Here’s an e-mail I received from Biocom, a local biotech trade group, in reference to the story I wrote yesterday about local political role of the bio and tech industries:
We read your article on the general plan update and appreciate your look at the subject. It was interesting and an accurate overview of the collocation issue, but I think the assertion that biotech is just finding its political feet is a bit misleading. BIOCOM’s precursor organizations were founded in the drought years of the early 1990s exactly for public policy reasons- to protect the emerging life science community from the city council’s emergency water saving plan, which involved shutting off water to businesses like the research labs on Torrey Pines a few days a week during the drought.
The e-mail, from communications director Tim Ingersoll, also included this link to the organization’s history.