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Ask Your Councilwoman: Lori Lopin

Meet your new councilwoman and ask her your questions in the comments.

agreed to participate in our new "Ask Your Councilmember" column, following in the wake of . We're introducing you to your new councilwoman with some short and fun questions.

Then, it's your turn to ask her the questions YOU want answered in the comments section below. She's said she'll respond to those she can in the comments.

Please keep your questions relevant and courteous -- and, of course, they must comply with our regular standards of commenting.

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When did you move to San Anselmo? Why?

My husband Chris and I moved to San Anselmo in 1990. Being raised in Marin, I always knew that I wanted to raise my family here and when a business opportunity came up for us to move back to Marin from Southern California we jumped on it. Finding a home in San Anselmo was just icing on a very lucky cake!

What's your favorite restaurant in Marin?

That really depends on my mood. One of my very favorites is right in San Anselmo. We started going to when our children were very young and to this day it's seldom that I miss a Friday morning with my girlfriends. We loved Riccardo's and were very sad when that closed, but have filled that gap with , and . Outside of San Anselmo, I'd have to say Servino's in Tiburon.

What did you study in college? What do you do now?

I studied Political Science and Communications in college. I had planned to become an attorney, but discovered once I was in law school that the law is very "gray." I prefer the black and white (it either balances or it doesn't balance) of my current profession as the Chief Financial Officer of our business. 

What did you do for New Year's?

I went with some friends to 330 Bistro in San Anselmo and had a great dinner.

What's the one biggest thing you want to work on on the council?

I would like to keep San Anselmo as a family friendly town that is fiscally and environmentally responsible.

OK, it's your turn. What do you want to ask Lopin?

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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Jessica Mullins (Editor) May 15, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Thanks for the feedback, John. To my knowledge, we don't have a comments stream anywhere. DefinitelyRead More submit your comments here (it's the most efficient way to get your thoughts heard at the higher level): http://ow.ly/l4cyg
M. Kathryn Thompson May 21, 2013 at 09:54 am
Dr. Gullion is also lovely with men who get breast cancer as my husband did, he's the best!
Bren April 22, 2013 at 04:13 pm
Is anybody else here getting multiple e-mail notifications of new comments by Jo Tog, and thenRead More clicking the link, only to find that they are actually old comments from Jo Tog, but with today's date on them? What's the deal? Did all his comments get flagged and deleted, and now he's re-posting them? Most curious.
Sierra Salin April 22, 2013 at 02:02 pm
Jo Trog, we live in a Corporatocracy, not a republic. We abdicated the Republic after 9/11, if notRead More before. Know the difference.
Hiba April 21, 2013 at 06:52 pm
Banning the sale in a free market economy is too strong. I believe people should be able to chooseRead More so long as the product is labeled correctly, and even placed in a section with a big sign that says "GM Food products". Would I buy it if I pass the section at the grocery store: NO.
A May 4, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Many people in Marin are already at 50% or more of their entire income to pay for housing. And weRead More have no rent control here in Marin which is the only way I've seen that most seniors have been able to stay in San Francisco for several decades. Regarding your statement: "Market rate housing generates tax revenues, which in turn pay for schools, parks, emergency services, etc." Low income people pay a lot of sales tax in Marin (which is really high) and that also supports these causes. If they don't have the money to pay property taxes to own property, then the fact is, they just can't pay it. Be thankful that a large group of the population in Marin makes enough money to own property and pay it (and turn around and sell their houses for a handsome profit as well, don't forget about that.) Some folks here are just SPOILED rotten. Perhaps you should lobby that Marin employers just pay people living wages so they can afford to become buyers here and pay property taxes instead of trying to lobby against housing for the poor. Goodness knows how many taxes child-free low income people have paid to support wealthy folks kids and schools here. We don't get any of that, either, but we still have to pay for it...
A May 4, 2013 at 12:53 pm
I've heard that Marin is already in violation (either state or federal, or both) of not havingRead More enough low income housing in the county for its population. I think the county is under pressure to come into compliance which it has been out of in this area for a long time. This can only serve to better the lives of low income and elderly people in our county and perhaps reduce homelessness as well which is something we sorely need to do. However, what is amazing to me is that what we are calling "low income" housing in Marin still costs $1K+ a month per person from what I can tell. That's not "low income". Someone paying that much needs to be earning about $4K a month to keep housing costs in the 25-30% range that every financial planner recommends for a basic budget. I see a lot of low income people working HARD full-time to earn $1,600 a month here in restaurants, grocery stores, retail, hair salons, gyms, even clinics. They can't afford to live in Marin so many of them commute in from the east bay and further north to work in Marin. That is what is not sustainable. Think about the gas and pollution and the quality of life in the community due to turnover because there is no personal interaction with the staff of a lot of these places anymore because they don't stick around for very long.