Opinion: Saratoga’s story is one of steadiness, vigilance

This is my last column as mayor, and I’ll be honest: I’ve gone back and forth on what to say. I could give you a highlight reel of projects and policies. I could pick a hot political topic and offer my two cents. Instead, I want to return to something I said the night I was sworn in: Cities are the stories we tell ourselves about a place.

So the question I’ve been asking myself is: What story did we tell about Saratoga this year?

It wasn’t a neat or simple story. Some chapters were joyful. Kids walking through newly striped crosswalks on the way to school. Neighbors stretching together at Yoga in the Park. Volunteers turning Saratoga Nights into a real thing instead of just an idea in someone’s notebook. The first episodes of the Saratoga History Podcast, with longtime residents sharing what this place meant to them long before Zillow and smartphones.

Other chapters were harder. Hearing that two-thirds of West Valley College students are housing- or food-insecure and wondering how a community as fortunate as ours can do more. Meeting older neighbors aging in place on fixed incomes, in the same homes where they raised their kids, now mostly alone. Feeling the strain when the cost of living, the pace of change and the noise of national politics all seem to press in at once.

If there’s one word for how I feel at the end of this year, it’s gratitude. Gratitude for the chance to serve the city I grew up in. Gratitude for our city staff, who show up every day to do what I consider glamorous work: permits, potholes, tree issues, emergency planning—the thousand tiny things that keep Saratoga quietly working. Gratitude for you—for the emails, the public comments, the ideas and yes, even the criticism when you felt we missed the mark.

People often ask, “How does it feel to be mayor?” My answer has always been the same: it’s never been about being mayor; it’s about what I do as mayor. The title is temporary. What lasts is whether we made this place a little kinder, a little safer, a little more accessible for the people who live here now and the ones who will come after us.

Did we get everything right? Definitely not. Some decisions will only reveal their true impact years from now. That’s the humbling part of local government: you plant trees you may never sit under. You approve a traffic change today that some future second-grader will benefit from without knowing your name. You say yes—or no—to housing that will shape who can live here 10 or 20 years down the line. The work is slow, and that’s okay.

Is the state of our city “strong?” I’d answer with some humility: Saratoga is steady and vigilant. Our budget is balanced. We’re investing in the right places. We’re in better shape than many of our neighbors. And we face the same headwinds every California city faces: rising costs, aging infrastructure and state rules that change in the middle of the game. There’s work ahead. There always will be.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. If I had one wish for how people describe Saratoga in the years to come, it would be with a single word: kind. Kind to one another. Kind to visitors. Kind to ourselves. I say this as a reminder to myself first—I know I can be kinder in every part of my life. If Saratoga becomes known as a city that chooses kindness—even just a bit more often than average—I would count that as a civic victory. Kindness is not abstract. It shows up in everyday gestures: slowing down at a crosswalk, checking on an older neighbor, saying hello instead of looking down at our phones.

So where do you come in?

If you’ve ever thought, “Someone should do something about…,” I gently suggest that you might be that someone. Join a commission. Volunteer with the senior center or SASCC. Help at your child’s school. Support West Valley College students. Check on the neighbor whose lights stay off a little too long. Show up to a meeting not just to oppose something, but to imagine something better.

This may be my last column as mayor, but it’s not the end of Saratoga’s story. A new mayor will step in. Councils will change. Challenges will evolve. What will endure is what each of you chooses to do with your time, your skills and your care for this place.

Thank you for trusting me with this role for a year. Thank you for the grace when I stumbled and the push when I needed it. And thank you, most of all, for being part of Saratoga’s story.

Belal Aftab is the mayor of Saratoga.