Have you heard the news about the race for the city council in Martinez? It’s an actual RACE with people that are actually NEW. I was told once by a man I very much respect that the combined time in office for our current city council (if you add up all the years one was mayor before one became a council member etc) is 50+ years. That’s what I call an old school. Well a new school year is in session and Martinez actually has real options. I thought I’d introduce you to two of my favorites today and maybe if you’re downtown for Art in the Park you can stop by and meet them for yourself. Before I do, I am reminded by Worth A Dam member Lory that the goal of Worth A Dam is to align with all beaver supporters everywhere and alienate no one. Certainly we are a broadly based group with attachments and beliefs all over the political spectrum. Worth A Dam as an organization doesn’t endorse any candidate without castor glands. Let me just say that these are two women I, Heidi Perryman, happen to like. They have been good citizens and good friends to the beavers and are smart, creative thinkers.
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{column2} Kathi McLaughlin
I first met Kathi at the final beaver subcommittee meeting in April where I presented the findings to the board at the county chambers room downtown. She came up and introduced herself and her support, asked me to think about running for council, and said that she was planning to do so after another term on the school board. Fresh from 90 days of controlling my temper on the subcommittee (well 89) and dealing with very stubborn politicians and staff I said that I would rather be eaten alive by wild dogs but a friendship was sparked.
Kathi became more involved several months later when the sheetpile palooza party started. We relied on her knowledge of the Brown Act to play “spot the atrocity” as the council steamrolled a very bad idea over the voters objections. One of my favorite memories of Kathi was going to a council meeting where they had a “closed door meeting” before the regular one. She asked them to take public comment before the session and they indignantly said that they didn’t have to. She produced her Brown act book and said that it was the law and perhaps they’d like to check with the city attorney? They furrowed their collective brow, went and called the city attorney with came back sullenly to take public comment before a closed door session – which they never did before, but which is now routine. One of the things I will like best about having Kathi on the council is having someone who knows the rules.
Gay Gerlach
I met Gay through Bill Wainwright, a former council member who was {/column2}instrumental in helping me know how to advocate for the beavers. I went to her delightful home for a meeting about networking and circulating information. She is on the Parks, Rec, Marina & Library commission which is every bit as ungainly as its name suggests. Gay is the voice of reason and cool clarity at those meetings. With a background in her own successful business and success now devoted to caring occasionally for her grandchildren, she knows how to get things done and how to redirect stubborn interests. When we went to ask permission to install the tile bridge and the very fopish member pontificated that they couldn’t approve it because “there was no cultural plan for the city so he couldn’t know what art was” Gay quietly motioned the project be approved. And it was. Gay has seen the best of Martinez and is pretty much known to everyone who knows anything: her home is the site for opera fund-raises, candidate luncheons, and exciting discussion. She’s also seen the worst of Martinez: broken promises, secret backroom deals and lots of buck passing to blame the other guy. Gay knows how things work in the ‘real world’ but also knows how to appreciate the spirit of community gifts like the beavers.
I’m thinking that this years election cycle will offer some real choices. The beavers and Worth A Dam will like you whomever you vote for, but spend some time checking these two candidates and think about what they might have to offer.
In the world of beaver news we had a confirmed otter sighting last night at the secondary dam, a new tree chewed almost to falling over the water and a possible mink visitation. Three kits, GQ, visitors from Los Altos and two more converts from my Close to Home talk, all who went out to dinner in town.
