September 2020

Before I was elected, and before I had read anything useful like I hope this book will be, I tried to understand the pension situation in Encinitas. Residents were raising alarms about unfunded pension liabilities and elected Council members were trying to reassure everyone that the situation was under control. I kept hearing “it’s complicated,” which felt like a patronizing pat on the head, like my little female brain wasn’t capable of understanding the issue.

After I was elected, I was able to dig in deeper and, guess what: it was complicated! I found myself on this, and other issues, wanting to tell constituents, “it’s complicated” quite often. Instead, I started writing a weekly newsletter to help them understand. Not everyone wants to get into the weeds, but if there is trust that information coming from public officials is honest and accurate, people can more easily accept an outcome, even if they don’t completely understand all the details.

Regarding pensions, there was reason to be concerned, but the problem was not as extreme as some portrayed it. And some steps were being taken to address it. I proposed, and the Council agreed, to some additional measures and I believe the city is in good financial shape and acting responsibly regarding pensions.

But it is emblematic of much more pervasive problems these days – people want simple solutions to complicated problems. It’s hard to accept that your (often well-intentioned but misinformed) ideas won’t work. Often there are laws, like it or not, limiting what is possible. Often there are other perspectives that we had not considered – the infamous unintended consequences. Even in relatively small communities, there is a need for professional experts to assist in developing public policies.

Engaged citizens may think deeply and have strong opinions on issues ranging from public finance, transportation, housing, climate action, water management, or even recreation. Policymakers need to listen to residents and understand their needs and desires. That input must also be integrated with guidance from the technical experts, and with luck, good decisions will result.

And yet it is unlikely that anyone will be happy with every decision that is made and every policy outcome. Sometimes, if their ideas are not implemented, their egos are hurt, and they feel unheard. But the real reason is because … it’s complicated.

ISBN, LCCN, bar code, price, author bio, cover design, … these are all items I need to figure out in order to finalize my book and get it printed. I thought writing would be the most challenging part of this project. It has been four years since I decided I would write some kind of book after my experience on the city council. I hope it won’t be another four years before I can hand someone a physical copy or send them a web link to download an electronic edition.

I found a print site to use, TheBookPatch.com, at least for some initial copies. They offer an ISBN at a discount, but it’s not a full ISBN (ISBN is the International Standard Book Number). The Library of Congress has the LCCN, Library of Congress Control Number, which requires an ISBN first. All of this is to register the book in some repository so that at some time in the future someone will be able to research my name and discover that I wrote something. I doubt my book will have much value at that point, but my name will be preserved somewhere. That is, if our whole system of governance and societal order still exists at some time in the future. Writing today, I have my doubts, but I am committed not to make this book or this blog or this website about current political events.

Pricing – when you submit an ISBN registration, you have to specify a price. That is so that when you print the book, there is a barcode on the back which has the price embedded. I anticipate a very low volume of sales, so I don’t plan to print very many copies at once. If I decide to change the price later, I can modify the barcode and print new copies.

So many decisions to be made amidst so much uncertainty. I could be optimistic and plan for success. Visualize my dream. Create my reality. Make a visionboard with the NY Times best seller list showing my little guidebook at the top of the nonfiction listing. Or I could be modest and assume that this book will be primarily holiday gifts for friends and family, and not expect anyone to actually pay real money to buy a copy. The whole world is so uncertain right now, it’s hard to know what might be the national mood, or even the local mood a few months from now when I might plan a book launch. We are probably all going to be exhausted, whatever happens, and not want to talk about government at all.

Ironically, the one thing I did accomplish early on, with my intention to write this book back in 2017, was to book a gig as a guest speaker at Rancho La Puerta. I got a wonderful free week at the Ranch, but unfortunately they scheduled me in November, right after the 2018 election, when nobody wanted to talk politics at all. Attendance at my presentations was, shall we say, underwhelming. Here I am, 2 years later, in the same time cycle, but on steroids.

Well, I’m plowing ahead anyway. I have a cover design. I bought ten ISBNs because it only cost a bit more than buying two and both the paperback print edition and an e-book edition will need their own numbers. Anybody needing an ISBN? I can share!

I do want people to read this book and learn from it. I want public engagement in the governance process to be civil, respectful, and well-informed. Civility, clarity, and communication are the key concepts in the book. As I told one of my friends, the payoff is not going to be in financial gains – it will be in having a few more people who can be more effective in advocating for change in their communities. May it be so.

Self-publishing authors are expected to create a social media presence, including a website. This is definitely NOT my area of expertise. But with a little help from a friend and the help desks at Word Press and Bluehost, it seems I have succeeded. Rudimentary, for sure, but it’s here. If you are reading this, it’s working!

This is a time when I wish, more strongly than most times, that I had a tech-savvy grandchild to help me out. How does one decide where to buy a domain name, which domain name to buy, where to host a website, which template to use, which plan to buy, and on and on! The decisions never end. I haven’t even begun to delve into Instagram or Twitter. I also need to learn about hashtags. I’ve barely conquered Facebook!

But here we are. I followed the advice of a friend who earns a living making websites about which platform to use. And I take responsibility for all of it myself.

In the next post, in a few days, I’ll start talking about what’s actually in the book. For now, I’m feeling relieved that I’ve made it this far. I’m going to rest on these laurels while I await the final illustrations and then send the book to a professional editor. Thanks for reading!

I never set out to run for public office. I never set out to write and publish a book. But here I am. This book was written during the 2020 Corona virus pandemic, which has been a time of reflection.

My career of over 45 years has included policy development and international negotiations at NASA and NOAA, strategic planning and market research at a major aerospace corporation, program development and interdisciplinary program management at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and across the UC San Diego campus, teaching business ethics and corporate social responsibility to college students, and four years on the city council in a coastal Southern California city of about 63,000 population.

Since leaving office in 2016, I’ve been dabbling with memoir writing, consulting, traveling, and always volunteering and political activism.

One thing I’ve wanted to understand is why some citizen advocates are listened to, and their ideas and proposals are taken seriously, even if they are not always adopted as proposed. Other people put in just as much time and effort, but don’t seem to have any impact. What makes the difference?

After much reflection and lots of discussion with public officials and activists, a few key lessons emerged. This book is intended to share those lessons through the journeys of three fictional residents, each with a different issue or concern.

#civics #activist #localpolitics