Saratoga News

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Siam tries to do 'the right thing' by running for Saratoga council

By Shannon Burkey

When Hab Siam's 9-year-old son asked him why he would want to run for the Saratoga City Council when basically all you do is deal with other people's problems and don't get any money for it, Siam had an easy answer--it's the right thing to do.

"I told him that sometimes we have to do things for people that are not about money but about doing what is right for your community and making some kind of sacrifice to help out," Siam said.

Siam, an attorney who owns his own law firm, is ready to make that sacrifice for the city of Saratoga and is running for one of the three open city council seats in the November election.

When Siam and his son Ian discovered Saratoga and decided to move to the North Campus area of the city in 2004 from Palo Alto, it was the rural atmosphere that he said drew them to the community. Siam, who was born in Egypt but raised in Wyoming, said Saratoga was the closest to Wyoming they could get in this area and the two quickly made it their home.

"It has been great and has been everything we have thought it would be," Siam said of living in Saratoga.

But one thing he said he did not realize was that there was so much controversy surrounding the current city council and some of its recent decisions. Knowing he was an attorney, his neighbors began bringing some of the city's issues to his attention, asking him to look into them. Eventually, the same neighbors began asking him to consider running for city council.

"I looked more into the issues and saw that it was more than just one or two, but that there were a lot of things going on systematically that I thought were important to change," Siam said. "So I agreed and committed to running because I felt we really need somebody new who has a different and independent perspective, somebody who is younger, somebody with a legal background, somebody with children in school and somebody from a different part of town."

At 36, Siam is the youngest of the candidates, and he has not lived in Saratoga for as long as many of the other candidates, but that is precisely why he feels he would be an ideal choice.

"I have not been here forever, but I have seen how people have done things in other places. There are a lot of residents who haven't lived here for 40 years, and there are a lot who have--all those people have something to add here and something to give us," Siam said. "Most of our existing council members have lived here for 30 or 40 years, and people need to ask themselves if that is a good qualification for a city council in and of itself. I think there is an important need for somebody with a different perspective, but most importantly someone who has complete independence from anyone else."

If elected, Siam says one of the most important issues he wants to look at is maintaining neighborhood integrity and the rural characteristics of each neighborhood. Looking back at the 2002 and 2004 campaign platforms, Siam said all the candidates said neighborhood integrity was everything, but after the elections that was not the case.

"What we have discovered is they meant their neighborhoods. I think neighborhood integrity as a whole, for all of Saratoga all of the time, before and after the election, is important," Siam said.

In the past, Siam also feels that there have been a lot of issues with the city's finances. He would like to see the city have a thorough budget review and eliminate wasteful spending.

"We have had budget priorities that aren't necessarily sensible and consistent with what the people as a whole really prefer," he said. "I think really looking at our financial situation and making sure that our funds are being efficiently used is important."

Two topics on most of the candidates' minds as the election approaches are the North Campus and the development of the Village. As for North Campus, Siam points out that to his knowledge he is the only candidate who signed the petition to keep it. Although it is a hot topic to most candidates, it is especially close to Siam because the campus is in his neighborhood.

"I have always been for keeping it, and I think we need to upgrade whatever needs to be upgraded at the facilities so that people can begin using it. I think there is an important use for it that our community can have, and I think we do that through a community-wide dialogue about what we can do with it," Siam said.

As for the Village, Siam would like to see the city do what it can to support the businesses in the Village and enhance the experience that people have when they do go there without turning it into a regional shopping district he feels most Saratogans do not want.

With his law and business background and his experience managing people and giving strategic direction, Siam feels he is in a unique position and will be able to make rational decisions based solely on the merits of each issue.

"I have integrity and honesty. I will be open at all times, and people will know exactly where things stand with me at all times and the basis on which I am making my decisions and votes," Siam said. "People will always know clearly why I voted the way that I did, and if they disagree with me, they will know that my decision was based on a rational thought process and on honesty and integrity."