Palo Alto, CA -- Palo Alto Mayor Dena Mossar announced today that she and Cynthia D'Agosta will meet with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo tomorrow, Tuesday, January 14, to discuss plans to seek federal funding for projects of the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority (JPA). D'Agosta is the Executive Director of the JPA and Mossar is a JPA Board member. Eshoo represents the 14th Congressional District.

The JPA has received authorization for a regional watershed project from the Army Corps of Engineers General Investigation Program, but Congress has failed to appropriate the funds through the last two budget cycles.

As a more immediate goal, the JPA is working with the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) to plan and implement local flood control projects such as bank stabilization, analysis of bridges/structures between Highway 280 and Highway 101, and alternative flood control measures downstream of Highway 101. The San Francisco Division of the COE funds local projects up to $7 million through its Continuing Authorities Program.

"This is a great opportunity for us to move forward with needed projects. Forging this partnership gives us access to the technical expertise of the Corps of Engineers and the financial assistance of the federal government," said Mossar.

Projects will require matching funds from the JPA, and Mossar has asked Palo Alto City Manager Frank Benest to identify funds for Palo Alto's share of the required match. Other members of the JPA include the cities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, the San Mateo County Flood Control District, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Stanford University and the San Francisquito Watershed Council are associate members.

Mossar will represent Palo Alto at the National League of Cities conference in Washington March 7-13. To leverage the dollars spent on travel, while in Washington Mossar will advocate for federal funding for both local and regional watershed flood control projects on behalf of the JPA. The Mayor, who is a Board member of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), will also join members of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to request funding for Bay Area public transportation projects.

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