SLO LIFE Oct/Nov 2020

MAYOR
SANDRA MARSHALL
Meet Sandra Marshall, Candidate for Mayor of San Luis Obispo.
Sandra moved to San Luis Obispo in 1974. With almost 50 years of
living in the small city she loves, she has seen the progress and change
San Luis Obispo has gone through. In 1991, concern for preserving the
environment inspired Sandra to found and publish Information Press, a
free local paper which remained in print until 2017. Sandra’s activism also
drove her to serve as the Director of Earth Day Alliance, through which
she has coordinated the annual San Luis Obispo Earth Day Fair since
1999 to the present.
Sandra is a homeowner, a business person, a mother and grandmother,
and the Director of a non-profit organization. She understands what is
important to the residents of San Luis Obispo:
• Saving San Luis Obispo’s historic Downtown
• Ending homelessness in our community
• Affordable housing
• Creating safer communities
• Preserving the environment and open spaces
Why Support Sandra Marshall for Mayor?
In her years of activism, Sandra has grown to believe every citizen’s voice
should be heard. Sandra will bring strong leadership, fairness, balance,
and honesty to municipal politics. For years, Sandra has expressed her
deepest personal belief with the saying “The good of the whole begins
with the individual.” The urgency of today’s challenges has inspired her to
amend that saying to “The good of the whole begins now.”
Preserve, Protect, Plan. That is Sandra’s three-pronged approach to
moving San Luis Obispo successfully through these challenging
times. Preserve our heritage—our charming Downtown, our thriving
businesses, our diversity of cultures and our historic architecture. Protect
our natural resources—our open spaces, our fragile environments, our
air and water. Plan responsibly—growth is inevitable, let’s plan together
how it can best happen.
To get involved with Sandra’s campaign or to offer financial support, visit
her website and follow her on social media.
MAYOR
CHERISSE SWEENEY
I’m proud to be a Downtown business owner, land use consultant,
environmental steward, wife, and mom. Raising my family and pursuing
my career locally has allowed me the opportunity to have a first-hand
understanding that it is time for a new perspective in City leadership.
Partisan divisions have left our community vulnerable. My nonpartisan
candidacy for Mayor is inspired by the need to reinforce San Luis
Obispo’s foundation — building upon our core values of solvency, safety,
civility, transparency, and accountability. In the face of unprecedented
uncertainty, we are presented with an opportunity for mature, resolute
leadership. I look forward to stepping into the leadership role and
cultivating productive dialogue by lifting each other up and allowing all
voices to be heard.
One of my top priorities is to restore the City’s resilient economy by
upholding and enforcing transparency and accountability of citywide
financial resources. Promoting and sustaining economic stability equates
to balancing and lowering assessed property, sales, and business taxes — I
am not in support of the permanent 1% sales tax increase as it is currently
proposed. As a business owner, it is especially important for me to mend
relationships between the City and its business community. I am an
advocate for keeping goods and services local.
My goal is to restore community trust in public health and safety
by reprioritizing city spending and resources. Meeting the growing
homelessness needs with effective private/public partnerships and
resource development will accelerate results-driven solutions. I will assess
policy-driven issues through the lens of local relevance and economics.
I will support resources and practices that will result in a City where
everyone feels safe.
As an environmental steward, I have and will continue to implement
balanced environmental and energy policies. By supporting regulations
based on facts and data, collaborating on policies that promote
economically-sensible conservation and sustainability initiatives, we
can collectively protect the livability of our neighborhoods and the
preservation of our open green spaces.
I am committed to bringing nonpartisan leadership you can trust, and
civility you can count on. Working together, I see brighter days ahead.
OCT/NOV 2020 | SLO LIFE MAGAZINE | 71