During February, the East Bay Leadership Council undertook a survey of members and task force members to determine how the Council is performing and to gauge member satisfaction. The online survey was conducted and evaluated by EMC Research, which provides market and opinion research services. Eighty-two completed interviews were evaluated.

Key findings from survey respondents were these.

• The best thing about doing business in the East Bay for EBLC members is its proximity to San Francisco, quality of life and diversity.
• Respondents continue to struggle with traffic congestion and affordable housing.
• Overall, members are very satisfied with their EBLC membership as well as specific aspects of it, particularly events and networking opportunities.
• The most commonly offered suggestion for how EBLC could improve: more and better communication with members.
• Among the events EBLC offers, members like the East Bay Leadership Series and luncheons with elected officials the most.
• Most respondents also find the task forces relevant to their business's work and effective at what they do, with the Economic Development Task Force garnering the most interest among attendees.

Other highlights of the survey include these.

• 85% of respondents are EBLC members; among those who aren't, lack of time is the most commonly offered reason for not joining the Council. Over half (56%) are also members of their local chamber of commerce.
• 77% of respondents are satisfied with their membership, with 53% saying they are very satisfied. 10% say they are somewhat unsatisfied and no respondents said they were very unsatisfied.
• 86% of respondents were satisfied with the quality of events; 30% of that number were completely satisfied.
• 77% of respondents were satisfied with the frequency of member communications, but only 24% of that number were completely satisfied.
• Although satisfaction with EBLC's issue advocacy is weak, it is not negative and appears driven more by respondents' lack of awareness rather than conscious dissatisfaction.
• Members had a wide range of suggestions for how EBLC could improve, but better member communication and focus on specific policy ideas emerged as two common themes.
• 46% of members rate EBLC as "excellent" on how collaborative it is; 30% rate collaboration as "good."
• Networking opportunities and education on regional issues are members' most valued benefits. Fewer rank EBLC's advocacy efforts as important.
• In an open-ended question, asking "What else could the East Bay Leadership Council offer to members that would be of interest to you?" 33% said they wanted "better member communications/a blog" and 14% said "more/different events." Other things mentioned were leadership development (12%), a new task force (7%), more business education (5%) and "other" (30%).

"The membership survey provides an excellent benchmark in gauging how our members view the organization and how we are performing in engaging members in our mission," said Council President and CEO Kristin Connelly. "We want to thank everyone who participated in the survey. We look forward to making plans based on what members are telling us and what we believe is important in continuing to advocate for economic vibrancy and quality of life in our region."

We hope you'll join us at these excellent upcoming events. You can now register for individual events directly on our website by entering your email address and other details. Make your reservations today! 

Friday, May 8, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.: 15th Annual Small Business Awards Luncheon, honoring 14 outstanding small-business owners selected by Contra Costa County and Tri-Valley Chambers of Commerce, held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 45 John Glenn Drive, Concord. (Read our press release.)  Register here by Monday, May 4, at 9 p.m.

Thursday, May 28, 6 to 9 p.m.: Annual Installation & Awards Dinner, featuring the installation of the 2015-2016 EBLC Executive Committee and presentation of special awards, at Contra Costa Country Club, 801 Golf Club Road, Pleasant Hill. Register now on the Council website.

Monday, June 8, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Washington Series Luncheon with Rep. Eric Swalwell, sponsored by PG&E, at Bridges Golf Course, 9000 S. Gale Ridge Road, San Ramon. Register now on the Council website.

Economist Christopher Thornberg offered a buoyant vision of California's and the East Bay's economy in part 2 of the East Bay Leadership Council's East Bay Leadership Series, which addressed the state of the economy and transportation at the April 16 breakfast forum.

Thornberg was later joined in a panel discussion by Art Dao, executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission, and Randy Iwasaki, executive director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority. EBLC President and CEO Kristin Connelly moderated the conversation.

"Far from being an economic wasteland, California is on top of the heap when it comes to economic growth ... Interest rates aren't going anywhere. Things are good and getting better," Thornberg enthused to the 300 some audience members who gathered for breakfast and dialogue at the Hilton Concord. He suggested forgetting all that nonsense about an economic downturn, with consumer spending growing at 3.2 percent. "What's driving that?" he asked. "Jobs," he answered. "Businesses continue to adjust. Gas prices are still down; it's still cheap at the pump."

