Candidate for
Council Member; Town of Portola Valley

I was born in Sacramento in the early 1950s to parents of very humble means who grew up in rural Mendocino County fishing the Eel River for Coho Salmon and Steelhead Trout, memorizing the names of every plant and animal in the Redwood forest. They taught me a love for the natural world and consequently I fished before I learned to read and marked the seasons by the blooming of peonies and the harvest of nectarines and red onions in our suburban backyard.

After college and graduate school in Santa Cruz, Sacramento and Chicago, I returned to the West Coast working as a writer, eventually ending up in Portola Valley in the summer of 1992, married to an intellectual property litigation attorney, with a 2 ½ year old, William, and a baby, Charlie, on the way. We hadn't initially come for the good schools or the bucolic rural ambience; we came because in 1992 you could get a lot more house and land for the money in Portola Valley than you could in Palo Alto. In fact, it took some years before I understood how our strict ordinances actually protect the scenic open spaces, picturesque creeks and starry night skies we all come to cherish, and how this system of social responsibility by giving up some property rights for the greater good contributes to the peaceful enjoyment of our respective homes and creates a strong sense of community.

Both my boys attended the local preschools, Windmill and Ladera, as well as Ormondale and Corte Madera. In the Portola Valley School District I immersed myself in the vibrant parent volunteer culture. Having earned a reputation as a person unafraid of taking on tough issues evidenced by a colorful weekly column I wrote for the school newsletter, I was recruited to run in the 2005 Town Council race and to my great surprise was elected that November.

In my eight years as a Portola Valley Town Council member, I have always tried to find solutions that balance interests based on principles embodied in our Town General Plan and underscored by the tried and true Town values--preservation of open space, conservation of resources, volunteerism and fiscally prudent policies.

I know Town governance inside and out having served as a liaison to nearly every Town committee and commission, having adopted eight balanced budgets even through the recession years, having worked through the planning and building of our award-winning Town Center campus including the restoration of the creek and habitat. I have worked on significant personnel issues--last year my colleagues and I hired the new Town Manager--and policies on everything from noise to building use. I have been at the forefront of every sustainability initiative since 2006. I am proud to have been on the Council that effectively dealt with the lots for the eight below market rate housing units in Blue Oaks, the proceeds of that sale now held in an inclusionary housing fund to be used exclusively for affordable housing, assuring a certified Housing Element, critical for maintaining local control over land use decisions and key to obtaining public funds for infrastructure improvement. And I am even prouder to be a Council member in a Town deemed one of the most efficient in the County partially based on our ratio of employees to residents, the finest illustration of low-cost government in action.

Regionally I sit on a number of boards and committees, affording me the opportunity to build relationships with elected officials and staff throughout the County at a time when collaboration across boundaries is essential when trying to meet state and federal mandates or work on regional issues that affect our residents. To give you a few examples of how I have advocated for Portola Valley outside our Town borders: I have worked with our Congresswomen on the increased air traffic problem, with our Supervisors on the proposed stop sign at Ladera, the bicycle lanes at Alpine and 280 and the Upper Alpine Trail closure, as well as with the Sam Trans staff on local bus routes and schedules.

In the coming four years we will face the next wave of challenges in sustainability: adaptation to a changing climate most keenly felt as increased danger from wildfires. Also ahead: a new housing element cycle, infrastructure repair, tackling the uptake in low-flying air traffic over the Woodside VOR, controlling rising healthcare and pension costs and working through the next evolution of retiring long-time staff, not to mention celebrating our 50th anniversary as a Town!

Still our foremost challenge remains the same: to hold the line so that western hill views, creeks and coyotes continue to define us. For me, it is about remaining true to our humble roots: a place where folks swap jars of jam for fresh eggs at the monthly garden share or congregate weekly at a farmer's market to pick up ears of corn and baskets of blackberries, stopping to listen to a trio play music under the oaks. Forty-nine years ago the Town founders sought incorporation with a vision toward creating a place where the values of environmental sensitivity, low-cost government and a strong volunteer spirit were hallmarks. I am honored to stand on the shoulders of those who came before me, and respectfully ask for your vote on Tuesday, November 5th so that I can continue to carry forth the tradition. Thanks.

EXPERIENCE

County & Town
--Chair, SMC Library JPA
--Vice Chair, CCAG Resource Management & Climate Protection Committee
--Board Member, CCAG
--Board Member, HEART of SMC
--Member, SMC Poet Laureate Task Force
--Member, Assemblyman Gordon's Housing Element Committee
--Former Chair SMC Council of Cities
--Chair, Town of PV Sustainability Committee
--Member, PV/Woodside/WFPD Firewise Committee

Portola Valley School District
--Past PTA President, Corte Madera School, 2002-04
--Past Co-Chair School Bond Measure 2001
--Past Board Member, PV Schools Foundation
--Past Chair, Book Fair Ormondale and Corte Madera
--Past Co-Chair, Parent Education
--PVPTA Founder's Day Award 2005

Professional Experience
--Former Freelance Writer

Education:
--M.A. Program for Writers, University of Illinois, Chicago
--B.A. English, CSU Sacramento
--University of Santa Cruz