As Your Supervisor, My Priorities Will Be:

Planning, for a Change
The Board of Supervisors is ultimately a planning board, a board that plans how our County will grow and develop over the coming years and decades. I will be the only professional planner on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. I am a professional community and environmental planner, with 25 years experience. It’s that kind of professionalism—not politics—that our county needs.

A Long-term Vision for a Sustainable Future
The Board of Supervisors must start planning further ahead, 10, 20, 50 years down the line. In a changing world, the current, 5-year planning mindset just won’t do. We must implement a comprehensive vision with accountable action plans to create a truly sustainable Sonoma County, both environmentally and economically. We must end short-term, short-sighted, disjointed decision making.

Economic Development
I have a strong track record when it comes to improving our local economy. In the mid 1990’s, as a member of the Windsor Town Council, I worked with a handful of local leaders to transform Windsor from a strictly subdivision-based community into a thriving town with a booming downtown and gorgeous Town Green. Our downtown, which was based on Smart Growth planning, was deemed one of the top 15 developments in the United States by the national Sierra Club in 2006, and received a “Grow Smarter” award from the Association of Bay Area Governments. It was hard work making this vision a reality. Our plan faced some serious opposition, and I survived a politically motivated re-call attempt, but we got the job done. It’s this kind of steadfast leadership and commitment to economic improvements for our local communities that I will bring to the Board of Supervisors. We turned a whole town around in five short years, imagine what we can accomplish for Sonoma County using the lessons learned from that experience.

Environmental Protection
I have dedicated my life to environmental protection. Fighting global warming, protecting open space and agriculture, pushing back against sprawl, keeping our rivers, streams, and drinking water pure, cleaning up toxic sites, protecting wildlife and habitats, fighting for clean and alternative energies. These have been among my highest priorities throughout my life, and I guarantee they will continue to be so in my work on the Board of Supervisors.

Health Care
The national health care debate has dominated the news for months. But here in Sonoma County, we don’t have to wait for Washington to improve health care. We can do a lot at the local level, working with our local hospitals and health care providers in Sonoma County to build a stronger and more reliable local health care network that works for all of us, no matter where we live, or how much money we make. This will be one of my top priorities on the Board.

Affordable Housing
In these challenging economic times, adequate housing has become harder for more and more of us to afford. As part of my work on the Windsor Town Council, I helped bring 732 affordable housing units to our town (most are on the ground, and the rest are in final planning stages and will be built soon). I will continue this commitment to bringing safe, quality, affordable housing to Sonoma County on the Board of Supervisors.

Cleaning Up Government Waste
We must end the practice of spending millions of dollars on studies and plans that are never implemented because they weren’t planned well enough in the first place. Last year, $10 million in County tax payer dollars was spent on Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs) that were never certified. That is unacceptable.

A 21st Century Transportation System
I became the Chair of the 12 member SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit) Board in January 2010 after serving only 4 years on the Board. As your Supervisor, and the Chair of SMART, I will work hard to provide alternative transit for Sonoma County, to relieve traffic congestion on 101, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. SMART will also provide us with a better link to the San Francisco Bay Area, so we can attract quality jobs to Sonoma County. I will also work to improve access and safety for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Preserving Our Agricultural Heritage
I spent my youth living in a 100 year old farmhouse on 11 acres of land. I know firsthand what kind of destructive effect sprawl can have on our rural communities, and believe deeply in the importance of preserving our precious agricultural heritage for the next generation. After finishing school I worked as a state planner in Governor Jerry Brown’s Office of Planning and Research, where I fought to protect agricultural lands. And then, for the next 25 years, I worked as an energy conservation and environmental specialist for PG&E. On the Board of Supervisors, I will use this experience to ensure that we expand and diversify our agricultural lands in Sonoma County, and that our precious agriculture is able to thrive here, is protected, and feeds our families with healthy, locally grown food.

Quality Water Management
Sonoma County deserves good water management that protects what we have, re-uses what we can, and conserves as much as possible. I have three years of experience on the Sonoma County Water Agency’s Water Advisory Committee. I understand the relationships between the water agency, the water contractors, and local leaders. In my work on the Town Council, I have helped make Windsor the leader in Northern California for the utilization of recycled wastewater within town limits. I look forward to making Sonoma County a national leader in the responsible re-use of recycled water.

Regional Cooperation
We must work cooperatively within Sonoma County and throughout the region, to accomplish our long-term goals. On the Board of Supervisors, I will think like the professional planner that I am, connecting the dots and building on the relationships I’ve already established with current supervisors, county staff, and elected officials throughout Sonoma and Marin Counties, to forge productive regional solutions on planning, water management, and more.

County Government that is Responsive to the Needs of Citizens
For too long, we have had a Supervisor who isn’t responsive to the needs of our citizens. That will change once I am in office. My door will always be open, just as it has been in Windsor, and I will work to engage more citizens in the decisions made in local government that affect their lives. We must bring more transparency to the Board of Supervisors’ actions, and welcome community input before actions are made final, and we must televise the meetings to ensure access county-wide.