Name: Marilyn Lyon
Age: 47
Education: Minor in history from CSU at Dominguez Hills; a major in interdisciplinary studies in progress.
Occupation: Council member of Rancho Palos Verdes; owner of Lyon and Associates. Years on The Peninsula: 18

Over the last four years as councilwoman and mayor, I have spent countless hours serving the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes. This has given me experience, know-how and leadership skills to continue to represent the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes in an effective, responsive and solution-oriented manner. My experience as a small business owner affords me the opportunity to bring skills learned in running a business to the way we run local govemment. I believe in the "contracting out for services" process. This allows us to pass through the peaks and valleys of daily business in our city without funding excess employees in the slow times. We are able to run a tight ship in RPV while giving our residents the best service for their tax dollars.

Prop. M is the law. It was voted in by the people by a 67-percent margin. Proper application of the council's guidelines by the View Restoration Commission will lead to equitable solutions between the neighbors. As a council, we have stressed that the commission take privacy ot the foliage owner into consideration and plant substantial replacement trees where necessary.

Over the past four years, I have been very active with the Economic Development Committee of the Palos Verdes Chamber of Commerce. I have listened to our business owners' needs and have responded by supporting signage language in our development code which allows our businesses to compete effectively with businesses in other cities. As a founding member of the Western Avenue Corridor Task Force, I have surveyed businesses to find out what their needs are and how the city can better serve their needs while keeping in mind the residents who live near the businesses. I am currently working on a Business Watch program, similar to the one in use by Neighborhood Watch. This will be an effective way for the businesses in Rancho Palos Verdes to communicate with one another and to alert each other regarding crime.

Most of the undeveloped land in Rancho Palos Verdes is privately owned either in small subdivided lots or a few large parcels. By law, the owner of a piece of property has a right to apply to build on their land, provided all of the city codes and conditions are met. In the moratorium area, it is a much more rigorous process to request an exclusion from that moratorium area. All safety, geology and liability concerns must be satisfied. There is a thorough public hearing process that would accompany any such request.

I am pleased to say that during my term as mayor, I was an active participant in the negotiations that led to the purchase of 160 acres of environmentally sensitive land. This purchase was made possible by taxpayer-approved county bonds. I believe that many of us share the vision by the founders of our city nearly 25 years ago. That vision included open space, a coastline free of dense development and that wonderful semi-rural atmosphere that we enjoy today. Any development that takes place in the future must do so with that vision in mind.

· Public Safety: This includes keeping our crime rate down and a constant monitoring of that to make sure Rancho Palos Verdes remains a safe haven.
· Land Use: We must have balanced property rights decisions that follow our general plan, coastal specific plan and our development code.
· Quality of Life: I would like to insure that our quality of life is enhanced and that we retain open space, a coastline free of dense development and a semi-rural character.
· Financial Stability: Finances are the glue that keeps the top three priorities together. I will work to see that we continue to be financially stable, without new taxes.

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