PREFACE

Silicon Valley’s phenomenal growth is both an indication of its success and one of its greatest challenges. Since the 1970s, the high tech industry–Silicon Valley’s economic engine–has grown steadily, with brief dips during California’s recessions in the early 80s and 90s.

Like a magnet, Silicon Valley has exerted an ever stronger attraction as it has grown. It continues to draw some of the best and brightest talent from around the world. It is also the destination for more than a third of the Bay Area’s commuters and thousands from outside the region.

While this concentration of people, expertise, and technology has created fertile ground for the development of new and creative ideas, it has also driven up housing prices, increased the number of cars on area highways, challenged the education system, and undermined the area’s energy, air, and water supply. Silicon Valley’s pace of growth has slowed in the last three years. It will most likely remain well below the frenzied pace of the mid-late 90s. However, even at this slower rate, Silicon Valley’s growth will compound the problems it faces. Addressing these problems today will help ensure a strong and vital future for all who live and work here.

This is the third Silicon Valley Projections report sponsored by the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and produced by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). As in the earlier reports, Silicon Valley Projections 2000 highlights the latest trends in housing, transportation, environment, and education. This 2000 report also adds a special issue section devoted to energy. Each of these sections is followed by a series of suggested resources and “opportunities for action.” Our goal in releasing this report is to provide objective information that we hope will encourage dialogue among and action by political leaders and members of the public, business, labor, social equity, education, and environmental communities on these critical issues.