In 1976, at the age of 34, I moved to Tulare County to marry my native-Visalia-born husband, Greg, an Army Veteran who was working as a correctional officer at the County road camp at the time, was a lifelong jazz and big band musician and became my partner in rehabbing and managing our low-income rental houses in North Visalia, until his death in 2008.
Before settling in Visalia, I had graduated from UC Berkeley, got a Master's Degree while living in Germany for 18 months, a teaching credential from Cal State Long Beach, taught high school and college classes, and traveled extensively. Prior work experiences include, as a teen, helping my parents in their auto repair and patio furniture businesses,then hotel maid, and waitress. I protested the Vietnam War and campaigned for George McGovern for President in 1972 against Richard Nixon.
California has never had enough water to satisfy the claims made against the supply, for communities, agriculture and industry. To protect our diminishing precious groundwater from contamination and depletion, I support California's plan to ban fracking in the Central Valley. Sacramento should incentivize water-sparing residential and commercial landscaping, planting of low-water tolerant trees, and technologies for grey water (kitchen, laundry, sink) capture. I support new/improved technologies for extracting home use water from the atmosphere. Existing dams and levees need to be repaired and updated, and where feasible, I support new dam construction consistent with environmental concerns. . Technologies need to be developed to minimize evaporation from our canals, including possibly covering sections with solar panels.