By Stuart Soffer
E-mail Stuart Soffer
About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildi...
(More)About this blog: Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I lived in high-density housing and experienced transit-oriented services first hand. During high school and college summers I worked in Manhattan drafting tenant floor plans for high-rise office buildings. This could have been a career option, but my interest in computers - unusual at the time - led me to the computer science program at the University of Wisconsin. A programming job on Page Mill Road brought me to Palo Alto after college. Since 1993 I consult on bridging law and technology, and serve as an expert witness in Intellectual Property litigation. We moved to Menlo Park's Linfield Oaks neighborhood in 1994. Neighborhood traffic issues motivated my initial volunteering as a Menlo Park Planning Commissioner, followed by a stint as a Chamber of Commerce board member and most recently a finance/audit committee member. I advocate community volunteering for meeting people, the neighborhoods, and understanding the myriad issues that somehow arise. As hobbies I collect contemporary art and vintage cameras. And? fly helicopters, which offer rare views of the nooks and crannies of the Bay Area.
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Four months ago had someone asked me whether I was 'Feeling the Burn' I would have assumed they referred to the results of eating at the Wednesday night taco trucks. Apparently I misunderstood.
In a country of over 300 Million people I find it absurd that there aren’t qualified candidates for president without a coronation of family dynasties as President, whether Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush. Hillary is effectively running as an incumbent running for the third term of Bill Clinton or third term of Barack Obama – or both – due to her close personal proximity to their respective policies over the past 12 years. She owns that perception. She’s starting out as a vision of old news.
This contrasts with Bernie Sanders: fresh news. While I’m concerned that he doesn’t address the many other issues facing us, he comes off as honest. It’s the Brooklyn street honesty I grew up with. Dissing him shouldn’t be about his age: he’s only 6 years older than Hillary.
Hillary’s current lack of traction, and Bernie’s and Donald Trump’s ascending popularity reflects dissatisfaction with the courses set out by both parties. I wonder if this is the harbinger of a generally a bad year for incumbents.
Michael Bloomberg is the class act in the room. Experienced in running a city under fire, won three mayoral elections in a city of 8.4 million with rainbow of constituencies and interests; a successful entrepreneur; technically savvy; a philanthropist. (He’s also a helicopter pilot: I’d really like a ride with him.)
