Green appointed to Fairfax Town Council

Goddard joined the Green Party on Earth Day 2012, when she registered Green at Earth Day Marin. "I was and am disillusioned by what our government defines as leadership. All ethics lost to the point where, as a parent, I feel like I have to shield my children from the bitter battles modeled by our politicians, who bow to the financial manipulations of big corporations."

 

"I wanted to feel proud of the leadership I take my time to vote for. If government is a disgrace which makes you feel ashamed before your children, then its time for a change. The Green Party stands for what I stand for, and is willing to look at the larger collage of people's needs and human rights and drive the necessary steps to accomplish the job." 

 

 

Combining the experience of her work as a whitewater guide and team building coordinator for Project Raft (Russians and Americans for Teamwork) with her Masters degree in Drama Therapy and being a long-time boardmember at Sustainable Fairfax, Goddard has learned to listen, organize and activate people around common passions and goals. She hopes to bring those skills to the Council.

 

An enthusiastic cyclist, Goddard already rides 5 to 10 miles a day for commuting and errands. “When I am on the road on my bicycle, I am reminded with each breath that we all share the air and the streets of town are public space for all members of the communitiy. You can see people smile when you aren’t separated by tinted windows. In this busy time, a wave and a smile go miles toward helping communities feel more connected." Goddard has been a Safe Routes to Schools (SR2S) team leader and member of the Ross Valley SR2S task force for 8 years. "We have a circulation element in our general plan which was painstakingly created with bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure as center pieces. The changes required to make our travel routes safer are already designed and ready for engineering and I plan to lend every effort toward the implementation of those plans.” 

 

Goddard was the project coordinator in August 2012 of the first ever Streets for People event in Fairfax, which closed Bolinas Road in the town center for two blocks between noon and 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. Advertised as a celebration of local businesses, residents, art and non-motorized transportation, closing the road also served as an experiment to see if the town could realistically move toward the general plan vision of making that stretch of road a permanent vehicle-free greenway.  The result was that drivers took alternative routes (and/or drove less) and traffic moved freely, while 1,000 people packed Bolinas Road.  Streets for People is loosely modeled after San Francisco's Sunday Streets, whose coordinator, is avid cyclist and long time San Francisco Green Susan King.

 

Upon her appointment by a 3-1 vote, Goddard joined her new colleagues on the dias. Hartwell-Herrero thought she did a great job. “It felt really good to be able to sit with her on the council for one meeting. It was just a delight to look down the dais and see her thoughtful face and hear her really critical points. She was ready for her first meeting and she did a great job.”

 

Fairfax has had at least one Green on the Town Council since Lew Tremaine was elected in 1999 to the first of three terms, and two since Bragman was first elected in 2003 to the first of his three terms. Fairfax is also one of four U.S. cities where Greens have had a city/town council majority, three of them in California - Fairfax, Sebastopol (2000-2008) and Arcata (1996-1998.)  

 

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Photos Credits from Fairfax Town Council meeting to Garrett Toy, as originally published on the San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch, April 4.