Candidate for
Director; Los Osos Community Services District

A brief biographical would explain that I'm 51, was born the first of seven children at Ft. Lewis, Washington of a military (West Point/army) father and a California born mother. They were both adventurous, down to earth, educated, cultured, and we lived within our means, in old houses we fixed up. I grew up moving at least every two years, from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Pakistan, California, Virginia, Philippine Islands, Vietnam, and Virginia again, until my father's retirement and subsequent move to Xalapa, in the state of Veracruz in Mexico in 1965. I went to high school there, volunteered at a small orphanage, and studied interior design & art until I left in 1971, to move to Seattle, Washington. I was an au pair and studied at Shoreline Community College for a year before entering the wonderful world of the 8-5 work schedule and giving up school. I worked in a candle/gift store, a pizza restaurant, a bank, a cleaning company, managed a sandwich/soup restaurant, harvested fruit several summers in eastern Washington, helped run a Christmas tree farm, and worked at an awning shop until finally leaving the gloom and emerald beauty of the north. I spent a short time at Death Valley Junction helping run The Commons Dining and living in a haunted cabin, then landed in Santa Barbara, at my grandmother's rustic and self-restored cluster of converted barn & farm buildings from the back of an old estate near the mission. We spent summers there when growing up. I worked as a blueprint maker, then an industrial parts screen printer, then worked for Quick Copy Printing and studied typesetting, more art, current events, botany, self-help, and a wide variety of smaller seminars & studies. I became involved with the Therapeutic Riding Academy and volunteered with both horses and clients. I also became interested in 'animal rights' and helped form ROAR to do do non-confrontational (except for several protests I attended) public education on the issues of products testing, experimentation, factory farming, and general issues of animal welfare & protection.

Coming to the Central Coast felt like arriving home. That was in 1988, when Santa Barbara seemed too crowded. I lived in Squire Canyon for 6 months and then came to Los Osos to help renovate a house for three long years. During all this time I began working part-time, first at a small print shop, then at Voler Softgoods, as a seamstress and slkscreener. Then came my 'career' at Photo Ad, in the art dept. I was there for 11 years and did almost every level of production and some management. From 1990-93 I helped produce & distribute the all-volunteer run magazine, Earth Journal. I also worked as a part-time youth supervisor at Monarch Home, with teenagers, ran a small hauling service, did home-care, pet care, office & house cleaning, was the coast photographer for the real estate Multiple Listings magazine, and ran estate sales. When I began living here I knew I wanted more interesting and creative ways to make a living and not be in the treadmill of just one occupation. That choice has allowed me time to do many of the things I love, like garden, renovate, hike, enjoy my animals & home/neighborhood/friends and to be more active as an environmentalist, volunteer, and watchdog.

In early 2000, I went to a CSD meeting to ask when and why the Oswald ponding system had been discarded and replaced with a conventional sewer plan. It's been an amazing indoctrination into the world of politics and technology and I still haven't found a completely acceptable answer. I'm a newcomer to the 30 yr sewer war, but have learned much from the many controversies that surround it and feel that we may be close to reaching consensus on the best plan to meet regulatory demands while building a sustainable and more affordable collection system, treatment plant, and securing storage/reuse capacity for our treated wastewater. I would like to have a board that is willing to examine valid options.