Recognizing the Service of the Honorable Eric Rodriguez, Councilmember, City of San Mateo, Upon the Conclusion of His Public Service

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Eric Rodriguez as he steps down from the San Mateo City Council after serving for five years and ten months, with one year as Mayor.

Eric grew up in neighboring Belmont. Upon moving to San Mateo, he eventually served as his neighborhood's representative to the San Mateo United Homeowners Association and as a member of the Aragon Neighborhood Association Board of Directors from 2013 through 2016. In 2015, he was appointed to the planning commission, serving until 2017.

In that year, he was elected to the San Mateo City Council. In his candidate's statement he argued for effective traffic planning to reduce gridlock, preservation of the neighborhood character of San Mateo, quality public safety and parks and recreation services, affordable housing and fiscal accountability. He received 6,266 votes.

Nowhere in his candidate statement did the word ``COVID'' appear.

Eric led San Mateo as Mayor from December 2020 to December 2021. These harsh times of pandemic required city services to be largely delivered remotely, city workers to support public health by arranging for testing and then early public vaccination sites, and an all-hands- on-deck approach to preserving public health. This included the difficult decision to enforce shut-down orders for public places. As the vital restaurant industry began to be devastated by the disease, Eric and his colleagues swiftly approved outside dining and offered financial support. When racial tensions rose because of actions in other cities that sparked nationwide outrage, Mayor Rodriguez spoke out on YouTube and stated that San Mateo stood united against hatred and all forms of racism. He also spoke in favor of the Police Athletic League (PAL), stating that building relationships between young people and the police was part of the solution to keeping fairness in the community.

During his time in office, Eric was a strong advocate for affordable housing developments to reduce income inequality in San Mateo. To his credit and that of his colleagues, a city parking lot near Caltrain is now under construction. Kiku Crossing is a 7-story apartment building that will offer 225 homes for those earning low incomes, and a new publicly accessible parking garage. This development could have been contentious, but Eric and his colleagues spent many hours educating the public about the benefits of this project.

Also begun during his term of office was a billion dollar+ upgrade to the city's wastewater treatment plant. It takes quite a bit of time to bring this kind of project to the stage of construction, but Eric and his colleagues supported an upgrade that is a credit to the objectives of the Clean Water Act and that will be a vital piece of public infrastructure for decades to come.

In his private life, Eric is presently the CEO of a health information website that he co-founded. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Police Activities League and the Rotary Club of San Mateo. He is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he received his M.B.A., and the University of California at Berkeley where he received his Bachelor of Science degree. He and his wife Shirley have one child, son Tyler. Now that he is leaving public life, there will be more personal time to enjoy with his family.

When the call of elective public service is made, most people turn a deaf ear. It then falls to a few to assume the reigns of authority, pursuant to endorsement via elections, and to bear the full commitment of time, energy and emotion on behalf of creating a better community for all. Eric Rodriguez answered the call, and the people of San Mateo are better because of his service. I wish Eric and his family wonderful times in the years ahead. In the coming years, as he leads Tyler through the community, he will be able to point and to say, ``Dad helped make that possible.'' I am certain that his son will be impressed, and perhaps another generation of public service will be born because of those moments. This is one of the chief ways in which American democracy sustains itself. From parent to child. From generation to generation. From local government to national. The accomplishments of all of us add up, and Eric Rodriguez's service is illustrative of this remarkable reality of democracy.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source