When asked recently how her campaign for the District 4 seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is going, Menlo Park Mayor Kirsten Keith smiled.
“It’s going very well,” she said. “I was on the cover of the Wall Street Journal yesterday (April 25).”
As mayor of the city that reeled in Facebook, the timing of Keith’s campaign run couldn’t be much better. The Wall Street Journal’s article on the social networking company’s new hometown notes that 45-year-old Keith has been “leading Menlo Park” toward a deal with Facebook that will net the city more than $14.6 million in fees and community benefits over the next 15 years.
“I would credit this as a very successful collaboration between staff, city council and Facebook, everybody,” Keith said. “I do take some credit, we all can.”
If elected supervisor, Keith said she’d want to attend biotech conferences and other business gatherings to “explain why San Mateo County is such a great place to do business and live.
“It’s all about bringing jobs to the county,” she said.
The county’s budget deficit, projected to grow to $50 million in five years, is a problem Keith said needs to be tackled. As a council member she hasn’t been afraid to “make hard decisions,” she said, noting that she voted with her colleagues to lay off three employees when the state shut down local redevelopment agencies.
Asked if she has any specific cuts in mind for the county, Keith said no.
“I would take a thoughtful approach to the budget as I do here in Menlo Park,” she said. “I’m not saying I would cut X, Y and Z. I think that’s what you’re looking for.”
Pushed for any budget strategies, Keith said the board needs “to look at regionalization for ways we provide different services and combining things like the Mosquito Vector District,” an idea recently suggested by the county’s Local Agency Formation Commission after it was revealed the district’s former finance director allegedly embezzled more than $400,000.
Keith said the county also should “work more closely” with nonprofits to provide needed services to residents.
By encouraging more homes, including affordable ones, the county could reduce its traffic congestion, Keith said. She supports a recently approved county plan for North Fair Oaks that will allow for 3,000 new housing units, 20 percent of them below market rate, as well as more shops, restaurants and offices.
“I really favor the idea of keeping the higher density housing along our transit lines,” Keith said, “And not spreading it into our open space areas.”
The married mother of two students has practiced law in San Mateo County for nearly two decades, much of that time as a criminal defense attorney in the county’s private defender program. She served on the Menlo Park Planning Commission from 2004 to 2010 before being elected to the city council almost two years ago. In December, she was chosen by fellow council members to be this year’s mayor.
Keith said her council experience makes her more qualified for the county office than candidates with only school board or city commission experience. She has the endorsement of 27 current or former mayors of San Mateo County cities, according to her website.
“If you’re doing things at the city council level, it’s great training ground for the board of supervisors,” she said.
Email Bonnie Eslinger at beslinger@dailynewsgroup.com.
