RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - On July 16, the Rancho Cordova Luncheon took place in person at City Hall for the first time since February 2020. The speaker was the same person scheduled for March 2020 – Congressman Ami Bera from California’s District 7, which encompasses Sacramento County.

Forty-year Rancho Cordova resident Bill Manning, retired military, said he has only been to the luncheon one time that he remembers, but he came this time to see Bera, of whom he is a fan.  During the question and answer period, Manning asked Bera if he thought the number of deaths would eventually exceed that for the Spanish flu of 1919.  “I sure hope not,” Bera said. “We have the tools to prevent any additional deaths – it’s called the vaccine.”

A large part of Ami Bera’s talk was about the vaccine. “Had you asked any of the leading physicians in this country back in March of 2020,” Bera said, “We were all saying, look, what gets us out of this is a vaccine. If we wanted to be honest, we’ve never developed a vaccine faster than . . . at the best maybe 18 months, 24 months. So let’s get ready for the long haul.”

Bera went on to praise American ingenuity in developing the vaccine quickly, though without mentioning the vital role played by President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed in making the vaccine a reality. “We ought to be proud of what we were able to accomplish in less than 12 months,” Bera said. Besides the quick development of the vaccine, Bera talked about the necessity of increasing the vaccinated percentage in the community.  “We should no longer be calling this an emergency use vaccine because we’ve vaccinated over 100 million Americans,” Bera said. “We know it’s safe, we know it’s effective, let’s fully license those vaccines so we remove that barrier from folks that may be a little bit hesitant.”

Rancho Cordova, Bera says, is likely to “hit the ground running” coming out of the pandemic. The reason, he says, is that the City has not stopped working over the last 16 months. “I was out there at the Elliott Homes development two years ago as things were just getting started,” Bera said. “We were out there this morning looking at what’s happening – it’s night and day. You’re seeing that part of the City open up.” Bera was able as a member of Congress to advocate for specific projects, which he did for the White Rock Road expansion, which is in the Surface Transportation Reauthorization bill. That bill is now in the Senate, with 12 million dollars for White Rock Road. “We actually got all five of our projects in there . . .” Bera said.  “We have to do something on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization because that funding stream runs out at the end of this fiscal year.”

Luncheon guest Nayem Islam, general manager of California Inn & Suites on Olson Drive is a member of the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce. He attended the luncheons pre-pandemic and was glad to be back. “(Bera) seems very kind and humble,” Islam said. “He’s doing his best to support this economy . . . It’s interesting to know what he’s doing in the government. I had a good impression of him.”

Besides development and public works projects that have been carried out in the Rancho Cordova area, there has been an increase in the Rancho Cordova population of 4,100 in the last year. Bera says that Sacramento is fast becoming “The” tourist location in Northern California. “You know, the days when we were San Francisco’s little brother are over,” Bera said. “Twenty years from now a tourist from California touring Europe will be asked, ‘Where are you from?’  They’re going to say, ‘San Francisco.’ The European will just scratch his head, and the tourist will say, ‘Oh, that’s about 100 miles from Sacramento.’”