Saratoga News
News
Photograph by George Sakkestad
A 36-year Saratoga resident, Jim Sorden is making a run at a Saratoga City Council seat. The retired engineer feels he has the time and expertise to serve the city.
Sorden brings time and energy to new passion for council seat
By Shannon Burkey
For the past six years, the retired life has been good to Jim Sorden. Working on projects around his home, going to 49ers' games and just getting to know his community, Sorden said he has been happy.
Working 75 hours a week for the past 12 years did not leave him with a lot of time to do the things he enjoyed or to get to know the community he has called home since 1970. The self-described introvert was enjoying life.
"I have been here for 36 years, and I knew very little about Saratoga," Sorden said. "Then once I retired I started hanging out at a coffee shop downtown and started getting interested in Saratoga, my interests really piqued a couple of years ago."
The incident that change the course of his quiet life began when a house in his neighborhood was demolished with no warning. Sorden said he began to question the workings of city government.
"That was the start of me getting fairly involved in city government," Sorden said. "I was trying to understand what had happened and why it happened. Neighbors are supposed to be notified, and they weren't."
The demolition of that particular house was just the beginning. From there Sorden began to take more of an interest in the inner workings of Saratoga and started to become more frustrated with what he saw.
"Within the last couple of years, several things that the current city council has done have frustrated me because what they have done and what they are doing is so clearly not what the majority of the citizen groups want them to do."
As he became more interested in city government, a few members of his community, who share his views, encouraged him to run for city council. Feeling some major changes needed to be made in the way Saratoga is run, he agreed, but claims that he is a reluctant candidate.
"When you live someplace for more than 30 years, you want to do something to contribute," he said. "Now I have the time to give back, and I believe I have things to give back; so here I am, not doing my projects, but running for office."
Sorden said his passion for Saratoga and the welfare of its residents is high, and that is why he is running.
During his professional career, Sorden worked as an engineer and a manager for Hewlett-Packard for many years before joining Trimble Navigation as a manager. He believes there are a lot of similarities between running a company and running a city.
"You just have to learn to cooperate with people. If you want it half right, you are going to have to compromise on the other half; that way you can move forward," Sorden said. "That is how you build companies. The same is true in government."
Working with the community is a big concern.
"In general I would like to have a softer and more compromising approach: a 'can we get together on this' approach as opposed to the 'we know best' approach," Sorden said.
He has many issues of concern, but one at the top of his list is maintaining Saratoga as a low-density community. When he and many of his neighbors moved to the area, it was because they enjoyed the rural feel Saratoga offered, he said, and he is surprised people are trying to change it.
"There is nothing you can do to change the fact that Saratoga is 99 percent residential and will never have a large commercial base like Los Gatos or Cupertino. It is what it is. Attempting to change the nature of this town makes no technical sense; the town just isn't equipped for it," Sorden said.
Another issue that has him frustrated is the North Campus. Sorden said that he would like to hear from the community as to what people want the campus used for, then get it up and running as soon as possible.
"I don't know what to do with the North Campus. I know there are lots of people who have thoughts on what to so with it, and I would like to hear them," Sorden said. "What I do know is that it is a valuable 2 1/2 acres, and I want it used. I want it used yesterday."
Sorden thinks his age and his amount of spare time will give him an advantage as a council member.
"I believe wisdom and experience are very important, especially in a city commissioner. That wisdom and experience is not something one can get in a short lifetime. I clearly have that," Sorden explained. "Also, a council job takes an unbelievable amount of time to do a good job and I have enough time to really look deeply into all the issues."
