Facing Forward

By Herb John Perez

A Vision for Leadership

Four years ago I had the honor and privilege of knocking on doors of virtually every house in our city. This experience was profound and illuminating in equal degrees. Our city is a diverse community of differing opinions and discerning individuals from every corner of the globe. While we may be different in our places of origin we are similar in one common area. We value our quality of life and the experience of living in Foster City. Fast forward four years later, and I am once again knocking on these same doors. I have served on the Foster City City Council representing our residents and families in order to maintain and build a better future for our community. These same doors seem to be even more diverse in terms of who resides behind them. However there is a new and increasingly common theme when our residents are queried about our city. Every resident is concerned about overdevelopment, overcrowded schools, and traffic. These three concerns are now affecting our perception of our quality of life.

We must listen, hear our citizen's voices as well as reconcile several intertwined facts regarding the new developments we are seeing that are currently under construction. But first please acknowledge; The council on which I serve has not approved any new housing developments. Past councils approved these developments and we had no ability to affect that decision. I cannot opine or comment on their decision since it was their decision at that time and place and what they believed to be in the best interest of our community. However, I can say that my position has been consistent for the past four years. I have not voted to approve any new housing projects and will continue to refuse to. We must first as a community create a resident and city forum around the same table so that we can have a discussion about the future of our city and its land use. These decisions cannot be made in a vacuum whether that vacuum is created intentionally or unintentionally for the lack of communication with our residents. I have called for these meetings to occur in January 2016 so that we as a community can continue to face forward and create the community we are entitled to.

I have been consistent in my message and approached to our San Mateo/Foster City school district. The overcrowded schools are the responsibility of both the city council and the school board. We must work together to find acceptable solutions for the residents of Foster City and our families. I have reached out on numerous occasions and will continue to do so until a solution is enacted. I feel that we as elected officials have a responsibility to work with the school district to help them create reasonable and feasible solutions. I will continue to face forward to address challenges of this complex issue and will continue to offer unrelenting support and cooperation.

Finally as a council member for the past four years I have been consistent on my position regarding various traffic mitigation plans that have been submitted to us for consideration. Most of the plans submitted have been inadequate and in my opinion not impactful. These proffered solutions do not address the actual cause and symptoms of our regional growth. The true solution for traffic is regional and multi-tiered in its application. In my humble opinion the most cost effective solution are rapid transit buses that would carry workers on both, the north-south corridors, east-west corridors, and bridge. I have spoken to our regional and statewide officials about these solutions and look forward to creating a reasonable action plan once the new council is seated.

In closing Foster City is a quiet safe and prosperous community nestled off to the side of two of the largest transportation corridors. We are a product and victim of our own success. In order to deal with the challenges of the future it may be time to start facing forward and crafting solutions that deal with where we are now and not who we were before. We can control who we become but we must be forward facing in order to accomplish that. We can control who we become only if we plan with our desired end-goal as a starting point.