvalleycoders.org

Saratoga Quarry Park Grand

Opening

Grand opening of

Pink House

We don’t have a date yet - but get out to Pink House and welcome them. This brand new Restaurant/Jazz Cafe opened in our Village. Phone: (408) 647 2273. 14577 Big Basin Way

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

July 4th Celebration in

Saratoga

With senator Jim beall -

Breakfast meeting with

citizens

G l i m p s e s f r o m J u l y

ASSEMBLY MEMBER EVAN LOW

VISITS SARATOGA’s BUSINESSES;

with SARATOGA CHAMBER

PRESIDENT PAT MARTELL and

PATRICK AHRENS, EVAN’s STAFF

MEMBER


Saratoga’s

Classic Car Show

Assembly member Kansen

Chu AD25 and wife

Daisy spending time in

Saratoga DOWNTOWN,

and enjoying karaoke

Saratoga’s Classic Car

show with organizer

Tiger Teerlink in the

center

Interviewing former

Mayor Jill Hunter for

the American in Bloom

Competition Video

Saratoga Historical

Foundation

Recognizing

Saratogans

Saratoga relay

for life- Troop 581

conducting the

flag ceremony

Enjoying DINNER - A FABULOUS SARATOGA EVENING

SELFIE AT JULY 4th