| Appendix A: Qualitative
Findings
Overview of San
Mateo County
economy
household income
Through the following comments,
participants show that, while San Mateo is a nice place to live, it is difficult for
people without resources or employees with lower incomes. Moreover, they said individuals
who could typically afford to live in other places have a hard time making ends meet in
San Mateo County, making it difficult to retain employees who are needed in the area, but
earn a lower income.
"What strikes me is this is a pretty
good place to live regardless of your age if you’ve got resources. But it’s the
disenfranchised folk — the elderly who don’t have relatives or enough financial
support, are trying to eke out on social security, have no other form of retirement –
have a harder time here. Young people of color have a harder time here. Young people
growing up in poverty have a harder time here. And I think one of the distinctions is not
necessarily age or some of the other characteristics that you often look for, I think
there’s a common thread which is, ‘Do you have the resources?’"
— Community Leader
"I was at Rotary and a man said,
‘I’m really concerned that my kid who just graduated with an engineering degree
from San Jose State can’t afford to live in San Mateo.’ And I was thinking about
that and the kid’s got a
nice job, he’s going to make like $70,000 a year…"
— Business Leader
"We are losing a tremendous amount
of teachers because they cannot afford to live in this county on what it pays and so that
goes back to our children. This county is geared to college graduates for any job. A kid
out of high school cannot find a job, they might find a service job, but then they cannot
afford to live in the county anywhere. That is going to come back and bite us also because
we just don’t have enough qualified teachers. The good teachers have to leave the
area."
— Business Leader
"We found out that some of the staff
at some of our contract agencies qualify for some of our housing programs for disabled
individuals by their income level. In terms of recruiting, retaining good
people…"
— Community Leader
evaluations of the community as a place to live
best things about san mateo county
When asked to identify the best
things about San Mateo County, community panel participants identified many assets,
including the environment, a low crime rate, the size of the county, and the energy of its
residents. Furthermore, they believe San Mateo to be uniquely located in the Bay Area,
allowing residents to benefit from both local academic resources and area cultural events.
"The best things are easy. I think
the academic communities that are here, the ability to move from the ocean to cultural
events in San Francisco, our climate…" — Business Leader
"I have to say the lowest crime rate
in the state. I have to look at the Bay Area, San Francisco, Alameda County, San Mateo
County really is about the best kept secret. Our traffic, we do have a growing traffic
problem, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the rest of the Bay Area. I think that all
of our communities tend to have real strong community identity. They tend to be less
transient than other communities in the Bay Area and I think that that builds a deeper
sense of community and concern and I think that translates into lower crime."
— Community Leader
"I think the size of the county is
an advantage that sometimes we don’t recognize. It’s big enough to have the
diversity and the opportunities, but it’s also small enough – geographic size
and population both – a manageable size and complexity. We have urban areas in the
county, but we also have suburban
and rural areas. It’s really kind of a unique place because of that."
— Community Leader
"It seems to be that there is a
certain energy that is in the county that people seem to be more or less willing to get
involved. There seem to be more and more opportunities economically. It seems that
there’s a lot of recreational opportunities and a lot of things to do with your spare
time that contribute toward that energy. It’s a place where active people I think
feel very much at home."
— Community Leader
"I think we are also an integral
part of a larger picture in the Bay Area and so some of those resources – such as the
University of California at Berkley and Stanford – I know happen to be the reasons
that many of these very successful people are located here… the natural beauty of the
environment just draws people and attracts people here and, of all the counties in the
immediate Bay Area, I think San Mateo County is uniquely blessed by having that sense of
respect for and protection of the natural environment, and that leads people who make
decisions to say in spite of the down side of issues, we still think these very positives
exist here and that’s why we want to come here and that’s why we want to stay
here and why we don’t want leave here."
— Community Leader
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