Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
U.S. Representative Mike Honda addresses the Sunnyvale Rotary Club at the Ramada Inn in Sunnyvale. Honda came to the luncheon to discuss topics such as transportation and education.
Mike Honda addresses Rotarians
Tells of education, transportation work
By Jana Seshadri
Congressman Mike Honda of the 15th congressional district spoke to the Sunnyvale Rotary Club on Aug. 28 at the Ramada Inn. About 60 Rotarians, including Sunnyvale City Council members, residents, business leaders and guests listened to the hour-long speech.
A member of both the budget committee and the science and technology committee in the House of Representatives, Honda briefed the audience on the three areas he is currently working on--transportation, education and legislation.
"Sunnyvale, being the center of Silicon Valley and the second largest city in the county, is very much on the map," Honda said.
Alluding to the importance of the Bay Area to the country's economy, Honda said, "This area has a big influence on Congress right now." He urged the local leadership to work with the area's congressional delegation to take a flexible approach and have one agenda for the Bay Area. Along those lines, the extension of BART services to San Jose is very important, Honda said.
According to Honda, the president's education bill does not provide sufficient funding for special education, which places a tremendous burden on the local school districts. "Take volunteerism into schools," Honda said. "We need to have our youngsters prepared for the 21st century."
Honda is a former teacher and taught at Sunnyvale High School before it closed.
When Honda was a child, his family was interned in Colorado, along with many other Japanese-American families, during World War II. Many Japanese-Americans were interned due to fears that they wouldn't be loyal to the United States during the war.
Honda is working on legislation that would offer American soliders who were prisoners of war in Japan during WW II incentives to take Japanese corporations that used prisoner labor to court. The corporations used the POWs as forced labor.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
