About April Vargas

A San Mateo County resident for nearly 40 years, April Vargas has lived in the coastal town of Montara since 1983.

April is a local business owner and an active member of the Half Moon Bay/Coastside Chamber of Commerce.

April has had a passion for community issues since college and has always worked to protect the quality of our lives here in San Mateo County. She and her partner of 22 years, Jeff Olson, purchased their Montara home in 1993. Shortly after, April became locally active and was appointed to a committee created by the County Department of Public Works to update local road standards and address flooding and safety concerns.

April has always had the strength and courage to stand up for what is right.

In 1995 when the Devil’s Slide section of Hwy 1 was closed for over 5 months due to landslides, April was one of a small group of locals who fought to replace the unsafe portion of the road with a tunnel.

Facing strong opposition from Caltrans, the group collected over 30,000 signatures and placed a measure favoring the tunnel on the ballot countywide. In November of 1996 voters passed this initiative by an astonishing 74%.

Standing up, challenging and beating Cal Trans? That’s April Vargas.

After this major victory for San Mateo County, the same group won County approval to expand the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District to the coast, protecting coastal resources and preserving farmland.

April was later elected to the Midcoast Community Council, and was appointed to serve on a Devil’s Slide Tunnel committee that oversaw the design features of this massive project. Currently under construction, the tunnels are scheduled to open in 2011.

On the basis of her extensive experience with community-led initiatives, April was hired as a legislative advocate for Committee for Green Foothills from 2003-2005. She later worked as a community organizer for SEIU/United Health Care Workers.

A lifelong pro-choice Democrat, April Vargas was a Congressional District Coordinator for the Barack Obama campaign and was elected as an Obama delegate to the 2008 National Convention.

April currently sits on several boards and commissions:

• California Coastal Commission (Alternate)
• San Mateo County Green Building Task Force
• San Mateo County Agricultural Advisory Committee
• Citizens Advisory Committee for the Transportation Authority
• Interagency Council for HOPE (Housing Our People Effectively)
• Committee for Green Foothills
• San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee, elected member
• Vote the Coast

Awards April has received include:

• Democratic Volunteer of the Year (Region 4)
• Woman of the Year (19th Assembly District)
• Member of the Coastside Women’s Hall of Fame
• Favorite Coastside Activist

About San Mateo County and the Board of Supervisors

San Mateo County comprises 531 square miles and 54 miles of coastline and a population of 712,000. It’s interesting that seventy-four percent of the land is in agricultural use or is watershed or open space.

The county is governed by a five member Board of Supervisors, each member living in and representing one of the five supervisorial districts.

I am running to represent District 3, which includes Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, the unincorporated Coastside, Atherton, Redwood Shores, unincorporated Redwood City and Menlo Park, Portola Valley, Woodside, San Carlos and the Skyline area.

San Mateo County is the last county in California to elect its supervisors at large, meaning that the entire county votes for each member of the board. At -large elections are expensive and limit the number of candidates who run because the challenge of building sufficient financial and organizational resources to mount a countywide race is great. The last open election was in 1997!

With district-wide elections, as in the other 57 counties in California, only those living within a supervisorial district are eligible to vote for the representative from that district, limiting the amount of voter outreach required to run a competitive race.

The San Mateo County charter would have to be revised, either by an action of the Board or through a citizen referendum, to open up the way that supervisors are elected.

The Board of Supervisors oversee the County’s budget and set policy, while an appointed Manager runs the day to day operations from the County seat in Redwood City. The budget for the 2009-2010 year is $1.7 billion. Of that amount, only $300-400 million is available for discretionary spending by the Board. The rest of the budget funds state and federally mandated programs. County government has 22 departments, responsible for a wide range of services including child support, foster care, the courts, parks, public works, planning and building, health, housing, tax collection, elections and animal control.

The County includes 20 incorporated cities and 17 unincorporated communities. The Board serves as a de facto City Council for the unincorporated areas, providing services, making policy and responding to community concerns. Board members serve on several regional agencies that develop policies involving local government, transportation, public health and safety, planning and the environment.

To learn more about San Mateo County, visit the website at: http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/SMC