Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 - (Page 18)

plus tax on the capital gain. In other words, all the depreciation you have taken is taxable as well as the gain. So, with the majority of our wealth concentrated in real estate, it’s much better for us to give real estate away rather than cash. That way the value to the community is over 40 percent more than had we given cash and paid the taxes. and townhomes are becoming more viable, and they are particularly interesting to young families who want to live near downtowns with vibrant opportunities. Do you see any particular barriers to encouraging philanthropy in the region? Probably close to 40 percent to 50 percent of the Ph.D.s in Silicon Valley are foreign-born. They come from India; they come from China. But our government has this visa policy where they can spend time being educated here, work for a couple years here and then they have to go home. So, most of these guys don’t have a long-term vested interest in Silicon Valley. I’d like to see us change that government visa requirement to allow these bright engineers to stay. As they build their fortunes, they are going to give back to the community. The local Indian community is a good example of that. I think their new Milpitas cultural center was funded by a lot of high-tech Indian guys who moved here prior to the recent visa changes. What role do real estate and architecture play in corporate identity in Silicon Valley? In 1973, Carl Berg, my former partner, and I had an opportunity to build the first major corporate campus in the Valley on a for-lease basis. We had a client, Gene Amdahl, who was the designer of the 360 IBM computer. We had built them three or four stand-alone buildings they wanted to consolidate, so we created a campus: six buildings surrounding a two-acre park with fountains and everything. It’s still there today. Their engineers could congregate on benches in several outdoor patios. They could have some fresh air and still talk business. That design is very typical now. It was very important to have fresh air and light to encourage fresh thinking. That openness set the standard for the campuses of the high-tech companies of today. What programs are you excited about? One is the Sobrato Early Academic Literacy program, or SEAL. It’s focused on English language learners, and it’s a dual program so the kids become academically literate not only in English, but also in Spanish. We start with kids in preschool and then work with them through kindergarten all the way to the third grade. We have set up five pilot schools, which we are using to help develop best practices. We are going to establish a teacher forum to bring together the best experts in the country on preschool education. We’re looking at all the latest technologies. This is going to be a big investment for us, and we hope it works. We are also going to engage the parents in English learning. The parents are the first providers of education for these kids; they are a critical part of the process and the program. Silicon Valley is expensive, so we often have a wide distance between where people work and where they live. What can we do to fix that? Today, there is about 13 million to 14 million square feet of vacant R&D space that is going begging. A lot of buildings have been vacant for two or three years, because they are not the type of properties desired today; they are large floor plates, few windows, single-story. That was fine years ago, when we were a manufacturing economy, but we are not in that spot any longer. Some cities that are enlightened had converted some of those obsolete industrial buildings to residential space. We recently took down five buildings at Parkmoor and Lincoln in San José, for instance, that we couldn’t lease, and now we are building 700 apartments. We need more opportunities for people working here to live here. Unfortunately, the single-family home on an individual lot is not going to be affordable to many. But, flats What inspires your philanthropy? I think a lot of people want to leave a legacy, but they never get to see the results of that legacy. When [my wife] Sue and I pass away, 100 percent of our estate is going to our foundation. Had we not set up the foundation and instead left the money to our children and grandchildren, close to half of it would be eaten up by taxes, and then the government would get to decide how they are going to spend our wealth. So I think we would rather see 100 percent of our wealth go to the community rather than half of it go to the government. We also don’t mind spending down some of that while we’re still alive, so we can see the results today. one “We would rather see 100 percent of our wealth go to the community rather than half of it go to the government.” 18 o n e innovation through philanthropy www.siliconvalleycf.org http://www.siliconvalleycf.org

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Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008 Contents From Emmett D. Carson The New Face of Need Five-star Philanthropy Ready to Learn Board School Civic Citizens Built to Last siliconvalleycf.org What If?

Silicon Valley One - Fall 2008

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