Accomplishments

 Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR) 

  • Currently as SOAR's Executive Director, supporting the SOAR laws that protect farmland and open space by vote of the people.
  • Continue SOAR protections and fight back attempts to weaken the law.
  • Encourage buffers between new development and farmland.
  • Continue Right to Farm Ordinance.
  • Support Farmworker Housing.

Board of Supervisors (2003-2022)

  • Brought a bike lane to Potrero Road in Hidden Valley protecting cyclists/commuters.
  • Reinstated the County’s Ethics Commission to further transparency and openness
  • Made transportation safer and easier by ending gridlock at the 118/Somis Road intersection, adding a signalized crosswalk for school children in Newbury Park, and starting a free popular bus service in Oak Park.
  • Secured two million dollars from a landfill operator Waste Management for parkland.
  • Created first-of-its-kind Wildlife Corridor Zone to keep major corridors from being blocked off.
  • Expanded access to quality health care, opening a new 250-bed hospital wing, a mental health rehabilitation center, and a children’s crisis center.
  • Established a County bookmobile for underserved communities, students and seniors.
  • Started a non-profit drought tolerant nursery, Growing Works, that provides horticultural therapy and job training for people with mental health challenges.
  • Created the Mental Health and Safety Task Force that provided a blueprint to reduce gun violence and increase services for people in crisis.
  • Developed a requirement for the the planting of 1,000 trees a year to combat global warming.
  • Established some of the strongest environmental justice policies in the nation by requiring 2,500' setbacks between oil wells and schools.
  • Led policy to establish 15% reserve that took Ventura County from no reserves when I joined the Board of Supervisors to over $100 million in reserve funds when I stepped down.

Champion Clean and Sustainable Energy

  • Leader in the creation of the Clean Power Alliance with the most 100% customers in U.S.
  • Encourage local clean energy sources such as solar and wind
  • Support conversion of diesel engines to clean burning fuels, including school buses

Pollution-Free Land, Water, and Air

  • Demand polluters clean their contaminated land, including Santa Susana Field Lab.
  • Ensure safety of farmworkers and neighboring community from pesticide drift.
  • Keep fracking operations from poisoning our water.
  • Encourage compatible land uses for the safety and sanctity of neighborhoods 
  • Support the capture and reuse stormwater

Habitat and Wildlife Protections

  • Support wildlife corridor zoning, fencing, and wildlife bridge over 101 Freeway to keep wildlife, including mountain lions, from being hit by cars. 
  • Ban anti-coagulant rodenticides so they no longer threaten the lives of bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, raptors and other wildlife in our region.
  • Stop use of glyphosate and other herbicides that cause cancer.
  • Enforce protections for landmark trees, including oaks.
  • Lead efforts to keep Monarch Butterflies from becoming extinct.