Marc Berman is a Palo Alto council member seeking election for the 24th district of the California State Assembly. Berman’s background is ideal for the position. He has worked in the private, non-profit and government sectors giving him a unique understanding of the issues he advocates for the most: education, infrastructure and the environment. No wonder the Mercury News, the Daily News and the San Mateo Daily Journal have endorsed him.
I met with Berman to talk about his experience and how will that look like in the Assembly. We had an interesting chat, and I learned a lot about him. We spoke about the issues he’s most passionate about, the first one being education.
Berman worked at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, where he worked towards bringing STEM education to the kids in the region. In an increasingly technological world, kids need to have the essential tools to successfully navigate adulthood.
“Technology already is the basis of everything in Silicon Valley, and our kids need to be prepared,” he said.
Although the Silicon Valley Education Foundation is focused on STEM education, Marc said that “it should really be STEAM.” He acknowledged that the arts are a very important component of children’s education and it is sadly being left behind in California. According to Berman, arts have a vital impact on the making of a human as a person and he sees art education as an important component. Sadly, too many schools have had to face the brunt of the economy and end these classes/programs.
In addition to his experience in education, Berman also brings a wealth of experience in infrastructure, his other passion.
“The issues that we face in Palo Alto are very similar at the state level in terms of electricity issues, climate change issues, how can we reduce our carbon emissions because we have our own electricity portfolio, we have our own utilities.”
Berman explained that Palo Alto manages a total of 7 utilities from electricity to water to waste water, etc.
Berman has worked on getting alternative fuel sources for Palo Alto. The city’s energy portfolio includes clean energy sources such as hydroelectric, wind and solar power. In addition, Palo Alto uses a new technology where landfill gases are collected and used for power.
Energy is not the only infrastructure issue in which Berman has experience.
Before running for city council, Berman participated in an infrastructure citizen blue ribbon commission that the council put together. The commission spent a year studying and putting together a report for the city council where the needs of the city were identified. The report was given to the city while Berman ran for council. Currently, and thanks to his efforts, Palo Alto is working on a public safety building, two firehouses, and the city’s roads are in better shape.
In order to fund these projects, Berman used his council member position to secure some of the funding. He was also active on the committee for Measure B to increase hotel/transient tax. This helped raise another $35M dollars of funding. As a result, by 2019 Palo Alto will have a rating of the #1, or in the top 3 cities, in the county when it comes to infrastructure.
“A recent nation-wide study said that California has the worst state roads in the country. Fifty-one percent of our roads are already in poor condition. And that has an impact on us because the average Bay Area driver spends an average of $1,700 per year repairing damage to their cars and traffic delay due to our bad roads,” he said
To better illustrate the point, Berman recounted hearing a CEO bemoan that he had to change two tires in his car due to poor road conditions. That’s ok because he can afford it, but a person making $10/hour who has to commute for an hour because they can’t afford to live here can’t afford two new tires as easily. “We should refocus and reinvest on this issue that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.”
Infrastructure and the environment go hand in hand. Complementing his work on getting clean energy to Palo Alto, Berman has helped steer efforts to clean up CalPERS’ energy portfolio. “We want them to divest from fossil fuels,” he said, “they manage the retirement funds for the employees of the City of Palo Alto, and they should be in line with our values.” As a result, he was involved in passing a city resolution calling CalPERS to do just that. He is also against fracking in our state.
During Berman’s tenure in the Palo Alto City Council, Palo Alto has become a carbon neutral city. “But we need to do more,” he said. “We need to get to zero carbon.”
It is exactly this kind of breadth and diversity in experience that Berman would bring to Sacramento if he is elected for the 24th California State Assembly District.
Correction: A previous version of this entry said that Bay Area drivers spent $17,000/mo on car repairs. The number provided by Berman was $1,700. This has been corrected in the article.
