2016 Newsletters

Joint Venture celebrates opening of Electric Vehicle Charging Center

Joint Venture joined with Santa Clara leaders and electric vehicle (EV) industry officials April 20 to celebrate the opening of the Santa Clara Electric Vehicle Charging Center, the largest public multi-standard electric vehicle charging facility in California. Located at the Tasman Parking Garage near the Santa Clara Convention Center, Levi’s Stadium and the California Great America theme park, the center features 48 Level 2 chargers and one DC Fast Charger.

Joint Venture’s climate and sustainability initiatives played a key role in convening the partners for the project, including Santa Clara’s municipal electric utility Silicon Valley Power (SVP), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), ChargePoint and MJR Electric. Together they obtained a grant of $393,000 from the California Energy Commission to pay for the equipment and construction of the charging center.

Joint Venture Smart Energy Executive Director Don Bray and CEO Russell Hancock, Santa Clara mayor Lisa Gillmor and leaders from the local electric vehicle community took part in the event.

Read the news release.

Read the news coverage.

Institute Update: Peninsula job growth straining housing

Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s Institute for Regional Studies has reported that five years of explosive job growth on the San Francisco Peninsula has dropped unemployment to 3.9 percent but created a critical housing shortage.

A new brief from the Institute shows that San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties added 350,000 jobs since 2010, bringing 220,000 new residents to the Peninsula, but rising rents and home prices have left a shortage of 40,000 to 65,000 housing units in the region.

Read the complete update.

Read the Mercury News coverage.

Joint Venture participates in Peninsula Progress Seminar

Joint Venture participated in the recent Redwood City/San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce 47th Annual Progress Seminar that convenes leaders in business, government and community from across the Peninsula to discuss and strategize on regional issues and goals.

David Witkowski, Executive Director of Joint Venture’s Wireless Communications Initiative, took part on a panel entitled “Connecting Our Communities,” moderated by Lennies Gutierrez of Comcast and Warren Slocum, President of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

More information about the seminar.

Yes on Measure AA June 7

Joint Venture heartily endorses Measure AA, the San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Program on the June 7 ballot in all nine Bay Area counties.

Measure AA creates a $12 annual parcel tax to fund a variety of shoreline protection and restoration measures. It is anticipated that 15,000 acres of wetlands can be restored with proceeds from the measure, which will also fund trails and similar multi-benefit improvements.

Learn more about Measure AA.

Read the news release.

Peninsula Broker Breakfast May 4

The next Silicon Valley EDA Broker Breakfast will be held May 4 in San Mateo and will feature our Peninsula members presenting all the latest news on development activity in their cities, including Foster City, San Carlos, Menlo Park, Pacifica, Redwood City, South San Francisco and San Mateo.

The event, which includes continental breakfast and networking, is from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the San Mateo Public Library, 55 West Third Avenue, San Mateo.

Register here.