Foster City candidate roster finalized 

Shankar Kenkre’s candidate statement was processed by the county on Aug. 8, after other candidates, including Phoebe Venkat, Suzy Niederhofer, Richa Awasthi and Mayor Patrick Sullivan received the official OK as well.

Kenkre, who has worked as a consultant for many years, said he became disillusioned with the council and city management around 2018, and began following their actions and dialogue more closely, even organizing a group that supported the recall of former mayor Herb Perez.

"I made it my priority to alert residents about any important issues. I served as a watchdog for the community. Transparency is always my top priority,” Kenkre said. 

Candidate priorities

Some candidates, such as Niederhofer, Mountain View’s former finance director, said their priorities include getting the city back into better financial shape, especially in light of a roughly $4 million budget shortfall last fiscal year and projected ongoing structural deficit. As a planning commissioner, Venkat said she has been vocal about assuaging resident concerns over the impacts of extensive development, while also ensuring compliance with aggressive state housing goals. 

“If it’s not something people can relate to personally, it’s very hard for most people to empathize. It doesn’t mean that they’re bad people, but it’s about making things a little bit more real, a little bit more relational,” she said. “Judgment and putting people into buckets is never going to help.”

Both Awasthi and Sullivan said they are adamant about strengthening partnerships and economic development initiatives with some of the city’s largest employers, such as Gilead and Zoox.

For Kenkre, working with PG&E to resolve longtime utility and related infrastructure issues would be a main focus, especially in light of power outages that have become more commonplace over the last couple years. 

“We have to ask them why this is happening and what are they doing to fix it?” he said. “We need to hold utility companies accountable."

Kenkre acknowledged that the council and staff have made repeated attempts to get more information from their PG&E representatives, to no avail. When it comes to other infrastructure-related issues, he said he would consider dipping into reserves or issuing a bond to raise funding, depending on the project.

Budget and recreation center

How to finance the city’s proposed new and improved recreation center has become a litmus test for some residents over how leaders are prioritizing a balanced budget. Plans to rebuild the center, located in Leo J. Ryan Park, have been in the works since 2016, with the process punctuated by budgetary and pandemic-related delays. The most recent estimates put the total project cost around $65 million, up from the $56 million outlined last year, mostly a result of higher construction costs.

“It’s unfortunate that the project has been going on for a long time now,” Niederhofer said. “But now we’re in a situation where the budget’s not structurally balanced, and they’re using some reserves. It’s important to generate increased revenue from the recreation center when it’s complete, not the revenue that it is [generating] today.”

Venkat, Sullivan and Awasthi all acknowledged that enhancing public-private partnerships would not only offset some of the fiscal challenges the rec center would bring, but it would bring long-term economic benefits to the city as well.

alyse@smdailyjournal.com
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102