Pacifica City Council special meeting

▸ Present from city council: Mayor Tygarjas Bigstyck, Mayor Pro Tem Sue Vaterlaus, Councilmembers Sue Beckmeyer, Mary Bier and Christine Boles

▸ Special order of business: The City Council met to conduct applicant interviews for various Pacifica committees and commissions. Appointments were made on Monday.

▸ Beautification Advisory Committee: One spot available.

Ryan Stiles, who has lived in Pacifica for two years, says he wants to play a bigger part in the community. He has participated in events with the Beautification Advisory Committee but has not attended meetings in the past, not knowing until recently they were open to the public. He works from home and has no scheduled conflicts that would impede his ability to attend meetings. Stiles said he would be willing to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty in order to beautify the city and “saw it as an opportunity to get more involved.”

▸ Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission: Two spots available.

Nancy Salcedo, who recently retired, moved to Pacifica about a year ago from Sausalito. She has worked as a city planner and has participated in commissions and committees in other communities. Salcedo identified public outreach as an area that could use some improvement.

Gail Benton Shoemaker is a longtime resident of Pacifica who is interested in retaining her current role as a member of the Parks, Beaches and Rec Committee. “I think the title of the commission of PB and R is misleading … Nobody thinks about the nursing homes,” she said, mentioning her own focus on senior services. High on her agenda was preserving the green spaces and parks that already exist.

Mark Torres used to be a legislative analyst for the city of Los Angeles until he moved to Pacifica in 2012 and finished a master’s degree. He currently works for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. “Pacifica is my home now, I’ve been here 11 years … I have three kids with roots here,” said Torres. As for local improvements, he mentioned a lack of soccer teams in the area. “We don’t want to be a city like San Francisco … We need to make sure we still have the open spaces.”

▸ Open Space & Parkland Advisory Committee: Two spots available.

Aaron Read, who has lived in Pacifica since 2006, said he was interested in the position because he enjoys the outdoors. “I love the open space; it’s important to me,” he said. He works for the fire department, which would be his only scheduling conflict. High on his list of priorities was to make the trails more connected with each other. He was adamant about maintaining as much open space as possible. Read has served on the committee in the past. 

Ellen Natesan has lived in Pacifica since 2008 and has served on the committee since 2017. She does so as a way of giving back to the community. She claimed over 20 years of work experience in open space management and natural resource protection in addition to having a Ph.D in wildlife and fisheries science. The committee’s function was, in her own words, “to support the City Council in their goals  related to open space and parkland.”

— Adrian Jose Fernandez