| | Published January 22nd, 2020
| Amy Worth steps up as Orinda vice mayor for fifth time
| | | By Sora O'Doherty |  | | Amy Worth begins an historic fifth term as Vice-Mayor of Orinda. Photo Sora O'Doherty |
Since being elected in 1998, Amy Worth has never been off the Orinda City Council, and has been mayor more times than anyone else. For 2020 she will serve in the position of vice mayor for a historic fifth term. Before being elected to the city council, Worth volunteered with the county library, and the Orinda library remains very important to her.
Worth stresses that Orinda has the third lowest budget in Contra Costa County, with only Clayton and Moraga having less money to run their cities. So Worth is very focused on making the best use of the money available to the city. She is proud of the progress made on local roads, but is searching for funds to allow the city to maintain the progress it has made. She serves with Mayor Darlene Gee on the Tax and Revenue Subcommittee that is looking into either extending the current city half cent sales tax or increasing it to one cent. "The key," according to Worth, "is that Orinda's taxes stay local and are well managed." The subcommittee is currently polling a variety of things that the sales tax could be used for, including roads, public safety, or even daylighting San Pablo Creek.
Worth also sits on subcommittees on transportation, the library, and also liaises with Orinda Union School District and chairing the School Bus Authority for Lamorinda. She is excited to be working with the new manager of the school bus program, Whitney Simon.
Downtown development is a subject much on the minds of Orinda residents, and Worth is no exception. In light of changing state laws, she says, it is very important that the city have a plan. Currently, there is a request for proposal out for writing design standards for downtown Orinda. Worth wants to know how people feel about housing in downtown Orinda, and notes that Orinda is special because of its access to transportation, making it easy to get to cultural events either in Walnut Creek or in San Francisco. However, she also thinks that the BART board needs to devote more effort to making BART safer. Worth is very involved in transportation issues, and says that people feel safe on County Connection buses, but not on BART, and adds that BART ridership is falling.
Worth, who always makes a point of thanking people for their work on projects that come before the city council, had words of high praise for the city's staff and particularly for City Manager Steve Salomon. One of his accomplishments was organizing city planning for the public safety power shutoffs in the fall. Worth was also impressed with how the Orinda schools handled the days without power. |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA