Candidate for
Council Member; Town of Atherton

My relationship with Atherton began in the 1950's when visiting my grandparents, who lived for forty-three years on Catalpa Drive in Lindenwood. I have fond memories of running through their garden and helping my grandfather with his berries and his compost. After receiving a BA in American Studies from Cal and a JD from Harvard, I returned to Atherton more than fourteen years ago to raise my children here.

I am proud of what I have done over the past year as a member of the Atherton City Council and Atherton's Vice Mayor. My principal political philosophy is one of fiscal conservatism and an obligation of publicly elected representatives to reach out, listen to the electorate, and actively engage the electorate in the key decisions of the City Counil. I firmly believe in equal representation and actively support women to take positions of leadership on both my public and private Boards. I see the Atherton City Council as a public board whose responsibility is to set policy for the Town of Atherton and to give policy guidance to our City Manager.

I approach Atherton's issues with an open mind and a creative, innovative approach. An example of this approach is the leadership that I provided to establish the ad hoc Technology Committee of the Council and to encourage resident participation on this committee. I initiated this project because Atherton has such a poor telecommunications network (both for mobile and broadband). This makes no sense given how connected many of us are to Silicon Valley businesses that are leaders in this area. Also, I am very aware that Atherton residents pay almost $1m more in library-based property taxes than can be spent each year. These funds must be used for Atherton's library services, but if you believe (as I do) that a 21st century library must be viewed as an information technology hub, and not just a book warehouse, then there appears to be an opportunity to work with the library and explore what can be done in Atherton. This need not be a capital expense. It could be an operating expense to maintain and pay for a fiber net or other Town-wide communication system. This is a worthy, creative investigation, which if you are interested in joining the committee, please contact me.

Over the past thirty years, I have worked as a business lawyer at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati in Palo Alto and as a software executive at Genesys Telecommunications and other Silicon Valley companies. During this time, I have served on the Boards of many technology companies and non-profit organizations and I have learned how to approach difficult strategic issues and negotiate reasonable solutions that respect the needs of different stakeholders. I believe that my years of board and executive experience and my personal style of deliberation and negotiation have helped me to work with the members of the Atherton Town Council to create a more respectful, intellectual and productive process on the Council.

I currently serve as Council liaison to the Civic Center Advisory Committee, the Finance and Audit Committee, the Park and Recreation Committee, the ad hoc Aircraft Noise Committee and the ad hoc Technology Committee. Working with other dedicated residents who are members of these committees has inspired and energized me to become more involved with the future of Atherton. One of the critical changes that I believe we need on our town council is more thoughtful consideration of the issues that matter to the community well in advance of when a decision must be made.

I am running for re-election to the Town Council because I believe that people deserve responsible, accountable, transparent government.

My vision and priorities to improve Atherton are as follows:

1. Manage our Town's resources in a careful, fiscally conservative manner.

• Continue to manage operational costs with vigilance; focus on capital improvement projects.
• Continue to reduce Atherton's long term pension and healthcare liabilities through good management and smart negotiations.
• Maintain the Town's transparency on budget and decision making process.

• Maintain Atherton's close, cooperative relationship with the police, while carefully managing the costs.
• Focus on finding solutions to make El Camino Real safer for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles.
• Leverage the tremendous expertise in the community by engaging more residents to solve road safety and other issues.

• Increase communication to obtain resident input on important Town Council decisions.
• Actively seek resident input to prioritize capital improvement projects for our roads, drainage system and Holbrook-Palmer Park.
• Continue to engage the community in the design and development of the new civic center and library near the train station.
• Contribute executive expertise to Council deliberations and process.