Candidate Statement

I’m a North Star Progressive Democratic Candidate and I ask for your vote as an ADEM delegate from District 23.

After 17 years of service, I just stepped down from the Portola Valley (PV) Town Council and a dozen boards and committees in San Mateo County (SMC). As a Town Council member, Mayor, and SMC board member, I put into practice policies and programs that advanced racial and economic justice, affordable housing, a shift to multimodal transportation, the mitigation of climate change and even the everyday importance of poetry in the lives of the SMC community. Tired but not defeated, I continue to fight, sometimes inelegantly, in tony Portola Valley where new forces have threatened to erode almost 6 decades of civil discourse and an adherence to constitutional practices. Now more than ever it is important to uphold the ideals of democracy.

I’m running because I am a lifelong Democrat, have worked on local campaigns, written campaign literature back in the days before social media, and was as an elected member to the SMC Democratic Central Committee. I was a board member on bodies such as One Shoreline, the first water agency in the US to focus on sea level rise, the SMC Express Lanes JPA where our equity program serves as a model for other transit agencies, and the SMC Library JPA where I worked to re-distribute half the excess revenue from the 3 richest libraries to the general fund for use in all of our 12 libraries. I chaired the Resource Management Climate Protection Committee where the seed was planted for Peninsula Clean Energy, and the SMC City/County Association of Governments where representatives from all 20 cities and the County collaborated on housing with 21 Elements, built green infrastructure, and implemented energy reduction in public buildings. In Portola Valley I worked for 8 years with a staff member to convince the CPUC’s Office of Rate Payer Advocates to allow Cal Water to install smart water meters in PV and approved stringent reach codes. In the last decade, I have worked to promote multi-family housing in high fire risk PV, facing organized and aggressive opposition.

I am running because I believe my long tenure in local government, my record of getting things done, my proven progressive ideals and my tough constitution will be helpful.

Thanks!