Charlie Bronitsky - Council Corner
When I was first elected to the City Council in 2009, we were facing a problem that would have required a significant number of property owners in Foster City to purchase flood insurance. Historically, Foster City properties were always designated as being outside of the flood zone, but in 2009, a portion of the levee in San Mateo was deemed to be below FEMA standards and as a result, a portion of San Mateo and a portion of Foster City were potentially going to be reclassified by FEMA as flood zones.
Hello and Happy Holidays to all! I hope this holiday season brings each of you and your loved ones cherished memories of time spent together in celebration. It is also a wonderful time to reach out into your community and offer help to those less fortunate. Make this holiday season the time when you commit to helping others and you will reap rewards year round.
By the time you read this we will have elected a new President. Hopefully now that the election is behind us and we continue to give effect to the peaceful transition of power that is a cornerstone of our democracy, we can all put the divisiveness behind us and unite as a Country. There are great challenges that face us as a nation, challenges that require us to unite and will overwhelm us if we divide. As a great man once said “A house divided cannot stand.” Let’s all remember that.
Last November we voted for Measure X, a new school bond that was supposed to result in additional classrooms, a fourth elementary school in fact, in Foster City. About a year ago and prior to the election, the San Mateo Foster City School District entered into exclusive negotiations with the owner of the Charter Square Shopping Center to purchase that land for the construction of a new school.
At our April 4 meeting we proclaimed April 10 – 16 to be National Volunteer Week and since this Council Corner will come out that week, I wanted to focus on the importance of volunteers to our City and to our community as a whole.
One of the great things about Foster City is our volunteers. Our residents and our business are passionate about their life here and they become a part of providing that life for others and helping us focus on the future by volunteering.
My last Council Corner was about moving forward on the long term plan for our City. Other Council Members have written about the five focus areas and the subcommittees that we have formed to focus on those areas as part of the long term plan. One of the subcommittees that I am a member of is Land Use and that is what I would like to talk about a bit here.
I have written about coming up with a long term plan for Foster City for years, the last time was back in August of 2015. Fortunately, I can finally say that I think we are making some progress. On January 25, we held our annual all-day visioning session with City Council and City Staff. Happily, there were more members of the public there than had ever attended before. I think that we are starting to make our outreach and challenges count and we are seeing more involvement. That is a great thing and I hope it continues.
