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 May 2025
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Dear Friends,
It’s this time of the month again, here is my May newsletter. I hope you find it informative. Please feel free to share it with friends who are not yet subscribing.
Ensuring Taxpayers’ Money is Spent Wisely
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. As elected officials, we owe it to the public to be transparent about how we are spending their taxpayer dollars. That is why I introduced a resolution this week to direct the county purchasing agent to submit quarterly reports to the board listing all purchases of goods that exceeded $100,000 and non-competitive purchases of goods above $10,000. You may wonder why such a policy wasn’t already in place. Our country controller brought this to my attention earlier this year when he pointed out that purchases of services over $200,000 have to be approved by the board, but there is no such requirement for goods. The resolution passed 5-0 and I think it will be a useful tool to ensure we spend taxpayer money responsibly.
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Protecting Workers from Wage and Hours Abuse
I joined Supervisor Ray Mueller in sponsoring an ordinance to strengthen minimum wage enforcement procedures. Wage and hours abuse is a serious issue in the county and workers deserve to be paid a fair wage for their labor. This new ordinance gives teeth to the county’s Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement to go after those few employers underpaying or not paying their workers by fining them for their violations. Most employers are already following the county’s minimum wage ordinance and are treating their workers fairly. This new amendment will single out bad actors and bring justice to employees and other employers who play by the rules. The amendment passed unanimously.
Sheriff Removal Process
Since Measure A passed in a countywide special election on March 4th, I’ve received questions from several constituents about the process of removing the sheriff from office. A vote for Measure A did not mean the immediate removal of the sheriff. It initiated a framework that will assure the sheriff will receive due process. During the board meeting on May 6th, we unanimously approved procedures for this process.
You can read the steps laid out in the charter amendment here.
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I Want to Hear from You
Your turn to ask questions, get answers and raise your concerns! Please join me for an in-person town hall in South San Francisco on May 29th at 6:30. Parking is free.
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Seating is limited so please sign up early and don't miss this opportunity to connect with your community and make your voice heard. We look forward to seeing you there! |
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Spending a Night in a Homeless Shelter
As of 2024, San Mateo County counted 1,145 unsheltered homeless individuals and 985 in our shelters. Homeless outreach teams, free services and construction of more affordable housing and shelters are all tools for the county to reduce the number of unhoused individuals. To understand better who these individuals are I recently spent a night at Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter near SFO, one of the congregate shelters in our county. I had done the same in 2016 at the Maple Street shelter. I was inspired by Pope Francis who was rumored to don civilian clothes and spend time with the homeless in Rome. I thought to myself, if the pope can do it, I can do it.
Maple Street was an eye-opening experience that has stayed with me and I wanted to see if the shelter population had changed. At Safe Harbor, I did see more addiction and mental health issues. I also saw a dramatic increase of homeless single women ages 50 to 65. I was stunned by how many of the people at Safe Harbor were working. From my conversations, I estimate that 40% of the people staying there had jobs, some of them more than one job. I met one woman who is a fundraiser for non-profits and works for commissions only, not a salary. She gets up at 4 in the morning to take a bus to San Jose and starts working at 8:30. Another woman works for Uber Eats. She leaves the shelter at 5 a.m. to get on the road. She has a car but can’t afford to rent an apartment or studio. According to a new study by the California Housing Department, an individual making $109,700 in San Mateo County is now considered low income. The two women in the shelter make nowhere near that much and are therefore priced out of our exorbitantly expensive housing market. San Mateo County’s goal is to reach “functional zero” where any homeless individual seeking shelter will have a spot. From my 14 conversations that night at Safe Harbor, I took away two lessons: we have to address our affordability crisis, and we have to provide services to help homeless individuals be self-sufficient. As one of the residents put it succinctly: “I can function, but I can’t function alone.”
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Be Wildfire Safe & Ready with Smokey Bear
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More than 400 people attended our countywide wildfire preparedness event on April 26th. I heard from so many attendees how much they appreciated the panel discussions and the resource tables. We succeeded in our goal to have people leave the event more prepared for a wildfire disaster than when they came. If you weren’t able to attend the event, you will soon be able to watch all of the panels on the county’s YouTube page.
From knowing what to include in a “go bag” and collecting items for it, to steps you can take to make sure your insurer doesn’t cancel your policy, to ways you can prepare for an evacuation, to first-hand accounts of fire survivors who lost their homes, the event was packed with practical information.
I’ll forever remember the words of Heather Vandenberghe, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire. She left before any official evacuation order was issued - based on her gut and therefore was able to escape in her car. She also had brilliant advice for saving important documents in case of an emergency. She keeps them in a lockbox with a handle in her garage next to her car. When she had to leave during the Palisades Fire, she could quickly grab it.
Many if not most of us are underinsured relative to our homeowner’s insurance. It’s important to check in with your insurance broker. You should also videotape all of the contents of your house.
County Job Fair
The Career Fair we hosted for county jobs on May 2nd was attended by some 1,500 job seekers. The message “work with purpose” clearly resonated. Every county department had a table at the event with openings in health care, law enforcement, social services, administration, IT and more. We actually have 600 openings in the county workforce right now.
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I hope that some of the attendees will succeed in the application process and join the county team. Not surprisingly, I met several fired federal workers who shared their distressing stories with me. One of them was a disability specialist from the Department of Education who abruptly got laid off after more than a decade in her role. Another one was fired from the General Service Administration, only to be approached by a federal contractor to work the same job for a lower salary and no benefits, and at higher cost to the federal government. There's a profound brain drain that has occurred as a result of the dismissal of competent, devoted federal employees. The federal government may no longer appreciate those workers, but we in the county do.
Before I go…
You undoubtedly know how detrimental lead can be to human health, especially in children. Did you know that the county has a lead paint remediation program for residential properties? The county partnered with the local non-profit Rebuilding Together Peninsula in 2023 to establish the program funded by a legal settlement with paint manufacturers. The program offers qualifying residents remediation services at no cost, including inspections and repairs by certified contractors. Find out if you are eligible here.
With Memorial Day around the corner, I hope you will enjoy the unofficial start of summer, but also hope you will take a moment to reflect on the meaning of this somber holiday. Memorial Day is the federal holiday when we honor and mourn U.S. military service members who died while serving. Consider visiting a cemetery and placing an American flag or flowers on a grave. I will be in Hillsborough for the annual Memorial Day parade, honoring our men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms. I hope to see you there.
All the best,
Jackie
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