[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 194 (Monday, December 10, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1619-E1620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN RECOGNITION OF JEFF GEE

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 10, 2018

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Jeff Gee who is leaving the 
city council of Redwood City, a community he has served as a 
councilmember since 2009. He has also served twice as Mayor, in 2014 
and 2015. However, the beginning of his public service was 20 years ago 
when he served on the Architectural Review Board and later on the 
Planning Commission. He was particularly well prepared for the city 
council when he entered office during that difficult year of 2009.
  Redwood City is growing rapidly under global influences. It is also 
composed of young and old, many families and newly-arrived singles. 
According to the Census Bureau, its population has increased 15% since 
Jeff Gee joined the council. Box.com, Google, dozens of pharmaceutical 
and biotechnology startups, two major hospitals, a shipping port, and a 
regional transportation hub now fuel the city's growth.
  In the downtown area, thousands of new apartments dot the landscape. 
During the Great Recession, the city council adopted a downtown plan 
that offered 20 years of planning certainty to potential investors. 
When the economy took off, developers created 20 years of growth in 
less than a decade. Jeff and his colleagues on the council played a 
major role in shaping the modem downtown of Redwood City.
  On the east side of Highway 101 is a road lined with trailer parks. 
During his time on the council, Jeff was a strong advocate for 
residents whose trailer parks became filled with floodwaters during 
severe winter storms. His advocacy led to an effort by multiple 
agencies to construct the Bayfront Canal project which will allow water 
to be accepted by the existing canal and to be funneled to an adjacent 
salt pond to prevent flooding of the residents. These parks, which I 
have personally toured, are filled with children and hardworking heads 
of households. They owe Jeff Gee a major vote of thanks for his efforts 
to normalize their lives.
  In addition to local advocacy, Jeff represented Redwood City and San 
Mateo County on numerous multi-jurisdictional and regional boards. 
Among his thousands of hours

[[Page E1620]]

of public service, he can count his time on the SamTrans Board of 
Directors, Director and Past-Chairman of the board of the Caltrain 
Joint Powers Authority, and Past President of the San Francisco Airport 
Community Roundtable. He is also a statewide leader where he currently 
serves as President of the League of California Cities Asian Pacific 
Islander Caucus, and on the League's Public Safety Policy Committee.
  Jeff Gee is a sincere and intelligent person who can wax poetic about 
transit. Jeff is a transit nerd's best friend, and I think that he's 
probably never met a wheelchair lift mechanism that didn't fascinate 
him. One could easily imagine a much younger Jeff Gee running up to a 
neighborhood ice cream truck, ordering an ice cream, and then closely 
examining the truck's tires to determine if the depth of tread remained 
safe for operation of the vehicle.
  His reliability as a leader is evidenced by numerous volunteer 
positions that he's held in his community over many years. He was an 
officer in several homeowner associations, serves on a community 
college advisory board, and is a board member and/or trustee for a 
local nonprofit and a local university. His role in the Chamber of 
Commerce led to him being named Citizen of the Year in 2006. During all 
of this time, he's been a senior manager/architect at a major 
construction company.
  Redwood City's official slogan is ``Climate Best By Government 
Test.'' There is also a test of dedication to a community's future, and 
Jeff Gee scores an A+ on that test. I will miss him as an articulate 
and talented leader who went about his tasks as a community leader with 
little fanfare or interest in personal aggrandizement. As he leaves the 
public realm to rejoin his wife, Judie, and his children Christopher 
and Elizabeth as a private resident, he can leave office knowing that 
his community is thriving because he guided its evolution toward a 
healthy and dynamic future.

                          ____________________