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SILICONVALLEYIMPRESSIONS.COM
Policies Without Politics Interview with Carl Guardino, CEO of Silicon Valley Leadership Group, on Measure B and building our future Silicon Valley Communities S ilicon Valley Impressions (SVI): What is the Smart City concept in your opinion? What are the important elements in building smart cities and policies that you consider important?
Carl: Smart City makes sure that we are not just building developments, but instead, are building communities and neighborhoods in which people interact with each other, and have access to multiple forms of transportation to strengthen the economy. When we look at young professionals today, they want to raise their families here. The young urban professionals, as well as seasoned professionals, are attracted to a richer urban experience. They desire to live in a vibrant environment - a home town feel with urban amenities. SVI: Which place in Silicon Valley has the kind of space you’re talking about? Carl: In Santa Clara County’s fifteen cities and towns, there are fifteen opportunities to build that place. For example, the proposed “The Hills at Vallco” in Cupertino is how private and public leaders envision a vibrant city place should be. In the city of Campbell, the community has transformed their downtown, making it walkable, and bike-able, along with outdoor dining, and a 24/7 nightlife. Los Gatos, my own town, is viewed that way as well. San Jose, the 10th largest city in the United States, is
Carl Guardino slowly building this type of urban setting. The truth is that people actually want to know their neighbors. The way we have built our cities in the past five decades has discouraged that. People drive out of their garages and drive back into them. They may occasionally wave to the strangers living in the house next door or down the block, but they never feel the sense of community. Today’s young professionals especially yearn for that kind of interaction. When we think of cities where we want to go and take our spouse, and brag about afterwards, we think of London, Paris, Tokyo, and other great metropolitan cities that all have inviting open spaces amongst a beautiful, thriving city life that
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feels safe because there are always people out on the street. They also have advanced forms of public transit - rapid, clean, accessible, and convenient. We need this in Silicon Valley, and Measure B on the November ballot, would help create that type of safe and secure environment here. SVI: Many of the West Valley cities felt left out of public transit plans in the past. How does Measure B amend that? Carl: What’s remarkable about Measure B is that for the past three-and-a-half years, thousands of private citizens county wide have come together with our public sector partners to create a plan that provides meaningful congestion relief, transit options and road repairs for the existing system.