Meeting Notes -- May 7, 2024

Rotary Club of Mountain View

May 7, 2024

President-elect Scott Johnson substituted for Tori

Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Sanjay
 
Greeter: Stephen
 
General Club Announcements:
  • Tom updated the current building projects at CSA.
  • Annual meeting for the Mountain View Rotary Club will be next week including elections.
  • The winner of our student speech contest, Nora Saraci-Alonzo, took 2nd place in the district conference, winning $1,500.00.
  • Sanjay reported high school scholarships will be increased to $3,250.00. For the first time, there will be adult school scholarships, for which two adult students will be awarded $1,625.00 each.
  • Cathy announced the deadline for community grants is next Wednesday. “Supporting Youth” is the theme.
  • Judy reported opening applications for RYLA at MV High and Alta Vista.
  • Kathrine is looking into starting an Interact Club at MV High.
 
SPEAKER:
Fred introduced our speaker, Larry Stone, Santa Clara County Assessor and SJ Rotary member. Larry also served two terms as mayor of Sunnyvale.
 
Larry talked about the Silicon Valley economy and local real estate markets. Following COVID-19, Americans started spending at record levels on goods, followed by services, leading to inflation and high interest rates. Despite this, the U.S. economy remains strong with a low unemployment rate. Even though Silicon Valley’s economy is structured to resist long-term declines, venture capital investment dropped. Business travel declined, negatively affecting the hotel business. Online sales grew faster than in-store sales. In fact, retail store size is the smallest it has been in 17 years and owners of malls are looking to divest retail winners including Walmart, Target, Costco, and Amazon. Google, Apple, and Facebook have a massive impact on the economy.
 
Bay Area home sales are down. New listings and for-sale inventory remain low. Home prices are more volatile in the area due to technology sector ups and downs. Teleworking led to a downturn in commercial real estate with rising vacancy rates and declining rental rates. Relative to residential property tax revenue, commercial property tax revenue is declining. In addition, people leaving California are taking taxable income with them.
 
On the bright side, AI is a new source of tenant demand. AI requires 5 times more power and space than traditional tenants in data centers.
 
Mark your Calendars:  Our Next Meeting will be on May 14th at Don Giovanni’s.