Lenny Mendonca Quotations

If we're growing and we're not producing the talented workers we need in the schools, and it's too expensive to move in, companies are not going to have any choice but to move their work elsewhere.

Bay Area public services have not kept pace with demands of our economy and growing population. Freeways are jammed, commutes are longer, the power supply is vulnerable to a hot summer, and water systems could snap in a major earthquake. Well aware of this, business leaders can be optimistic that negotiations between the Governor and the Legislature on an infrastructure bond are focusing on what gets funded not if there's a need for funding.

Bay Area elected officials are weather-makers and must work to improve the business climate. It's a win-all-around opportunity. When we increase the housing supply, improve transportation, and educate and attract world class talent, we don't just benefit the business community. We benefit everyone in the region. The future success of the Bay Area rests on resolving these challenges.

The Bay Area is the birthplace of much of the business sector's innovation. We need to apply that same innovation to helping find creative solutions to the tough problems of health care cost, quality and access. The Bay Area Economic Forum is in a unique position to help catalyze creative thinking that brings business, government and the social sector together to come up with those ideas, instead of just passing the buck.