Working together for the West Valley
One of the South Bay’s best attributes is our diverse population. With so many different faiths and cultural traditions, this time of year is a feast of celebration. Diwali, India’s festival of lights, started us off in late October. Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are now just around the corner.
The holidays are an apt time to reflect on our bounty, as well as give thought to those who are in need – to the good works and kindnesses we can offer, and to what we can do to make the year ahead an even better one, for all.
This is also a time when many of us stop to reflect on the year past and what we’ve been able to accomplish, setting the stage to pursue exciting goals in the year ahead.
At the County, 2022 kicked off with redistricting, moving Los Gatos and Monte Sereno from our County’s District One to District Five (the District I represent). I’m delighted to have the opportunity to reengage with these communities, which I represented for a brief time when I was in the California State Legislature. In addition to the North County area, I now represent four of the five West Valley cities (with Saratoga and Cupertino already in District Five).
This year we’ve made lasting progress on issues related to public health and safety, affordable housing, food insecurity, education, and recreation – for folks in my district, as well as countywide. I’m grateful once again for the many civic and community partners who made it possible to tackle these, and many other issues too big for one person, one group, or one city alone. Highlights include:
- MedAssist: an essential and easy-to-apply-for program that covers the cost of life-saving medications for qualifying residents who have been diagnosed with diabetes, asthma, and severe allergies.
- Mental health: development of accessible and affordable outpatient mental health services for middle income residents, as well as a Mental Health Systems Navigator program to help people find the right path to treatment, and then stay on it.
- MetroEd: funding for the Metropolitan Education District’s new programs in health care and electric vehicles will help prepare even more high school students and adults for college and in-demand technical careers.
- Montalvo Arts Center: funding to help the popular historic park and arts center expand community access.
- Park-It Market: continuing support for the West Valley Community Services mobile food pantry – the bright blue “bookmobile for groceries” that stops weekly at sites across the West Valley – benefitting seniors, students, and families who have barriers to transportation.
- Wildfire protection: expansion of the Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District’s Pre-Fire Management and Wildfire Resilience program added a dedicated crew to clear brush and vegetation along evacuation routes in the district – the cities of Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Cupertino, a portion of Saratoga, and unincorporated lands in western Santa Clara County – and extended a free “chipping” program that helps individual residents and communities create and maintain defensible space.
As I think about the accomplishments of 2022, I’m mindful that so much of the work we do at the County comes to fruition over time. In November, for example, the initial steps were taken to locate a health clinic on the west side – the first in the County’s 172-year history. We’ll spend the next year developing a formal proposal.
Another of the many initiatives I’ll be working to advance in the next year is building affordable “teacher housing” in the West Valley, modeled after a successful workforce educator housing project I championed in the North County.
On so many fronts, we need to do more and we need to do it faster. There’s much to look forward to in 2023! Wishing you and yours a healthy and joyful holiday season.
Joe Simitian
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
This article was originally published in Los Gatos Living Magazine in December 2022.