San Bruno Views

On Friday, January 22nd at noon the chamber held it’s installation luncheon at the Terrace Cafe at the El Rancho Inn. The event was well attended by many San Bruno business representatives, members of the Chamber as well as politicos from the San Bruno city council and California State Assemblyman Jerry Hill. The event included the recognition of outgoing board members, the installation of new members of the Chamber and speeches from Assemblyman Jerry Hill as well as the “State of the City” address by San Bruno mayor Jim Ruane.

The San Bruno Chamber of commerce was founded in 1942 and is has been working with and supporting local business in a variety of ways ever since. Today marks the second term of president Michele Enriquez-Da Silva, who by all accounts has done an admirable job in her first term. In the past year the chamber’s initiatives were to grow membership and offer all members additional networking opportunities. The Chamber has delivered by offering members hosted networking mixers and increased advertising. Hosted events such as ribbon cutting, pancake breakfasts and business showcases add to the member benefits. The year marked a successful launch of the local Farmer’s Market in downtown San Bruno, signifying a huge win for the local business in the downtown area. In the upcoming year, the Chamber of Commerce will continue to grow membership and offer additional benefits such as the Taste of the City events, Business to Consumer shows and membership drives. Congratulations to the Chamber and President Enriquez-Da Silva for a successful year.

Congratulations go to the Board of Directors for the San Bruno Chamber of Commerce: Nicolle Blanco of the Shops at Tanforan, Marc Bura of Slip Free Option, Vipul J. (VJ) Dayal of the Days Inn, Teri Martin of Precious Memories, Beth O’Conner of the Lovely Bump (winner of the Most Improved Window Display award), Jim O’Dowd of O’Dowd Plumbing, David Ratto of IKON Office Solutions, Dr. Benson Wong of Dr. Benson Wong, DDS, Rosalyn Yu of Worldwide Chiropractic and of course Michele Enriquez Da-Silva of the San Mateo Federal Credit Union. Further honorable mentions to San Bruno Restaurant of the Year winner Don Pico’s/the Rib Shack and Member’s Choice Restaurant of the Year winner The West Coast Cafe.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill

Jerry Hill was elected into in the California State Assembly in November, 2008 and represents the 19th district. The 19th district includes the cities of Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Daly City, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Millbrae, Pacifica, San Bruno, San Mateo, and South San Francisco. Mr. Hill is a member of the Budget, Government Organization, Natural Resources, Public Safety and Joint Legislative Budget committees. More information on Assemblyman Hill can be found on his website.

Mr. Hill took time out of his schedule to address the Chamber of Commerce and fellow luncheon attendees for a brief speech. During this time, Assemblyman Hill spoke to the challenges facing Sacramento today and in the near future. These challenges included:

• Job creation and the current unemployment rate in California.
• Passing the state budget. Currently there is a 21 billion dollar shortfall as part of the 85 billion dollar state budget.
• State legislators would be working to pass a new budget without tax revenues and looking to where cuts would need to be made.
• Addressing the need for a budget reform committee and developing financial reserves at the state level.

From the perspective of the 19th district, Assemblyman Hill indicated his goals were to increase business and fuel the local economy. He is working with local businesses on holding economic development workshops in March and April. Assemblyman Hill felt that the bio tech sector would be a key player in leading the local economy from recession and working with the Business Tech committee would help. He also mentioned the need to address the current onslaught of ADA lawsuits plaguing local businesses and planned to do this by working with local businesses to help educate them on regulation and compliance issues. He also mentioned his work on a bill to toughen drunk driving legislation, particularly strengthening driver’s license requirements by abolishing the current 10 year limit on look back windows for multiple DUI offenders.

San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane presents the “State of the City” Address

Newly elected mayor of San Bruno Jim Ruane then presented his annual “State of the City” Address. Mayor Ruane delivered a brief but informative overview of the challenges and successes wrought for the city of San Bruno over the last year and looking forward to the coming year. These challenges included:

• The continued delivery of services, possible in a different or less manner.
• Resource restraints to address community needs.
• Environmental sustainability
• The long term viability of the infrastructure, particularly in water and waste water.
• The overall review of the fiscal condition of the city with the decline of sales taxes and property taxes, resulting in a 2.5 million dollar loss in revenue.

Mayor Ruane emphasized that the city has taking steps to address some of the budgeting issues and the 2.5 million dollar loss in revenue as a result of reduced sales and property tax. These steps included reducing capital expenditures, initiating a hiring freeze, taking additional closure days, initiating mandatory furlough’s for city employees and reduced health care. Additional ways the city was looking at reducing expenditures while maintaining services included increased shared services opportunities with the Fire and Police departments, growth in the San Bruno Cable business and aggressive pursuit of grant funds to combat DUI and gang related activities.

Additionally, the city was looking at a comprehensive action plan to address the current infrastructure issues. This including a 10 year analysis of the water and waste water infrastructure including pumps and pipe stations. One way to help create revenue to address the city’s needs would be a 3 year rate increase on water services.

Lastly, the city was looking at environmental sustainability as a way to supplement city revenues. New initiatives such as the banning of polystyrene food service products, going into effect April 1, and natural resource energy audit grant funds would help San Bruno continue to lead the way in sustainable growth while realizing revenue gain.

Mayor Ruane then outlined the projects that have moved forward over the past year and into the next. Despite the slowed new development, the current existing projects have moved forward:

•  The San Bruno city park upgrades.
• The new above ground downtown CalTrain station and the San Bruno Grade Separation project.
• The approval of a mixed use residential/commercial replacement of the current abandoned El Camino theater building.
• The continued work to complete the retail and residential project at The Crossing.
• The San Bruno median island improvements including gateway signs at either end of the city limits of El Camino (Part of the Grand Boulevard Redevelopment Project).

Mayor Ruane delivered an honest report without sugarcoating the challenges that face the city in the coming months. The delivery of services and the fiscal condition of the city are issues that continue to weigh heavily on the minds of informed citizens and the mayor did not shy away from reporting that these services may suffer as a result of the continued pursuit of the city’s fiscal solvency. Despite these challenges, the city’s approved development projects such as the CalTrain station/Grade separation and the retail/residential development at The Crossing continue to move forward as planned. The park upgrades and the median improvements will work to add beauty to the El Camino corridor while increasing vistor traffic and improving the overall walk ability of the area. Finally, the downtown renovations starting with the old El Camino theater building will reduce blight and bring new business opportunities to the city’s downtown area, a much needed prospect.

Overall a well detailed and honest overview of the state of the city including the challenges to overcome and successes to look for in the coming year.