Wednesday Mar 11, 2009
It's one thing to be in the occasional meeting with people, but to spend two or three days with them creates a whole new level of closeness.
It was truly a pleasure to have taken part in this delegation, especially during such an exciting time with a new administration -- and I enjoyed the opportunity to be here to get breaking news straight from the source. We attended Senator Dianne Feinstein's weekly hour-long briefing this morning. About 100 people attended, of which 18 were her staff people. She talked us through the stimulus package, giving us the good news and the bad news. Energy and water (or lack, thereof) took the stage as California's top issues.
Another briefing on the stimulus package followed, this time from the perspective of labor officials from the AFL-CIO at their headquarters.
At the end of the trip, nothing felt resolved by any means; but, we got the information, did some lobbying, and developed our networks. As the old adage goes, it helps to know people. And the personal relationships I fostered on this trip will perhaps prove more valuable than the insight gained. In addition to being on a first-name basis with several staff people, I got the opportunity to get to know fellow colleagues from San Francisco.
Off to catch my flight to be back in time for the Cirque Du GGU tomorrow.
Category: Government
Tuesday Mar 10, 2009
San Franciscans don't always agree.
And why should we? We're a diverse, colorful bunch with divisive issues at hand: How to balance the city's budget; fix our schools, our roads and our health care system. Should the Bay to Breakers allow keg floats and nudity...
But, today, about 50 San Francisco leaders have come to our nation's capitol via the SF Chamber of Commerce to present a united front to make the case for sending federal stimulus dollars to San Francisco, as well as to see what lessons we can glean from the District of Columbia to apply to our own city. And with six members of the Board of Supervisors, labor/union reps, and business people in both the for and non profit arenas (two universities are represented: SF State, GGU), we're here to show we mean business.
My day started off with a breakfast, where we broke into small groups and divvied up the day's meetings strategically. I was invigorated by the day's full agenda, and also by the cold; the temperature here is in the low 40's. Folks bustled back and forth among the six long blocks between buildings, but there was a lot of "hurry up and wait."
California has a bipartisan group of about 53 congresspersons in Washington; about 20 of them met my small group and gave us a general status report as well as an update about what their committees are currently working on.
Nancy Pelosi gave our whole group a high-level briefing on the stimulus package at her congressional office in the Cannon building -- one of her two offices, as it turns out, since as the Speaker of the House she also has a suite of three floors in the capitol. I also met with Amy Rosenbaum, Nancy Pelosi's Policy Director, in the capitol regarding the stimulus package and what it has to offer GGU/Higher Education.
One of the main benefits of a trip like this is the invaluable networking; establishing specific relationships amongst SF government, business and labor and then between SF and Washington goes a long way (especially when you're 3,000 miles away and now have someone you've met to contact).
I think it's safe to say that we're united on one thing: We must work together to revive California's economy and create jobs. And, come on, San Francisco really would be a little less cool without the Bay to Breakers.
With that, I'm off to an evening at the Chinese Embassy. Tune in tomorrow for Part II.
Category: Government
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