Candidate for
Council Member; City of Menlo Park

Mike grew up here in Menlo Park. His wife, Debra Lambert, is Director of Voice Studies in Music at Notre Dame de Namur University. They own and live in the house Mike grew up in. He has watched the city evolve over a period of more than 55 years. Mike attended public schools here in Menlo Park and graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Washington. Currently, he is continuing his education and anticipates completion of an MBA in the spring of 2005.

As a licensed architect for over 30 years, Mike has worked as a project architect and project manager for a number of local architectural firms. During the 1990s, he worked for Sun Microsystems managing design and construction of the one-million square foot Sun Microsystems campus at the end of Willow Road.

In service to our community, Mike was a member of the Planning Commission (1987-1989), the Willow Road task Force (1986-1987), and the Safe Routes to School Task Force (2001-2002). Mike believes that we can manage change incrementally, to achieve broad-based acceptance.

As a resident, Mike has lobbied against such ordinances as the Wood Burning Fireplace and Percent for Art ordinances that placed an unfair burden on homeowners and businesses. Recently, Mike conducted a campaign to convince our City Council that the proposed Fire Sprinkler ordinance requested by our Fire Protection District was a substantial economic burden on our homeowners and not at all justified by a problematic record of fire sprinkler effectiveness. This was a battle between the Fire District and fire sprinkler industry versus hard facts, figures, and other data available in the public domain. Our Council agreed, and the ordinance was defeated. Mike proposed an alternate efficient, cost-effective approach to fire safety that would generate revenue for the city. This proposed win-win solution is currently under City review.