San Mateo County is not San Francisco. We don’t have the San Francisco Opera opening night or the galas celebrating the openings of the symphony and ballet.
Instead we have fancy expensive dinners to raise funds for local non-profits. John Kelly started the tradition with a huge tent in San Mateo Central Park to raise money for Samaritan House. Pam Frisella, former Foster City mayor, carried on the tradition. She always wore a lavish evening gown to set the tone.
Then the San Mateo County Historical Society hosted a must-attend dress-up fundraiser in a hotel and later in the old courthouse in Redwood City.
They were and are a must-attend event for public officials and big donors. Now the annual Sustainable San Mateo dinner and fundraiser also has become a must attend event.
According to Terry Nagel, chair of Sustainable San Mateo, “On the night of event, we raised $50,000 from our live auction and fund the future call for donations, more than we ever raised at this event during the previous 25 years. If you include sponsorships for the event (about $73,000), we raised nearly $125,000. Our online auction, which closed Sunday, raised $30,000. If you want to include that, we raised nearly $155,000. Our net income from this year’s event was $134,000 and last year it was $103,000.
Public officials attending included state Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, who emceed with Kirsten Keith, vice chair of Sustainable San Mateo County and former Menlo Park mayor; David Canepa, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors; Supervisor Lisa Gauthier; County Executive Mike Callagy; District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe; County Coroner Robert Foucrault; Redwood City Vice Mayor Kaia Eakin; Foster City Mayor Stacy Jimenez; San Mateo Deputy Mayor Adam Loraine and councilmembers Lisa Diaz Nash and Danielle Cwirko-Godycki; former Belmont Mayor Davina Hurt, now a member of California Air Resources Board; former San Carlos Mayor Mark Olbert, Former Redwood City mayors Ian Bain and Georgi LaBerge, former San Mateo Mayor Rick Bonilla; former Menlo Park Mayor Kelly Fergusson; Nagel (a former Burlingame mayor) and yours truly.
How did the organization start? In 1992 Marcia Pagels was inspired by the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro to bring together like-minded friends and form the Peninsula Sustainability Project, which later became Sustainable San Mateo County.
It was the local response to the summit’s call to “Think Globally, Act Locally” and the suggestion that residents monitor their own communities and regions.
She and San Mateo Highlands neighbor Ruth Petersen started things rolling in Pagel’s living room. I knew both women because when I ran for the elementary school board it was important that I meet the leaders of each school community in hopes of getting their endorsement. Highlands was a major player, so I spent time campaigning there. I was very impressed with these two politically smart and popular members of their community.
***
I don’t usually write about national politics. I leave that to the expert columnists at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. But I do have a message for Donald Trump. Please don’t mess around with Social Security and our individual retirement accounts. You are making us seniors very nervous.
***
I had planned to write a column about dogs and how important they are to a family with dogs. Lately, several of my closest friends have experienced very sick dogs which in the dog’s interest had to be put to sleep. Best for the dog but very hard for the owner.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs Mondays. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
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