This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Peninsula Politicians Advocate for Biotech Business

Politicians gathered Friday to discuss how to keep biotechnology in the Bay Area.

Peninsula politicians and business advocates joined together Friday in Belmont to discuss ways to promote a regional economic development strategy, with a special emphasis on biotechnology.

San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley was joined by Redwood City Councilmember Rosanne Foust, Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D- San Mateo), South San Francisco Mayor Kevin Mullin, as well as other representatives from throughout San Mateo County, to discuss how to help local life science businesses succeed.

Foust said it was in the best interest of the greater Bay Area to ensure advocates are able to make San Mateo County a lucrative region for businesses, especially those in the biotech industry.

"We want to be enablers in San Mateo County,"said Foust. "We don't want to impede business growth.

"The meeting took place in a conference room at the San Mateo County Economic Development Association headquarters on Lakeshore Drive near Highway 101.

Hill said there are 350 biotechnology business located in the Bay Area that offer 15,000 jobs to local residents. But as the industry has grown in popularity and revenue generating potential, as has interest from regions outside the Bay Area that have began offering lucrative opportunities to the businesses should they be willing to relocate.

Biotechnology generated $567 million in payroll in San Mateo County last year, said Hill.

"There are number of great companies doing great things here," he said.

He cited as an example that South San Francisco-based Genentech, the crown jewel of the biotech industry both locally and abroad, has relocated some of its services to Oregon due in part to the the restrictive tax policy in place in California.

Hill said he was sponsoring bills in the state legislature that would eliminate redundancies for biotech companies in terms of their being forced to undergo multiple health inspections from state and federal agencies which demand unnecessary amounts of the business' time.

Mullin, who touted his city as "the birthplace of biotech," spoke to the benefit that the greater Bay Area experiences when local businesses succeed.

"A rising tide floats all boats," said Mullin.

He also talked about the ways he has advocated for a collaboration between the local school system in South San Francisco and the biotech business community. He said he would like to see the relationship between both sectors grow in an effort to maintain local progress.

"We are uniquely positioned to keep momentum growing," said Mullin.

Mullin's father, Gene, a former South San Francisco mayor and State Assemblyman, was part of the South San Francisco government when Genentech first came to the Bay Area.

He gave historical perspective as to why South San Francisco became the hub for biotech that is it today, which he mostly attributed to it being in between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, as well as being able to offer lots of land and space for a relatively cheap price at the time.

He admitted that in the late 1970s, when Genentech first expressed interest in coming to South San Francisco, the city government was not aware of the potential lucrative businesses opportunity that would be joining the city.

"We didn't know what we were getting at the time," said Gene Mullin.

Horsley commented on the necessity of keeping abreast of developments in the local biotech industry in order to find opportunities for expansion.

He said the next time the group gets together they will invite local Congresswomen Jackie Speier and Anna Eshoo in order to get a federal representation at the meeting.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?