BY ADRIANA HERNANDEZ
Daily Post Staff Writer
San Mateo County taxpayers will pay for city officials’ tickets for a $1,196 conference in Wine Country this weekend.
Friday, officials were making their way to the Progress Seminar at the Hyatt in downtown Santa Rosa for the weekend.
Approximately 300 officials from the county and businesses will be in attendance where the weekend will be filled with speakers, lunches and workshops to talk about housing, Al and the upcoming transit tax, according to the itinerary.
The event is hosted by the Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce every year. Most cities are paying for their council members to attend and meet with other community leaders. A night at the Hyatt costs on average $339 a night for a room with a king size bed, according to the hotel’s website.
The hotel has a pool, gym and three eateries and is located in downtown Santa Rosa, near lots of shops and not far from many of the area’s wineries.
Redwood City Councilman Chris Sturken said the event allows him to bring new information to council meetings.
This year, he wants to connect with business leaders to inspire them to move their headquarters to Redwood City. This is his fourth time attending.
The city pays for his ticket. Sturken said if he had to pay his own way, he wouldn’t be able to afford going to the conference. Many businesses, including Stanford, Monterra Credit Union, PG&E, Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Amazon are sponsoring the event and will have representatives attending, according to the conference’s info packet.
Not only is this a chance to connect with others, but also with his own council members, Sturken said.
“The only times we see each other are during council meetings and committee meetings, and you can’t develop much of a relationship on just that alone. The better the relationship we have, the better we work together,” Sturken said.
Opportunity to network
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said this was a great opportunity for him to network as he is running to be the next assessor-clerk-recorder and chief elections officer.
Canepa only attended on Friday for a few hours to connect with others at the reception and dinner.
“I don’t view it as a junket or a waste of time, but I view it as something where it allows people to really get connected and to really get information on, whether it is the nonprofit world or the business world,” Canepa said.
Not everyone will be there
Supervisor Ray Mueller said he won’t be attending because he has other events to attend this weekend.
When he was a younger councilman in Menlo Park, attending the conference was helpful to better understand the issues other cities were facing. Now, as a more experienced public servant, he has to balance his time and assess whether events are a good use of it, Mueller said.
Getting help from others
East Palo Alto Mayor Webster Lincoln, who is attending for the first time, said it’s important for him to attend the conference to develop relationships with future partners as the city works to build a new city hall.
East Palo Alto is considering a bond to fund a new civic commons center, proposed by Sycamore Real Estate, owned by Laurene Powell Jobs. Council voted unanimously in July to move forward with Powell Job’s company to build a new city hall, police station, library and park. The project is roughly $200 million, and council will discuss how to pay for its contribution in September.
“It’s a major investment in our community’s future, and we need partners at every level of government to help get it done,” Lincoln said in an email.
Who’s who
Others who will be attending are Congressman Kevin Mullin, Assembly members Diane Papan and Marc Berman, County Supervisor Noelia Corzo, Palo Alto Councilwoman Vicki Veenker, Menlo Park Councilman Jeff Schmidt, San Carlos Councilmembers Neil Layton, Sara McDowell and Pranita Venkatesh and Belmont Councilwomen Julia Mates, Cathy Jordan and Robin Pang-Maganaris.
It’s not just elected officials who are attending. San Mateo County Executive Mike Callagy, San Mateo Labor Council Executive Officer Julie Lind, Caltrain Executive Director Michelle Bouchard along with city managers, police chiefs and fire chiefs in the county will be at the conference.
why would a Palo Alto councilwoman, Vicki Veenker, go to an event like this in another county? or did they move Palo Alto into San Mateo County?