Candidate for
Member, City Council; City of Petaluma

The following is a brief biography of my life, please go to my campaign webpage: http://spenceburton.org OR to my personal webpage: http://spenceburton.com for additional information on me.

My Early Family History

I was born in 1948 in Brooklyn, NY. I lived until 1970 in Queens County, NY. I married Catherine P. Balestrieri in Daly City in 1973. My wife has been active in AAUW along with other local activities over the years. She teaches Spanish and Italian at Tomales High School, and Italian at Santa Rosa Junior College, where she has also taught Spanish. We have lived in Petaluma for 28 years, and I will be retiring from the Postal Service in November.

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My Professional Career in the U. S. Postal Service

• I began my career in Cedarhurst, NY in 1968. I moved to the San Francisco area in June 1970, and was reinstated in the San Francisco Post Office in the same year. After moving to Petaluma in September 1976 with my wife Catherine, I began working at the Marina Post Office (Pacific Heights area of San Francisco) in 1979. I commuted via Golden Gate Transit.

• For the last several years I have been on a Special Assignment, jointly appointed by the NALC Business Agent for much of the West Coast and the San Francisco District Manger of the Postal Service. My job has been to coordinate the automation of letter mail from Eureka through Sunnyvale. In that capacity I am constantly interfacing with craft, union and various levels of management on a daily basis. It is my job to make sure all the pieces fall into place correctly and that everyone is aware of their place in the whole process of moving the mail in a timely and accurate manner.

• I have received several "Commendations" and "Awards" from the USPS as a result of my "Positive Attitude," customer assistance and general good customer relations, and for my active participation and leadership in the "Employee Involvement Process" (a joint labor-management process where we tried to work together, rather than resolve issues with grievances, etc., to avoid conflict in the workplace).

• I have received extensive training on "working together," "teamwork," and "consensus building" through the use of the "Employee Involvement" process, and I have also served as the Co-Chairperson for this process, both in San Francisco and in the North Bay.

• I recently received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" from San Francisco Bay Area Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

• The "Western Labor Communications Association" awarded me their 1st Place Award for "Best Series of Articles"... for 2002. The award was for my series "Reminiscing" which was printed in Branch # 214's newspaper, the VOICE. I have also received other awards from them in the past.

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My Various Bay Area and State Union Positions

• Since 1973 I have held/been elected to various Union Positions in Golden Gate Branch # 214, NALC (which represents most letter carriers from Redwood City through Novato, and including San Leandro). I was the Vice President for almost nine (9) years, and the Full Time President for four (4) years.

• In the 1980s, I served as a Local Business Agent, directly preparing, handling, and presenting arbitrations concerning our Labor Agreement. I had one of the best records of any Local Business Agent for the NALC in California! During this same time period, I negotiated many Local Contracts, and chaired hundreds of meetings varying in size for a few to several hundred.

• From 1980 to 1982, I served as the Director of Education for the California State Association of Letter Carriers. It was my job and task to design, develop and provide training to all the letter carriers of the state.

• In 1996, I was appointed the Webmaster for the California State Association and Golden Gate Branch # 214 of the NALC (volunteer unpaid positions).

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My Local Involvement

• I have always monitored or watched the City Council meeting on local access TV when possible. I have always tried to stay current on most issues (as can be seen by my comments at the various Candidate Forums that have been held), and have never failed to vote since my move to California many years ago. In 1997 I applied for the Petaluma Planning Commission, but I did so with the knowledge that I may not have been able to attend daytime meetings because of my job. It is sad that some good candidates for some commissions, and indeed this Council, cannot serve because of the daytime schedule of some meetings. As a result, our `pool' of available candidates is limited.

• Over the years, I have been involved in: Muscular Dystrophy Telethon; Annual Letter Carrier Food Drive; fundraising/Bingo etc. for the Knights of Columbus at St. James Parish, and with the Sonoma County Genealogical Society as their volunteer Webmaster for many years now. I am a member and have been involved in numerous Italian American organizations and Genealogical Societies all over the USA.

• Student Exchange Program: Together with my wife, we have coordinated a High School student exchange program with Sicily, Italy. To my knowledge, it is the ONLY student exchange program in California with schools in Sicily. Together we have taken several groups of students from Tomales High School to Sicily, Italy, and have hosted students from both Sciacca and Marsala. We raise funds for the students through various events including our annual "That's Amore" dinner and silent auction.

• As a Federal Employee, and due to the Federal "Hatch Act," I have not been politically active in the community for most of my career in the USPS. Changes in the Hatch Act have enabled me to become more actively involved. Petaluma is my HOME, and I want to contribute to it as best I can!

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Why I Feel I am Qualified to be Your Councilperson

• When I first moved to Petaluma with my wife in 1976, the population was around 30,000. We chose to settle in this beautiful town because of its unique character and charm, along with a strong "Slow/Managed Growth" formula in place. As a native of New York City, in my youth, I saw first hand what massive and rapid growth could do to a community. New York had a way of expanding just so it could "pay the bills" for previous development. They were always building more, just to try and "keep up" with expenses needed to pay for services that were required because of prior construction. Growth brought more growth, until there was nowhere else to build and that brought New York City to bankruptcy.

• Managed and carefully planned growth in any community is a must in today's society! I feel my early life experience in NYC, together with my skills as a negotiator, facilitator, consensus builder, and general "people-first person," gives me the skills necessary to carefully guide our community in the early part of the 21st Century.

• I strongly feel that the Petaluma City Council needs to have an average person from the community. One with no "political ties," and no allegiance to any one "group" or "political ideology." While I have personally supported various candidates for the City Council in the past, I have deliberately stayed away from actively involving myself with the various "Special Interest" groups in our City. This has not been from a lack of interest or concern, but more from a perspective of having my own "point of view" on the issues. I have always stayed closely abreast of most of the issues in our City.

• I am a careful "listener" who likes to hear ALL of the information available, and to hear from all sides of an issue BEFORE making any decisions. I feel the more the general public is involved, the better any decision will be!

• In summary, I strongly feel that the best representative of the people is one who truly acts as the "Megaphone of the People," amplifying their wishes and desires! My past experience demonstrates my ability in this area.