Candidate for
Council Member; City of Anaheim

About Gail Eastman

Serving the residents of Anaheim as a member of the City Council would be a wonderful honor and a tremendous opportunity to continue serving the city I love in a leadership capacity. Raised in Michigan, I've lived and raised my children in Anaheim for 28 years. For most of that time, I've stayed active in my community to help make Anaheim such a great place that my grandchildren will want to live here in the future. I hope to bring my experience and a fresh set of ideas to the Anaheim City Council.

Years of Leadership in Anaheim

After purchasing a historic house in 1990, my husband and I became involved in the creation of our city's first recognized historic district. Both my love for historic research and the documentation of historic homes was triggered by that experience.

I've also served on the board of directors for the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade, the Anaheim Historical Society as Secretary, Membership and Newsletter publisher, the Anaheim Transportation Network, the executive advisory committee of SOAR and elected as co-chair of that committee in 2008.

In my own neighborhood, I've been an active member in the Citron District Neighborhood Council and then Central District Neighborhood Council. I am founding member of both the CBDG Central District Traffic Calming Committee and the Anaheim Historic Preservation Committee. I've also served on the Downtown Anaheim Association, Downtown Design Review Committee and the Mayors Downtown Design Charette.

All of that political activism culminated in my appointment to Anaheim's Planning Commission in 2001, where I served until the completion of my second four-year term in June 2009. In 2008, I was honored to have been selected by State Senator Lou Correa as the 34th District "Woman of the Year" for my active role accomplishments in the community.

I'm pleased to see that my work in Anaheim led to a renewed interest in and enthusiasm for preserving what is special about Anaheim while ensuring that we continue charting a course for economic prosperity and jobs.

Small Businesswoman and Author

I have an Anaheim Business license for my home office from which I write Historic Surveys for homeowners wishing to have their homes designated for special historic recognition. I work independently with a publishing company as a writer, researcher and coordinator on history book projects. As a Governmental Relations consultant I work within many different jurisdictions on land use entitlements and as a community relations specialist.

While serving on the Planning Commission, I combined my love for Anaheim with my business skills when I wrote and marketed "Anna's Home by the River," a children's book detailing the 150-year history of Anaheim. I partnered with the Anaheim business community to raise funds so that every 3rd grader in our city has their own copy. The books are presented to the children each fall at a special event in the Arena at the Convention Center hosted by the Mayor plus other prominent community figures and role models. This is all aimed at helping them not only learn the history of their city but inspire them to dream big as did many before them in their cities history.

My Family

My husband Ron and I have three grown sons, all of whom live nearby. Ron and I enjoy spending as much time as possible with them and their families, including five grandchildren and an occasional foster child. We also enjoy having Ron's mother who is in her 90s live in a granny flat on our property. But as friends and neighbors will tell you, Anaheim is my extended family as it's not uncommon for folks to stop by for an ever-ready cup of coffee, talk about the latest happenings around town and plan how we can make a difference in our community.