Full Biography for Letitia Moore

Candidate for
Council Member; City of El Cerrito

Citizen by Choice

A naturalized citizen of the United States, Letitia Moore was born in 1965, in Belize City, Belize (formerly British Honduras), Central America. Ms. Moore immigrated to the United States at the age of 6 with her maternal grandmother, Florine Neal. Ms. Moore and her grandmother settled in South Central Los Angeles, California, where Ms. Moore attended public school through 10th grade. In 10th grade, Ms. Moore was awarded an A Better Chance (ABC) scholarship to attend Westlake School for Girls, a prestigious college preparatory school in West Los Angeles. ABC coordinates scholarship opportunities for economically disadvantaged youths at college preparatory schools. Ms. Moore graduated from Westlake in 1982. Westlake has since merged with Harvard Boys School to form the Harvard-Westlake School.

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

After graduation from Westlake, Ms. Moore left California to attend Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, she was 17 years old. Ms. Moore received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Yale in 1986. While in New Haven, Ms. Moore interned for two years with the New Haven Office of Downtown and Harbor Development (ODHD). The New Haven ODHD coordinates development activities in New Haven. At ODHD, Ms. Moore prepared cost-benefit analyses for proposed development projects in the City of New Haven. Ms. Moore also spent her summer school breaks in 1983, 1985 and 1986 working on implementation of the Los Angeles Community Development Department, Summer Youth Employment Training Program (SYETP). Through the SYETP, Los Angeles coordinated summer employment training opportunities for low income youths. Employment opportunities were provided through partnerships between the City of Los Angeles and public and private, not for profit, organizations.

Boalt Hall School of Law, U.C. Berkeley

After Yale, Ms. Moore returned to California to pursue a career in Law. Ms. Moore holds a Juris Doctor from Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley. During law school, Ms. Moore interned with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region IX, Office of Regional Counsel in San Francisco, and the California Department of Justice, Criminal Law Division, also in San Francisco. Ms. Moore was also involved in the management of a free legal assistance clinic specializing in unemployment insurance, the East Bay Unemployment Law Clinic (EBULC). At EBULC, Ms. Moore's duties included counseling claimants, representing claimants before administrative law judges, and preparing appeals to the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. EBULC closed upon the establishment of the Berkeley Community Law Center.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, Office of Regional Counsel

In 1989, Ms. Moore joined the Air & Toxics Section of the EPA, Region IX, Office of Regional Counsel. Ms. Moore worked on implementation and enforcement of environmental requirements concerning clean air and toxic pollution until 1996. In 1996, Ms. Moore moved to the Hazardous Waste Branch of the EPA, Region IX, Office of Regional Counsel. Ms. Moore currently works for EPA on matters involving regulatory enforcement, state authorization, oversight of federal facility cleanup, Superfund cost recovery, and implementation and enforcement of Community Right-To-Know requirements.

As an Assistant Regional Counsel with EPA, Ms. Moore works with a variety of professionals -- scientists, engineers, toxicologists, adminstrators -- to protect public health and the environment. Ms. Moore interacts with employees and representatives from state agencies, regional boards, environmental organizations, private industry, small and large corporations, and cities. A large part of Ms. Moore's work for EPA involves negotiating agreements, sorting through complex and sometimes conflicting information, practical implementation of policy decisions, and conflict resolution.

Ms. Moore has received several federal service awards for her efforts to protect public health and the environment, including 1998 Federal Employee of the Year for the San Francisco Bay Region for Civil Law Enforcement.

El Cerrito

In 1996 Ms. Moore moved to El Cerrito to set up household with her grandmother, Florine Neal. Ms. Moore relocated from San Francisco and Ms. Neal relocated from Los Angeles. Ms. Moore and her grandmother live in the West El Cerrito neighborhood behind Pastime Hardware.

Ms. Moore currently sits on the El Cerrito Planning Commission. She was appointed to the Planning Commission by the El Cerrito City Council in February, 1997. Since her appointment to the Planning Commission, Ms. Moore has also served on the Del Norte Planning Process Task Force and the General Plan Process Team. Currently, Ms. Moore also serves on the Idaho Apartments Neighborhood Advisory Group.

During her two and a half years on the Planning Commission, Ms. Moore has:

• Approved the Revitalization Plan for the El Cerrito Plaza, construction to start soon, with NO City subsidy.
• Facilitated public workshops for community input on the revised El Cerrito General Plan (the document that identifies El Cerrito's land use planning policies).
• Approved the revised El Cerrito General Plan which also catalogs El Cerrito's parks and open spaces, makes a commitment to maintaining our current high quantity of parks and open spaces, contains strategies for making San Pablo Ave. more attractive, and contains recommendations for better management of traffic and circulation in El Cerrito.
• Adopted a Transit First Policy