Preserve Saratoga

His many political contributions to Saratoga

Jeff Schwartz was a local resident in Saratoga who led and supported groups of citizens for many years to be aware of local politics and to react when decisions by politicians would affect their lives. He began and led groups that changed name over time but the philosophy remained the same: to promote slow and managed growth and to preserve what was important to people who had invested a great deal of money to make their home in Saratoga. Some of the names of the groups were: Preserve Saratoga, West Valley Taxpayers and Homeowners Association.

Some of the actions that Jeff created, led, and/or promoted:

1. In 1976, he along with Victor Monia, formed a group to stop the West Valley College’s plan to build a 20,000 to 30,000 seat football stadium.

2. In 1979, he, Vic Monia and Dora Grens, wrote Measure A and his group led the voter initiative to keep density low and to ensure a more thoughtful and safe hillsides development.

3. In 1996, he, and Vic Monia, wrote Measure G and his group led the voter initiative to prevent high density development in Saratoga.

4. When Measure G won, a Real Estate consortium filed a legal suit (a “slap” suit) which Jeff and others took to the State Supreme Court and won.

5. He pushed the City Council and Planning Commission to write laws that do not allow “monster home” sizes.

6. After Mr. Cochardi cleared the hillside of mature oak trees on upper Old Oak Way, Jeff and Dora promoted, and won a much strengthened citywide tree ordinance.

7. Jeff worked with others to prevent the proposed three entrances to State Route 85 as

proposed at Quito Ave, Saratoga Ave., and Prospect Ave. Due to Jeff’s work with the Saratoga

City Council, the entrances went to the ballot and received little support. Only the Saratoga Avenue entrance was adopted by the Council. Jeff then advocated for an enforceable contract

with Caltrans which limited the number of freeway lanes to two plus the carpool lane. The

contract has already been tested once.

8. In 2006, he strongly supported the political decision of the City to buy the church property that became North Campus (now Prospect Center) to allow for City Hall growth and public space. He then fought against the movement to turn the property into housing.

9. Jeff ran for and became a West Valley-Mission Community College District Board trustee for three terms. He focused on transparency and good management of money, especially money

that came from successful Propositions. He focused the District on education and less on

spectator sports. He kept pushing for meetings to be televised for transparency.

10. When the proposal came to the City Council to build a large hotel at the Mountain Winery, Jeff helped organize opposition.

11. He helped new people run for political offices, if he felt they believed in the same principles of governance. He especially liked to help women run for office.

Each of these landmark actions was controversial and difficult at the time to accomplish, yet became central to keeping Saratoga as a serene residential community. Saratoga has less traffic, noise and congestion that neighboring cities. It is still semi-rural and highly regarded as a place to live. Saratoga is beautiful with a marvelous and unusual tree canopy. Its hillsides look different, since big homes cannot be built on ridgelines. Saratoga’s schools are among the best and it has wonderful and unusual parks as amenities. Saratoga does not allow high density infill and it does not allow “up zoning” for more intensive land use over time. Saratoga does not allow “monster homes” that overshadow surrounding homes.

By Ann Waltonsmith, along with Cindy Barry, and many others.