Candidate for
Mayor; City of Pacific Grove

I am a long-time resident of Pacific Grove and have lived here with my family since 1991. I am an attorney by profession but am mostly retired from law practice at the present time. I went to college at UCLA and I was raised in the San Fernando Valley.

After practicing civil law for many years in my own practice in San Diego I moved to Pacific Grove after the birth of my daughter. While I was in law practice I was an appointed temporary judge and arbitrator for the Superior Court in San Diego. I particularly enjoyed working as a substitute small claims judge, I was the "Judge Judy" for real in San Diego.

When I ran the town newspaper, The Beacon, in the early ninties in Pacific Grove it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I have ever had. I really got to know the people of P.G. and the political scene in town as well. I developed my skills as a writer and my current hobby of photography. I still enjoy both of these skills today and like every writer look forward to writing that great American novel one day. I live with my family in a small beach cottage in the retreat area of town.

I was elected to the Pacific Grove City Council in 2002 and have served there ever since.

Ocean Resources Protection: Some of the things I am most proud of is my record of leading the Council for the protection and restoration of our precious ocean resources. I proposed and recieved full Council support for the establishment of a Tidepool Docent and Monitoring Program and recieved full support of the Council for increased protection of our coast in the state MLPA (Marine Life Protection Act)process. I am proud of our Council in that we were the most visible and proactive city council during the State hearings on this critical coastal protection issue.

Tree protection: Under my leadership the Council has really taken a hard look at the protection and restoration of our forest resources here in Pacific Grove. This includes proposing that the City implement a heritage tree program similar to the highly sucessful one in the City of Santa Cruz. I recieved full council support for this proposal and it is now in the works. This program protects trees on public and private property if they are ones that are mature and critical to the preservation of our urban forest.

Skatepark for our kids: As a member of the City Council I was appointed to the Pacific Grove Skatepark Committee which has made much progress towards bringing a skatepark to Pacific Grove for our young people. It was at my urging that the Council unanimously embraced the developement of this worthy project.

Affordable Housing: Since my days with the P.G. Beacon newspaper I have had a particular concern for the needs of tenants who often cannot find affordable housing in town. Tenants make up the majority of our residential community and in my view are underepresented in the government process here. The problem of finding and replacing affordable housing is of particular concern for our seniors many of whom have lived in town and contributed to the community for dedcades.

I worked very hard to see that the new senior housing project at Vista Point happened and it is indeed the finest of its kind in the state. Most folks don't realize this was built with all outside funding.
As a long-time City Council representative of the Affordable Housing Committee I have worked to increase our sucessful rental assistance program and have recently proposed that we use some of our State housing funds be used for emergency security deposit assistance fund.this fund would help tenants who are suddenly given notice to vacate and cannot come up with replacement housing security deposits in the short time they are given.
The Committee is also working on a partnership with the School District for the developement of teacher housing. I also have worked hard on our highly sucessful housing rehabilitation loan program. This program uses state housing funds to allow low income folks to stay in their homes, to make them presentable and safe and at the same time improves our town's housing stock. The loans are paid back at sale or death and can be used then for any housing-related needs.

Advocate for the Disabled: I served on the City's Americans with Disabilities Committee and have long been an advocate for the full inclusion of the disabled in our wonderful life here in Pacific Grove. Not only is service to the disabled the right thing to do, it should be an essential marketing tool to our tourist industry. After all, the disabled are an ever- increasing market share and are an ever-increasing group of residents in our aging community.

Bring Back the Carnegie: As a long -time supporter and user of our wonderful library, I am the chairperson of the Bring Back the Carnegie Committee which seeks to solve the need for a new meeting room and other improvements as part of a historic restoration of our own Carnegie library, a plan that involves on- site construction. (The current project has been shelved as it is vastly over-budget and has serious zoning problems)

Our beloved library was the only Carnegie funded Library in Monterey County and the first free library in the area. It will celebrate its one hundred year birthday next year. This on-sight plan can be done with much less controversy and much closer to the current budget. In other words, its doable.

Chamber member and volunteer: As a long-time business owner in town I have been a member and long time volunteer with the Chamber of Commerce. I recognize that the right balance between resident's interests and business interests make the town run smoothly. After all, residents need businesses to serve their needs and businesses help pay for the City services we all enjoy.
Historic restoration: As a member of the Council I worked very hard to "free the Tuttle" collection from the bowels of the museum. The Tuttle was a collection of over four-hundred glass plated photos taken by Tuttle, a town leader in P.G. at the turn of the century. As a result of my efforts on the Council and the wonderful work of museum staff and volunteers, the Chautauqua exhibit was born. The photos were at long last printed and made readily available for public view. I have always been a big supporter of the museum and for the preservation of our history in this town.

The Chautauqua Years exhibit is the most beloved and visited celebration of Pacific Grove history ever and it is now permanently housed in City Hall. As part of this effort, the original Chautauqua banner, an icon of our P.G. history, was completely restored along with the creation of an exact duplicate which now hangs permanently in our City Council Chambers.