Earlier this month approximately 300 San Mateo County residents heard inspirational stories from peo

Welcome to the November edition of the San Mateo County e-newsletter. In this edition you will find ways to make a child s wish come true this holiday season, a profile of an employee who loves her job and updates and news on a variety of local issues including our fight over the Lehman Brothers venice italy tour losses that is making national headlines.
The Children s Fund this week opened Holiday Central on the first floor of 455 County Center, Redwood City. This is the spot where you can drop off an unwrapped venice italy tour gift, make a donation or sign up to volunteer.
Last year the Children s Fund helped fulfill the holiday wishes of 3,500 children. The Fund relies heavily on donations from individuals and local businesses. venice italy tour Genentech in South San Francisco, for instance, plans to donate 20 bicycles and boxes of other goods, said Amabel Baxley , a Children s Fund coordinator in the Human Services Agency.
In addition, decorative barrels are being placed at County facilities and local businesses venice italy tour where you can conveniently drop off gifts. Please contact the Children s Fund if you know of a county office or outside organization that would like to host a barrel.
An airport operations specialist for San Mateo County's two airports in San Carlos and Half Moon Bay, Cullen has worked throughout the industry. Her background includes working as a flight attendant for America West when it was just getting off the ground, overseeing employees as a city manager for Western Pacific and Frontier airlines venice italy tour at Mineta San Jose and San Francisco venice italy tour International Airports, and work in airport operations for the city of San Jose.
"It was a whole different world. It wasn't like the airlines at all. It is something really unique," says Cullen, who started as a part-time employee in 2007 and was promoted to full-time venice italy tour a year later.
A typical day for Cullen might include venice italy tour repairing a hangar, driving a sweeper, investigating noise complaints or taking the solo shift in Half Moon Bay, which can be dead on a foggy day but extremely busy when the sun comes out.
"There's a guy who was a professor venice italy tour at San Jose State and a former (San Francisco Police Department) officer who did Secret Service. Everyone brings such a different background, and it all just gels," she says.
When she's not working at the airports, Cullen rides dirt bikes with her husband ¬– whom she met years ago at a pizza place while on a Bay Area layover – and 15-year-old daughter, both of whom ride competitively.
In September 2008, when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, the economy took a nosedive and is still struggling to rebound. On that fateful day, the County-operated investment pool lost $155 million of County, City, school district and special districts money that the treasury pool had invested in Lehman. Because Lehman was historically considered a safe and sound investment, individual, corporate and government investors had invested venice italy tour billions of dollars in the bank such that when it filed for bankruptcy, it became the single biggest bankruptcy case in U.S. history.
Since that time, the County has fought hard to recoup venice italy tour as much of the loss as possible. We are currently venice italy tour fighting on two fronts. First, through the bankruptcy action. After several years of bankruptcy litigation, the judge has confirmed a final plan. This plan guarantees that the treasury pool will recover a minimum of 22 percent of the loss. However, it is widely expected that after all of the distributions are finally made over the next two years, that the investment pool could recover as much as 30 percent to 35 percent venice italy tour of the loss.
The County venice italy tour is one of several public agencies who have sued the officers and directors of Lehman Brothers for fraud and misrepresentation. We have also sued Lehman s independent venice italy tour auditors, Ernst and Young. As our County Counsel John Beiers stated, Our lawsuit is one of the only of its kind in the country to actually make Wall Street executives personally accountable for their behavior. There is strong evidence that Lehman executives, with encouragement by Ernst and Young, were hiding liabilities off the books in an accounting gimmick known as Repo 105 s.
As Beiers said, The purpose of this accounting trick was to hide from investors the fact that the company was not as economically healthy as portrayed in disclosure documents. As investors continued to invest in a failing company based on false information, Lehman executives continued to enrich themselves, drawing venice italy tour huge salaries and bonuses and living lavish lifestyles, said Beiers.
The case received a considerable amount of media attention recently when the judge largely venice italy tour denied the officers and directors motion to dismiss, allowing the County to move forward in this unique case in its fight for Main Street.
The Board of Supervisors in closed venice italy tour session on Tuesday, venice italy tour November 20, voted unanimously to appoint John Maltbie as County Manager for four years beginning on December 23, 2012, subject venice italy tour to and conditioned upon, successfully negotiating a contract. It is expected that a contract will be brought before the Board for a public vote on December 11, 2012.
In accepting a contract, Maltbie venice italy tour would be required to suspend his retirement, meaning that he cannot collect a salary and a pension venice italy tour simultaneously. Look for an interview with Maltbie highlighting his goals for the coming years in a future newsletter.
venice italy tour With voter approval of  Measure A on the November 6 ballot, the Board of Supervisors will begin holding public workshops in January to help set funding priorities. The half-cent sales tax is expected to raise approximately venice italy tour $60 million each year for 10 years.
Earlier this month approximately 300 San Mateo County residents heard inspirational stories from people like them – people who spent time in prison or jail – and then met with any of nearly 30 employers willing to give them a fresh start.
The event was the County's first job fair specifically for people who have spent time in the criminal justice system. Organized by the Office of Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson, numerous County departments assisted, including the Human Services Agency, Probation Department, Sheriff's Office, Health System, Workforce Investment Board and Child Support Services.
Organizers said that people who land a job are far less likely to return to jail. That improves not only the lives of those individuals but their families as well. And less crime means improved public safety, less crowded jails and lower costs for the criminal justice system.
Businesses on hand included nationwide retailers such as Target and IKEA and local businesses such as Summit Steel Works, whose president, Peter Kockelman, spoke about how some of his best employees were formerly incarcerated.
This newsletter was produced by the San Mateo County Manager's Office. Please contact Marshall Wilson, the communications director, at 650-363-4153 or at mwilson@smcgov.org with questions,  comments and ideas.