Environment

CEO Business Climate Survey: Celebrate our Strengths, Work on our Weaknesses

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March 6  |  Education, Environment, Government Relations, Transportation  |   Carl Guardino

We recently released our tenth annual CEO Business Climate Survey – completed by 177 Silicon Valley CEOs and senior officers, who drive the earth’s innovation economy.

The message was clear – celebrate our strengths, while also acknowledging and addressing our weaknesses.

First, our strengths, which I call the “six “t’s” of Silicon Valley’s secret sauce:

* Access to skilled labor – talent
* Entrepreneurial mindset – temperament
* Proximity to customers and competitors – territory
* World class universities – training
* Access to venture capital – treasure
* The climate and weather – temperature

Second, our weaknesses:

* High housing costs
* High personal income tax rates for our workers and families
* Business regulations – especially the misuse of the California Environmental Quality Act
* Traffic congestion

The full survey results are available on our web site at svlg.org. Let’s make time to make a difference.

Abuse of a Great Environmental Law

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January 29  |  Environment, Government Relations  |   Carl Guardino

Here’s food for thought . . . Why is a great environmental law being used to stymie environmental protection?

CEQA – The California Environmental Quality Act – was signed into law by Republican Governor Ronald Reagan in 1970, intended to protect the environment and ensure a transparent process. Sadly, this great law is all too often greatly abused for non-environmental purposes.

The law firm of Holland and Knight recently completed a study of all 95 published court cases over the past 15 years, and the results are troubling:

* Nearly 60 percent of the projects sued were infill, often transit-oriented developments.

* Nearly four in ten were public agency projects like schools, hospitals, roads and colleges.

CEQA lawsuits shelter anonymous interests, with nearly 75 percent filed by organizations who won’t reveal their members or financial sources. This has led to economic competitors suing each other for anything but protecting the environment.

This year, for the first time in the law’s 43-year history, we may see real reform. Let’s protect the environment and prevent the abuse.

Measure B

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October 4  |  Environment, Federal Issues, Government Relations  |   Carl Guardino

When we hear about a tech company being “under water,” it usually means that their stock is under-performing. Yet in Silicon Valley, it can also be literally “under water,” which is why I support Measure B on the November ballot.

Measure B would allow the Santa Clara Valley Water District to extend an existing parcel tax for “safe, clean water.” The bond would help fix Anderson Dam in Morgan Hill; numerous creeks in Palo Alto, Milpitas and San Jose; and provide flood protection along the Bay near Alviso and San Jose.

Measure B would also reduce toxins, hazards and contaminants, such as mercury and pharmaceuticals from our water ways. And restore fish, bird and wildlife habitat and provide open space access.

Years ago, my home in downtown San Jose flooded during a big storm, causing thousands of dollars of property damage. It is a life long lesson why Measure B is vital to all of us who call Silicon Valley home, but never want to see our homes – or businesses – “under water.”

Please join me and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group with a “Yes” vote on Measure B.

CEQA: A great law that’s been greatly abused

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August 28  |  Environment  |   Carl Guardino

Here’s Food for Thought . . . CEQA – the California Environmental Quality Act – is a great law that’s been greatly abused.  With thoughtful leadership in Sacramento this fall, it can be modernized to meet its original intent – protecting our environment.

Here’s context: CEQA became law in 1970, signed by Governor Ronald Reagan, to help protect the environment. Since then, 120 state, federal and local environmental laws have been passed, like the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.

42 years later, the intent of CEQA, to mitigate a development’s environmental impact, has instead been used as a club to sue and stop projects, often for non-environmental purposes.

* Netflix proposed a new building in Los Gatos for 800 high-wage, high-skill, high-tech jobs, across from its current campus and approved by the Town Council. A CEQA lawsuit may very well prevent those jobs from ever happening here.

* The transit-oriented development next to the BART station being built in Milpitas risks added costs and fewer homes due to a CEQA lawsuit.

* A small gas station in east San Jose – Mo’s Gas – wanted to add one set of new pumps and was sued by the gas station across the street, using CEQA to stop a competitor, not to strengthen the environment.

Governor Jerry Brown, Assembly Speaker John Perez, and state Senator Michael Rubio, have all called for reforms to save CEQA, while ending the abuses. Senate President Darrell Steinberg announced his intent to engage this fall. We can have a healthy environment and a strong economy. We can modernize CEQA and end the abuse. Email the Leadership Group to get involved.

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