Behind the headlines

And the voters, hopefully, will demand new faces on the board. Filing begins in August and the election is in November.

One outstanding candidate has already decided to run. Dave Pine, chair of the Burlingame Elementary School District Board of Trustees, and well-known throughout the county is a strong entry. Dave’s intelligence and knowledge (he was an advisor on school finance to a recent candidate for governor) is the type of well-qualified person we need on our school boards. Another, is Mark Hudak, who is still undecided on whether to run. He is currently on the San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School Board. And there are others in our community. As recent history proves, we can no longer afford to overlook school board races as unimportant.

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When Millbrae Mayor Marc Hershman is termed out next year, his seat on the SamTrans Board of Directors will be up for grabs. San Mateo Vice Mayor Carole Groom plans to run for that seat. She is a strong candidate and good news for mid-county. SamTrans has long been dominated by Daly City residents and politicians. Even former San Mateo Mayor Jane Baker, a transit expert, couldn’t make it.

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He’s "one in a million”: Actually, Rafael Reyes is one of 1,000 citizens nationwide chosen and trained to present Al Gore’s slide show used in the blockbuster documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth.” Rafael says it is probably because he is bilingual. He has already made several presentations in Spanish. But Reyes, who was raised in Lima, Peru is modest. The 39-year old has a long volunteer history with the Sierra Club where he served as political director. He recently left his high-tech job with Hewlett Packard to form a shareholder advocacy nonprofit called, As You Sow. He and his seven employees mobilize institutional investors in companies such as Apple, Hewlett Packard, Dell and Home Depot, to change their ways. For example, there are 160,000 electronic devices going obsolete every day. Left in landfills, they add mercury and lead to our soil and water. Apple now offers free computer recycling. Reyes is working with other shareholder groups to put pressure on companies to assume responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products. Home Depot is now using certified lumber and not wood from old growth forests as a result of his nonprofit’s work.

Locally, Reyes is working behind the scenes with San Mateo County cities to champion good environmental practices such as use of solar panels, reduction of water and energy in municipal buildings and education of the public. He is a member of the San Mateo Citizens Advisory Task Force which is working with staff to produce a citywide plan to address global warming. I asked Reyes what an individual can do to make a difference. I was surprised with one of his answers. He said there were two basic things one can do. The first involves transportation (no surprise): walk, bike more; drive less. Use transit when possible, car pool and drive a fuel-efficient car. The second involves food choices: eat less beef. Why? Because beef takes an enormous amount of energy to produce: water and energy for grain; transportation to cutting and packaging plants and more transportation to market. Instead, he suggested eating local produce and frequenting farmers’ markets. For a list see www.cafarmersmarkets.com.

Reyes, a San Mateo resident whose father is Peruvian and whose mother was born in Alaska, is an attractive candidate for the City Council or county Board of Supervisors. But he says he is not interested in a political career. He is recently married to a young woman, who also has a high-profile volunteer job with the Sierra Club. They plan to devote their time to doing good works and keeping global temperature down.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.