Joint Venture State of the Valley Conference

"Shock and Awe"

Each February the South Bay Piping Industry is a sponsor of Joint Venture Silicon Valley’s Annual State of the Valley Conference. As part of this event, Joint Venture provides attendees with an index of stats including all the visuals and grids needed to give one a full picture of where we, as an industry and community, stand economically.

"We have enough available commercial real estate to fill up nine empire state buildings," Dr. Russell Hancock, President and CEO, of Joint Venture stated. At 8 a.m. on Friday, February 12, 2010, the circumstances surrounding the now nearly 50% decline in the county plumbing and piping industry decidedly hit home.

The phase Shock and Awe is a military one simply meaning …to impose an overwhelming level of angst against an adversary in order to paralyze its will to carry on. In Santa Clara County it would relate to our long standing complacency and the idealist hope that our economy will rebound back to the status quo of the dot.com and semiconductor era. This is what has paralyzed our industry from taking action.

How do we take action? By first and foremost realizing that our success demands that we think beyond current assumptions, organize differently, draw upon still more ingenuity from our people, and to forge new collaborations in order to compete globally … to unparalyze ourselves.

But how does this translate directly to you the worker and you the employer in the South Bay Piping Industry? State and local policies have been critical to the success of Silicon Valley. The inability of California politicians to make major decisions resulting in city and state budget crisis has led to a major disadvantage. You, as an individual, and we, as the South Bay Piping Industry, must take an active role in the thought process and decisions of our politicians and policy makers. We must let them know we hold them accountable.

We need to actively and daily build strong and new relationships with those few firms and governing bodies that are awarding bids, building/inhabiting structures and employing those neighbors that we associate with.

We, as individuals and as a group, must also make those hard, difficult decisions of budgetary cuts, whether it be in health care, pensions, profit-percentage reductions, and shorter work weeks … less dollars for more sweat equity translates into savings and employment.

The picture is not all bleak for our home! Our region has had a net gain of 9,500 establishments, twice the national average. The biggest growing areas are industrial/energy, media and entertainment, medical devices and biotech continues to hold strong. Residential foreclosures dropped 39%, foreclosure sales accounting for ¼ of total sales in 2009 with affordability in housing now available for first time buyers. Average rents have declined 6%. Jobs in energy efficiency have increased by 60%. Transit oriented development is expanding with increased demand for renewable energy systems. Since 2002 household incomes making over $100,000 have increased by almost 10%. Patents for geothermal energy, hydro power, hybrid and wind energy systems as well as fuel cells and solar energy have risen substantially.

Working together as an industry, community and valley, we can walk away from the Shock and Awe of our current economic conditions and create new ideas, trends and a work place that is once again productive and the envy of global economies. All we need is the will and strength to do so. Become active today and take action!