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September 12, 2008
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Candidates vie for eight council seats JIM DIAZ, 65, is president of DiCor Security and Investigations, a local business. He is working with the state of California to rewrite the licensing examinations for private investigators
HOWARD GELLER, 62, is a real estate broker and a 33-year Clayton resident. He has been a member of the Clayton Business and Community Association for 24 years, serving twice as president.
All candidates continue on page 9
KEITH HAYDON, 60, and his family have lived in Clayton for 24 years. He holds both a bachelor’s of science and a law degree and is a contract negotiator and manager for a large corporation. He has served on the Clayton Planning Commission
ALLEN LAMPO, 44, is a licensed financial services professional and has 10 years experience in retail management. Lampo is a past contributing writer to the Financial Sense column in the Clayton Pioneer and is currently a stay-at-home dad. He
JOE MEDRANO, 44, was born and raised in the Bay Area. He has been a member of the Clayton Business and C o m m u n i t y Association since 2001 and has served on the board of directors and co-chaired the Clayton Art and Wine Festival
JULIE PIERCE, 58, has been on the Clayton City Council since 1992, serving three times as mayor and currently as vice mayor. She serves at the regional level on transportation and planning committees. Pierce co-chaired
HARUN SIMBIRDI, 42, earned his MBA from St. Mary’s College and has more than 20 years experience in business. His breadth of experience ranges from start-ups to turnarounds and highgrowth companies to mergers. Simbirdi is a
DAN RICHARDSON, 57, began his civic education and experience more than 30 years ago, when he chose a career in public service and began assisting communities to enhance quality of life by working with public interest groups, business
Biggest turnout ever for annual Labor Day Derby TAMARA STEINER Clayton Pioneer
It was another Norman Rockwell day in Clayton when more than 200 kids turned out for Clayton Community Church’s 5th annual Labor Day derby. The derby was a fun and welcome diversion for a town that has been under media fire for two weeks over the vegetable stand closure. “This is so way cool,” said one young racer as a derby staffer pushed his car up the starting ramp. “Yeah, this is my third year” said another, speaking with the
See Derby, page 22
Principals optimistic about new school year ANDRÉ GENSBURGER Clayton Pioneer
School years traditionally start with a high degree of optimism and enthusiasm, following some vacation time over the summer months. As is a custom, countless hours are spent analyzing data from the student assessments as well as planning
See School, page 8
CVHS Principal Gary Swanson
Photo by Sami K. Yousif, www.skygrafix.com
CLAYTON COMMUNITY CHURCH’S GREAT LABOR DAY DERBY ended with a friendly race between CCC’s pastor Shawn Robinson and Clayton Pioneer publisher Tamara Steiner. In the five years since the church’s first Derby, the family event has become an end-of-summer tradition.
Veggie stand issue puts Clayton in media spotlight ANDRÉ GENSBURGER Clayton Pioneer
Many Clayton residents were amazed to find that Clayton had made national news over the recent review regarding the Lewis family roadside fruit and vegetable stand, recently shut down by the city over zoning restrictions. From a simple story about the legal ramifications of the local family and their homegrown produce sales, first broadcast on local blog site Claycord.com, the article was quickly picked up by local television and print news and, as sto-
What’s Inside Around Town . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Church News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Club News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
ries involving children are prone to do, quickly whipped into a frenzy of commentary supporting both sides of the issue. The culmination of the attention came on Aug. 26, when the Clayton Planning Commission allowed public commentary in addition to a review requested by Mike Lewis and a more detailed complaint by neighbor John Van Brusselen. San Francisco ABC reporter Alan Wang, impeccably dressed for an on-camera report, joined the camera crews and reporters from a half-dozen stations and print media as the commission reviewed the material presented
Community Calendar . . . . . . . . .18 Deal With It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Directory of Advertisers . . . . . . . .5 Food for Thought . . . . . . . . . . . .23 From the Chief . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
and raised their own questions in search of a possible solution. The towering cameras to their left and at the back of the room made it clear that the image of Clayton was forefront to those watching, as much as to those in the audience. Wang sat off to the side, laptop on the seat next to him, typing the basics of the story that would later appear on the station Website. A few rows back, the Lewis daughters, Katie and Sabrina, sat with their parents, smiling as one camera operator or another
See Spotlight, page 7
Garden Girl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . .7 Mayor's Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Movie Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
André Gensburger/Clayton Pioneer
NETWORK CAMERAS AIM AT THE LEWIS Commission review on Aug. 26.
On the Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 School News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 So Anyway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
FAMILY
during the Planning
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Theatre Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Travel Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Weather Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15