City Council Candidate: Wayne Lee

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of six profiles of Millbrae candidates.

Wayne Lee wants to secure the city’s economic stability for his son, sister and father, who all live in Millbrae.

Lee has been a Millbrae resident for 28 years, and served on the Planning Commission for the last five. He does not want to cut any more city employees or programs, but rather leverage his small business experience to boost revenue.

“We’re always cutting services. You can only go so far. Pretty soon, you’re going to be contracting out everything and losing the flavor of the city,” Lee said.

He is opposed to raising taxes, but envisions creating more volunteer organizations to support city services.

“I’m uniquely qualified because I’ve created nonprofits that save and create jobs,” he said.

As schools also faced budget woes in 2007, Lee helped found the Millbrae Education Foundation, which to date has raised about $400,000 to help Millbrae schools.

The school district used some of the money to hire teachers’ aides and a full-time counselor at .

As the first president of MEF, he prides himself as a community leader that can rally people to rescue “the reasons people move to Millbrae.”

As the previous owner of a Tapioca Express in Daly City, he hired 14 Mills High School students, and believes his management experience provides him with a solid grasp on the problems of downtown businesses.

For example, he proposes starting a task force to promote Millbrae shops and restaurants. The city is the major transportation hub between Silicon Valley and San Francisco – jokingly he compared it to Venice – and currently, Millbrae is not taking full advantage of its prime geographical location, he said.

He thinks Millbrae could imitate cities like Reston, Va., which in the last 10 years has developed several mixed-use buildings near Dulles International Airport.

Concerning the , he is not in support of outsourcing safety, as the city may lose control and authority.

Lee also ran for city council in 2007, but was 30 votes shy of winning. However, he said that this time he has more experience and accomplishments in the community. 

To find out more about Wayne Lee, check out his website at www.wayneleemillbrae.com.