Being the Mayor Again – Accessibility and Accountability - December 14, 2016

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.  

As many of you know, I was just recently selected to be your Mayor for a second term. As I said when I became Mayor the first time, I find this to be an incredible honor and an awesome responsibility. What I hope to do during my term is to ensure that the office of the Mayor and the entire City Council is accessible and accountable to our residents, businesses and employees. Much outreach has been done in the past year. The City has a lot of new avenues for you to communicate with us and I hope to continue to build on that in 2017.  

This coming year we will see some of our biggest projects moving forward. The design of our levees and the design of our new wastewater system are two of the largest projects undertaken by Foster City in a very long time. We will be doing outreach as we take a look at Leo Ryan Park and the facilities we would consider to have there as we revisit the Recreation Center at Leo Ryan Park.  

It looks like the San Mateo Foster City School District will finally be designing and building a new school to help with overcrowding. Traffic will remain an issue as the local economy continues to prosper. We will spend time this year looking at some additional programs and procedures to address traffic and ease the burden. Affordable housing and work-force housing will be in the forefront of discussion as we try to remain inclusive and diverse. Regardless of what we do, quality of life will continue to be the center stone and our focus.  

We come into 2017 in much better financial shape than we were when I first arrived on the Council in December of 2009. The Great Recession is in our rear view mirror and our City is prospering. We are not without issues, but we have weathered the storm as well as some and better than most and we are prepared to head into the future financially secure. Our community continues to be one the safest anywhere, our infrastructure is pristine, our park system second to none and our economy growing. Our schools are still among the best anywhere, our cultural programs inclusive and outreaching and our City staff responsive and excited about their jobs and our future.  

I see 2017 as the year that we continue to innovate, continue to lead, and continue to be the "Paradise on Earth" I believe Foster City to be. I challenge you all to become involved in that process. We will be selecting new Citizen Advisory Committees in January. We are looking for diversity in representation, reflecting the tenor and makeup of our community. Aside from being on a committee, there are other ways to participate and other ways to communicate. Reach out to us with your concerns, your thoughts and feelings about our City and how we can make it an even better place to Live, Work and Play.  

I am excited about the New Year and meeting its challenges. I hope you are too.  

Those are my thoughts. You can always share your ideas with me by email at cbronitsky@fostercity.org.