2022 Board Election Candidate Statements

Kate Morsony

My husband Kevin and I moved to Glenview in 2014 and live here with our daughter Maggie (2016), son Stephen (2019) and dog Teddy. We chose to make our home in Glenview because of its family friendly atmosphere and walkable geography. We love the proximity of our kid’s schools, Dimond Park and the access to transit both around Oakland and into San Francisco.

Each morning we walk to preschool to drop off our son and meet up with our friends to walk our kids to Glenview Elementary saying hello to the neighborhood on our way there.

Kevin and I have shared a seat since we were appointed to the Glenview Neighbors Board in mid-2018 and in March 2020 I became the chair of Glenview Neighbors. Continuing my work on the board brings not just me but the contributions of Kevin, since we balance our community involvement with raising our two kids and our full-time work as lawyers. Kevin has been a member of the traffic safety committee since 2016. He has worked with committee members and Councilman Gallo’s staff on the plans for traffic calming on Park Blvd. Before joining the board and spending the last two years chairing the Board, I volunteered for the Ice Cream Social.

If re-elected to the Board, Kevin and I are committed to continuing our work related to traffic on Park Blvd. Between the places of worship, schools and the Glenview business district, Park Blvd is more than just a thoroughfare between two freeways, it is the main street of our community. Despite the time and effort we have already given to the project, more hard work and advocacy is required to realize the required changes to the street.

I am also interested in continuing neighborhood traditions like the Ice Cream Social and encouraging additional family friendly community building. Glenview is a great place to raise a family and activities like the Ice Cream Social, National Night Out and Driveway Follies demonstrate the eagerness of Glenview residents to spend time in the community getting to know their neighbors. I would like to continue to support these existing activities and work with the Board and others to develop new community traditions. Further I look forward to continuing our work to build an internet footprint for Glenview Neighbors and expand our marketing efforts.

Kevin is Oakland born and East Bay raised. He works as a privacy lawyer at a technology company. I moved to California in 2011. I work as a lawyer at a non-profit representing the interests of residential customers of California investor owned utilities.

Mary Vail

I am a 36+ year Park Blvd. homeowner, a retired public sector labor lawyer and Union member. I have served on the Board since late 2014 and would be honored to be re-elected.

The main reason I am seeking an additional term on the GN/NCPCBeat 16Y Board is the times we, Oakland and the Bay Area are in, both the challenges of the Pandemic and much more, but also the opportunities and urgency these times present for deep, positive change. In the area of community safety, just since 2020, Oaklanders and the City have implemented enhancements to the authority and work scope of the Oakland Police Commission. Then in 2021, the Oakland Re-Imagining Public Safety Task Force completed its recommendations and the City Council adopted the Task Force's top priority recommendations and allocated funding to implement them in 2021-22. The Task Force/City Council recommendation having the most immediate impact on our neighborhood is the recommendation to address traffic safety by measures within the Dept. of Transportation's jurisdiction, such as street re-design and traffic calming measures, rather than relying on police patrols to reduce speeding and reckless driving on and off Park Blvd. Then, starting just last year, the Community Policing Advisory Board launched an overdue effort to re-imagine community policing and neighborhood safety. Because of my involvement since 2006 in City-wide organizations working on these issues, I would like to continue to bring what I've learned from that work to the GN Board.

Lastly, during my previous Board service, I have been deeply committed to supporting the GN's ongoing work on traffic safety, supporting the Glenview Elementary and Edna Brewer Middle School communities, the GN's ongoing collaboration with Neighbors for Racial Justice and related equity work and supporting the Oakland Animal Shelter. I was also one of the Board members who helped create in 2019 the GN's 'Season of Giving;' campaign, which invited neighbors to make year-end donations to the GES and EBMS PTA's, Friends of OAS and other neighborhood non-profits.