Bay Area Civic Leadership Forum 10/5/18

Silicon Valley Innovation Channel Ding Ding TV hosted another Civic Leadership Forum in Santa Clara, this time to spread awareness about the upcoming midterm elections. The president of the League of Women Voters in the Southwest Santa Clara Valley area, Eleanor Yick, delivered a keynote speech on the pros and cons of some of the California state ballot measures. This Forum also focused on issues that would affect cities in and around the Silicon Valley in the near future, as well as schools in the Silicon Valley area.  Eleanor Yick’s keynote speech covered the topics of the roles of the League of Women Voters, the current California ballot propositions/measures, and the 2018 Midterm Elections, including local issues. The key points from the “How To Be A Smart Voter- Understanding the 2018 Midterm Elections” panel discussion is for voters to register and vote, as well as to stay updated and informed in order to make a more educated vote. California is currently the world’s 5th largest economy and has many well-known companies in Silicon Valley. However, housing and transportation are two critical issues in the Bay Area especially in Silicon Valley.  The panelists from the “Issues In The Bay Area Cities That Will Impact Silicon Valley’s Future” panel discussion concluded that if cities can collaborate to resolve these issues, employees can afford to live in the Bay Area and not have to worry about traffic.  The panel discussion regarding “The Main Challenges Silicon Valley Schools Currently Face” was split between student issues and teacher issues.  For students, one of the main issues is redefining success to where academic performance is not the main focus.  With teachers, the shortage of teachers increases the workload for each teacher and decreases the quality of education for that school.  This is tied to the issue of housing in the Bay Area being expensive to the point where teachers are less inclined to want to live and work in the Bay Area.