Los Gatos City Council

In 1973, I settled in Los Gatos with my husband, Ira, and quickly became involved in community issues. I was a member of the Los Gatos Planning Commission between 1980 and 1988, often serving as either Chair or Vice-Chair. During my tenure, the Commission developed new zoning ordinances, the Hillside Plan, the Downtown Specific Plan, and a revised General Plan to protect our hillsides, historic homes, neighborhoods and local businesses.

I am a native of Northern California and grew up on a farm in Stockton where I went to the same one-room school house that my father had attended. I moved to the Bay Area and obtained the following degrees and credentials:
 B.A., English, University of California at Berkeley 1966
 Secondary and Community College Teaching Credentials, San Jose State University 1968 &
1974
 M.A., Political Science, San Jose State University 1974
 J.D., magna cum laude, University of Santa Clara School of Law 1978
 Harvard Law School, Mediator Certification 1994
 Harvard Law School, Negotiation Certification 1995

Formerly a high school English teacher, I have been an attorney since 1978. I serve as Special Counsel to the law firm of Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel where, in addition to my civil litigation and mediation practice, I am regularly appointed by state and federal courts to resolve disputes without trial as a judge pro tem, a special master, a judicial arbitrator and a mediator. For three years, I have been selected by my Northern California colleagues as a "Super Lawyer," and, in 2003, my volunteer services to the legal profession and the community earned me the Bar Association's highest honor, the Bryl Salsman Award.

In 2007/08 and in 2012/13, I served as Mayor of Los Gatos and during my tenure on our town council, I have represented Los Gatos on regional bodies including the Association of Bay Area Government (ABAG) General Assembly, the Guadalupe West Valley Water Shed Advisory Committee, the Santa Clara Valley Water District Commission, the Housing and Community Development Advisory Committee, and the Santa Clara County Cities Association City Selection Committee.

Additionally, I have served on the Town Council’s Policy, General Plan, Finance, Conceptual Development and North 40 Advisory committees, and Highway 9 projects.
All that I do for our Town is a product of the passion I have always had for our community as reflected in the following Sunset magazine passage written in 1915:

"To see Los Gatos is to love the town. To enjoy the privilege of a few days' or weeks' stay within the gates of that beautiful city of 3,500 souls is to wish to come again. And to become a permanent resident there is to lie in paradise, if such there be on this earth.”