[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 12, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1386]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE BOOMERS HAVE ARRIVED--JIM GHIELMETTI TURNING 60

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 12, 2006

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday night I 
will join the many friends of Jim Ghielmetti in celebrating an event 
that millions of Americans will share over the coming years. The baby 
boomers are turning 60, and there is nothing they can do about it. 
Jim's birthday is May 15th, but I think his wonderful wife Laurie 
wanted to give him a few months to adjust before he faced his many 
friends who will gather in San Francisco to wish him well. I share a 
May birthday but a year earlier so I had the pleasure of being ahead of 
Jim and the boomers.
  It has now been almost 30 years since I was introduced to a young 
builder in my congressional district. Sid Lippow, our mutual friend who 
introduced us, said that he thought it was important for us to get to 
know one another. He said that we could give balance to each other and 
that we were the future of our professions, me in politics and Jim in 
homebuilding. But as Sid said, Jim was about building more than homes, 
he was building communities.
  For these 30 years we have indeed added balance to one another. Most 
of the time after long debates over a wide range of issues, from 
endangered species, the future of Social Security, community planning, 
the right level of taxation, and so many other topics. We have argued 
about them in one another's homes, in restaurants and at the kids' 
soccer games. Through it all we have remained the best of friends.
  Jim Ghielmetti has come a long way since those early days when he was 
learning his profession while working for Shapell Industries of 
Northern California. In 1983 he struck out on his own and founded 
Signature Properties. Today, under his leadership, the company has 
built more than 6,000 homes, with another 3,500 homes currently in the 
planning or design phases. Signature is well known throughout the 
greater Bay Area and Sacramento regions for its diverse product 
offerings in both urban and suburban settings, its commercial and 
mixed-use projects and its master-planned communities.
  True to my first introduction to Jim, he was building more than 
houses. He has given an extraordinary amount of his time to making the 
Bay Area a better community. Since 1994, Jim Ghielmetti has focused on 
local transportation issues by chairing the Transportation Committee of 
the Tri-Valley Business Council. The Transportation Committee addresses 
such issues as toll roads, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) expansion to 
the Tri-Valley area and obtaining matching federal funds for expansion 
of Interstates 580 and 680.
  For the last 5 years, Jim has served on the Board of Directors of the 
Bay Area Council. The Bay Area Council is an organization that 
aggressively addresses the challenges that affect the economic well-
being and quality of life in the nine Bay Area counties. He also serves 
on the Executive Committee of the Policy Advisory Board for the Fisher 
Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of 
California, Berkeley. In 2000, Jim served on the Governor's Commission 
for the 21st Century, a group charged with developing a blueprint for 
California to follow in addressing transportation, housing, 
environmental and other issues of the 21st century. In 2003, Jim was 
appointed to the California State Transportation Commission.

  Jim Ghielmetti has been an outstanding citizen participant in the 
public policy debates in our region and in our State.
  Homebuilding is what Jim Ghielmetti does, but his family tells us who 
he is. Jim and his wife Laurie, a very successful businesswoman in the 
design field, have been partners in life and in business. They have 
raised two great sons, Michael and Brian, and recently a grandson 
Matteo. Michael, specializing in creative urban infill, is working with 
Jim at Signature Properties, and Brian is in New York doing urban 
renovations. Jim and Laurie and all of us are very proud of them both.
  These are just some of the reasons why so many of Jim's friends will 
be coming together to wish him a very happy birthday with so many more 
to come. This birthday may be a shock to Jim, but I can assure him that 
all of us are very glad that he has had these 60 years and wish him 
many more to come.

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