Thornberg allowed he is worried about the lack of state and local investment in infrastructure, which led nicely to the panel discussion.

The economist did elicit a few quizzical looks with his comments about the current California drought. "We don't have a drought. We have a water shortage. Farm employment is at a 10-year high. A drought has significant economic consequences; we don't have significant economic consequences," he said. Thornberg noted that from a long-term perspective, the state has a lot of water, but it also has one of the worst water-distribution systems. Two percent of the economy is agriculture and they're getting 80 percent of the water, he added.

"Most of these things can be fixed. What gets in the way is politics. These kinds of forums can bring us together," he said.

Alameda County's Art Dao said the county's $8 billion transportation program funded by Measure BB will generate 150,000 jobs over the next 20 years. "We're way behind in our infrastructure. We have a lot of work to do to ensure we have a well-connected transportation system. Our roadways are not connected; our freight systems are not connected. ... BART is the backbone of our transportation system, and it is running on duct tape and chicken wire."

Randy Iwasaki said Contra Costa is in the process of updating a countywide transportation plan and said the existing transportation-improvement plan will be 80 percent complete by 2017. He noted the importance of using developing technologies and making transportation improvements, referring to the March 31 summit and unveiling of the GoMentum Station and the agreement with Honda to test new driverless-car technology at the Concord Naval Weapons Station property.

"I think technology is going to save the day. We need to use technology to help you get to where you want to go safely," Iwasaki said.

"It's time to demand more action at higher levels of government," said Dao. "Infrastructure is good for everyone. There isn't a real conversation about it at the federal level."

"Everyone needs to get involved," agreed Thornberg. "What goes on at city hall isn't what you want represented. You've got to be there."

Read Andrew McGall's excellent summary of the event in the Contra Costa Times.

Contra Costa Television is airing the East Bay Leadership Series (Part 2) on Monday, May 4, at 5 p.m. and Friday, May 8, at 4 p.m. CCTV is Comcast channel 27, Astound channel 32 and AT&T U-verse channel 99. For additional air dates, visit CCTV's program guide at www.contracostatv.org.

The Council thanks Chevron and Shell, major sponsors; Bay Area News Group, John Muir Health, San Francisco Business Times, Tesoro, Wells Fargo and the Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County, sustaining sponsors; Contra Costa Association of REALTORS®, Contra Costa Water District, Cox Castle Nicholson, Delta Diablo Sanitation District, EBMUD, GBS, Kaiser Permanente, Miller Starr Regalia, Phillips 66, Sunvalley Shopping Center and Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., contributing sponsors.

A rich contingent of East Bay high schools whose Engineering Career Pathway program employs the Project Lead the Way® (PLTW) curriculum competed at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale on April 18 in the Chevron Design Challenge.

Regional events are held annually in California in San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento, the Central Valley and the East Bay. The competitions enable high school engineering teams to demonstrate their highest skill levels in three-dimensional design and modeling learned in their year-long PLTW Introduction to Engineering Design course.

The Contra Costa Economic Partnership's STEM Workforce Initiative recruited industry representatives to judge student designs at end-of-day team presentations. STEM Initiative Resident Engineer and STEM Consultant Tiffany E. Grant worked with PLTW Affiliate University San José State University and its student ambassadors to organize this year's Design Challenge.

Participating high schools included Amador Valley (Pleasanton), American (Fremont), Antioch, California (San Ramon), Clayton Valley Charter (Concord), Concord, Dublin, Fremont (Sunnyvale), Henry M. Gunn (Palo Alto), Justin-Siena (Napa), Leigh (San Jose), Oakland, Pittsburg, San Jose and Ygnacio Valley (Concord).

Dublin High School's Gael Force team, coached by Eugene Chou, took fourth place in the competition.

Fremont High School's first-place Firebirds team and Henry M. Gunn High School's Gunn Titans second-place team will represent the region in the Challenge Finals on May 16 at Folsom Lake College. Other honors include a third place to American High School's Eagles team and fifth place to Justin-Siena High School's The Braves team.

CCEP serves as the PLTW liaison with East Bay schools and organizes the event each year. For the past five years, Chevron has invested more than $1 million to help ensure that the PLTW hands-on engineering curriculum and 21st century technology are offered in over 25 East Bay secondary schools. Nationally, Chevron contributes more than $10 million to help schools deliver the PLTW Engineering curriculum.