November's elections are just around the corner, and if you are in the majority of Orindans that vote absentee, you will be voting sooner. There are two seats open for Orinda City Council, and the stakes are high. Consensus at the September 6th City Council meeting (our recap here) was that something needs to be done about the state of Orinda’s Downtown. If we do not fill the two seats with pro-downtown renewal advocates, we will be looking at years of thwarted efforts to spruce up Downtown. It would be a shame to hit the brakes now.
With this in mind, What’s Up Downtown Orinda (WUDO) is officially endorsing two candidates for City Council: Darlene Gee and Inga Miller. In advance of this endorsement, we sent all candidates questionnaires about their vision for downtown and how high of a priority it will be should they be elected to the City Council. Not only were Darlene Gee and Inga Miller the only candidates that took the time to engage with WUDO on this topic, but both made it clear that they will work to see Orinda’s Downtown reach its full potential. Hooray for that!
Appointed to the City Council in July 2015 to fill Steve Glazier’s vacant seat, Darlene Gee will continue the current momentum in a “results-oriented way and with a fairly aggressive schedule” as she stated. Inga Miller represents the next generation of Orinda and will bring a fresh perspective and open mind to the position, and she can use her legal expertise to help us, as she says, “chart a course for the future.”
If you would like to see thoughtful progress in Downtown Orinda, please cast your votes for these two worthy candidates. In the coming weeks we will be lending them our support in different ways and offer you the chance to get to know them better.
We encourage you to volunteer, add your name to each candidate’s endorsement list, request a yard sign and/or make a contribution via each candidate's website (darlenegeeforcouncil.com and ingafororinda.com.)
In the quest for a better downtown Orinda, every vote will count on November 8th! Now you know where WUDO stands.