Candidate for
City Council; City of South San Francisco

Upon first joining the South San Francisco City Council in May 2000, Pedro Gonzalez worked hard to minimize the effect of the State's attempt to take city revenues back to Sacramento. During that period, as the State struggled to pass its annual budgets, it attempted to balance those budgets by taking much-needed, local funds.

These local funds are essential to city services that benefit all South San Franciscans--services such as public safety, education, and parks and recreation. Since then, Councilmember Gonzalez has continued to help the city successfully navigate through some very challenging economic periods.

During the beginning of his first term, South San Francisco recovered from two economic crises: In 2000, the "dot com" industry experienced a major economic downturn and shortly after September 11, 2001, many hotels in South San Francisco were vacant and restaurants were empty.

In 2004, as co-chair of the San Mateo County Water Transit Advocates, Councilmember Gonzalez lobbied very hard to ensure that the establishment of the Oyster Point Marina Ferry Terminal was part of the Regional Measure 2 and County Measure A Extension, ballot propositions approved by the voters. As a result, South San Francisco received $30 million in funding for transportation infrastructure projects.

In 2008, then-Mayor Pedro Gonzalez helped usher in the city's Centennial (100th birthday) celebration, and most recently, during his term on City Council, South San Francisco saw its bond ratings improve--a rarity for municipalities during these economic uncertain times.