Candidate for
Council Member; City of Santa Cruz

I have served five terms on the Santa Cruz City Council and have been Mayor four times. I am a labor activist, and I serve as the President of my union local, AFT 2199, and as the statewide Vice President of the UC-AFT for Organizing. I was the Chief Negotiator for my union for the past 20 years. I have been an active environmentalist who played a key role in stopping oil drilling off our coast, helped create a greenbelt around our city, and helped ban pesticides in City Parks by working to create an integrated pest management system. I have provided leadership in recycling, solar power and alternative energy, and public transit development. I have played a positive leadership role in making the City workforce more diverse and reflective of our local population in gender and racial terms, and I have been an active and effective supporter of affordable housing and civil rights for all. I was a founder and leader of the Westside Neighbors.

I played and continue to play a leadership role in the creation and support of human care services for our community and have served on the Board of several non-profits in the past, including the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Central Labor Council, the Community Action Board, and Food and Nutrition, Inc. (renamed Community Bridges). I am currently serving my third term as Chair of the Santa Cruz Metro Transit Board. I have served for almost 22 years on the Santa Cruz City/County Library Board. In all of my work as a public official, I have been accessible to all members of the community and responsive in working with members of the community to solve a very wide range of community problems.