Unlike all-too-many elected officials in Washington, D.C., I knew that when my term as mayor of Monte Sereno ended this December, that I should not seek another term in public office.
Why did I come to this conclusion? Easy—I’m 83 years old!
And even though I believe that I am a youthful 83, 83 is still 83.
‘Why did I come to this conclusion? Easy—I’m 83’
To my credit, I was honest enough to admit that, given the high calibre of my fellow Council members, the City would continue to function very well after I stepped down.
And it needs to function very well because there are still several major issues that still need to be addressed (that I mentioned in my Los Gatan article last July): effective evacuation planning for when (and it is when, not if) there is a major wildfire in this area and the passing of a parcel tax to cover the current cost of police services as the existing tax, adopted more than 40 years ago back in 1983, now only covers 13% of that cost.
What will I be doing in retirement?
After 35 years as a corporate lawyer (who incorporated Atari and Chuck E Cheese among others) and many years in local government (I served my first term as mayor back in 2016, and also have served on the Civil Grand Jury, the Juvenile Justice Commission and the County Board of Parole Commissioners), my major goal is to spend more time with my wife, Mary.
And we have certainly been blessed—we will celebrate 59 years of marriage in January.
