Candidate for
Member, City Council; City of Redwood City

I appreciate this opportunity to introduce myself to people in the community. I have lived in Redwood City for over 23 years with my husband. We have two daughters - Andrea just recently graduated from UC Davis and has started an advanced degree in teaching, Amanda is attending CalPoly San Luis Obispo majoring in Animal Sciences. Recently my parents moved to Redwood City from New Jersey.

Our daughters attended the local public schools. With my active participation they were involved in sports, Girl Scouts, and music-- helping our family to develop roots in our community. My involvement in community issues really began in the schools, progressing from working with individual students to eventually planning and working to create partnerships to benefit the entire elementary school district of 15 schools and approximately 8,500 students. I became involved, like many other people, because I saw a need and I felt I had the skills to help make things better.

I have served on the Redwood City Council for the past 3 years and I am very proud of our Council's accomplishments of the Council during my first term. I believe the new Franklin Street Apartments complex at Franklin and El Camino is providing additional housing, some of which is truly affordable. The new Downtown Retail Cinema project will be a valuable new addition to our community continuing the revitalization of downtown with additional stores and increased foot traffic.

I was active on many projects during my first term. I was deeply involved in the development of the first Redwood City Housing Forum. I worked closely with residents to resolve neighborhood traffic issues and partnered with Redwood Shore's residents to develop plans for a branch library. I believe our City is a better place through our support of cultural activities such as concerts and other downtown and neighborhood events. As City Council representative to Redwood City 20/20, I work closely with San Mateo County and local school districts to support the family centers and after-school programs.

Prior to my serving on the Council, I was primarily known as president of the Redwood City Education Foundation and I continue to actively work as part of the Foundation. I've also worked other community organizations including: Redwood City - San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce Education Committee, Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission, Redwood City 2000 Performing Arts and Youth Master Plan Committees, Woodside High School Shared Decision Making Council, and as a co-leader of two Girl Scout troops. In each of these activities I helped develop solutions to problems through collaboration and creation of partnerships.

My work experience as a Rehabilitation Counselor (specializing in Deafness) and as a Spanish Speaking Social Worker in East Palo Alto improved my listening skills and ability to work with sensitive issues, assisting clients in learning the skills needed to solve their own problems and to become self-supporting. Working collaboratively with a variety of different agencies to create effective and efficient partnerships was vital with our limited resources. My success in my work depended upon my personal integrity, ability to develop and maintain trust and communication and following through on commitments.

As a result of my background and community experience, I bring skills to help increase community involvement in our government's planning for the future. Promoting partnerships helps in decision-making by bringing more resources to address community concerns and fostering cooperation between diverse members of our Redwood City community. These skills are helpful in a variety of topics facing the Council: working with residence, staff and the Council to set community priorities for the current tight budget; working with community members regarding neighborhood concerns; or problem solving with merchants and extended community concerning downtown revitalization plans.

We've all worked very hard as a community over the past few years to change the image of our town and have made some important steps forward in strengthening our quality of life. There's much more to be done and I'd like to continue working with community members to make our dreams a reality. I look forward to continuing my work on the Council. I will continue to use listening and collaboration-building skills to ensure that the concerns of our neighborhoods are heard by the Council. I invite you to contact me with your suggestions for making your neighborhood even better at #368-6246 or email barbara@barbarapierce.org.