[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 192 (Monday, December 12, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1251-E1252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE DEPARTURE OF THE HONORABLE SANJAY GEHANI FROM THE CITY 
                         COUNCIL OF FOSTER CITY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, December 12, 2022

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize Sanjay Gehani as he 
concludes his service on the city council of Foster City. Sanjay was 
elected in 2018 and is the first Mayor of Indian descent in the city's 
history. When elected, he likely never imagined that a global pandemic 
as well as federal and state law would profoundly shape his time in 
office.
  Sanjay is a true child of the Midpeninsula. He was raised in Belmont 
and moved to Foster City as a child where he fondly remembers playing 
Little League on Foster City's wonderful sports fields. He and his 
family have always had a home in the city, although in recent years his 
parents maintain their primary residence across the bay. As a resident 
since childhood, he is invested in this community and its traditions.
  In his candidate statement, Sanjay listed three top priorities as, 
``Take a break from housing production, enable traffic management 
solutions, improve relationships with the school district.'' During his 
four-year term, the city created a traffic mitigation measure along 
Hillsdale Boulevard and Foster City worked closely with a state 
legislator to change state law to allow cities to access state housing 
funds to preserve existing affordable housing. Sanjay supported both 
measures as well as efforts to assist residents of Fosters Landing when 
they were faced with skyrocketing rents at the end of their guaranteed 
decades of affordability. While state law made pausing housing 
construction unlikely, Sanjay expressed his concerns about the law but 
ultimately worked with colleagues to ensure that Foster City submitted 
a housing element to the state that the council and staff believed 
would pass muster.
  As COVID continued to rage in 2021, Sanjay Gehani was Mayor. He voted 
to assist Foster City small businesses and to help families by creating 
family-friendly events during a time of isolation. For example, he 
supported the Rubber Ducky Races which returned to Foster City after a 
30-year hiatus. As vaccination rates rose, he supported creating hybrid 
city council meetings where residents could participate through Zoom or 
in person. He launched the Mayoral Minute video series, offering 
residents concise updates about city affairs. He supported the creation 
of a sister city relationship with Inagi City, Japan.
  The largest single public works project in the history of the city is 
the upgrade of the Foster City levee. As a councilmember in 2020, 
shortly after the pandemic came to Foster City, and amidst all of the 
uncertainty, Sanjay and his colleagues unanimously voted to accept the 
bid that commenced construction. At the time of its final permit 
approval, the Foster City levee was the largest single project in the 
modern history of the permitting agency. It set several precedents and 
it is a credit to Sanjay and his colleagues that they were able to get 
this needed improvement under construction and to keep it on track 
despite the pandemic impacting nearly all other public works projects. 
Sanjay and his colleagues also worked very hard to keep a large upgrade 
to the wastewater treatment system on track and on budget.
  Sanjay represents the city as a liaison to, or member of, several 
regional boards and commissions. These include but are not limited to 
the Airport Land Use Committee, the Association of Bay Area 
Governments, the City/County Association of Governments, the League of 
California Cities, the Foster City Chamber of Commerce, the Peninsula 
Traffic Congestion Relief Alliance, the San Mateo-Foster City 
Elementary School District, and the South Bayside Waste Management 
Authority.
  Professionally, Sanjay spent 15 years at high technology companies 
before co-founding a preschool franchising company that is one of the 
largest in the nation. He is proud to help franchisees become 
financially independent. His commitment to children goes beyond 
establishing preschools as he coaches Foster City Little League and 
serves on the board of directors. He holds a bachelor's degree in 
Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Davis and 
an MBA in Marketing and Leading Organizations from the Leavey School of 
Business at Santa Clara University.
  As Foster City says goodbye to its former Mayor and Councilmember, it 
will remember his efforts to help better the community. Democracy needs 
people who are willing to step up and to accept the responsibilities of 
public office. Sanjay Gehani was willing to serve so that others could 
concentrate on their private and business lives. He will now rejoin his 
neighbors in those same roles, and his wife Sweetu and son Veer will 
now have more time with Sanjay for important family matters. The people 
of Foster City will no longer have the benefit of that time, but they 
will always owe a debt to their neighbor who accepted the role of 
leadership, with all of its blessings and challenges, during one of the 
most trying times in modern history.

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