Welcome!
My name is Mark Olbert, and I’m a member of the City Council in San Carlos, California. This is my site for staying in touch with my constituents.
Here you’ll find my blog, links to articles about municipal issues, and material that will help you understand my take on the Council’s work. All these can be accessed through the menu links at the top of every page.
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Enjoy! And if you have a moment, drop me a line to let me know what’s on your mind.
The Game
On Friday, January 27th, I and the four other newly-elected council members from around San Mateo County were interviewed by Mark Simon and Kevin Mullin on The Game, a local TV show. Questions included why did you run, what’s different about being elected, and the like. San Carlos was well…
Trees and Community Relations
There’s an item coming back to the Council on Monday which touches on my strong desire to see the City improve its relationship with the community it serves. Even though you probably wouldn’t think so based simply on the item’s title. That’s because it “only” involves replacing trees in Burton…
Cell Tower Lawsuit
This coming Monday the Council will consider a proposed settlement of a lawsuit brought by AT&T against the City as a result of the company’s cell tower proposal being rejected. I wrote a letter to the editor to the San Mateo Daily Journal on the proposal as a follow-on to an…
Eschewing Abstentions
I rarely abstain from votes because I consider it part of my duty as a public official to make up my mind on issues brought before us for action. Last night was a personal record for abstentions, though, as I opted out of four items. In three of those cases…
Redevelopment Redux
At our January 9, 2012 meeting one of the topics we’ll be covering is the next steps, if any, involving the San Carlos Redevelopment Agency in light of two important recent events. Last December, the judge presiding over a lawsuit brought by the San Carlos Elementary School District, the Sequoia…
Shoe Leather
[singlepic id=1 w=400] One of the, if not unique, certainly unusual aspects of my City Council campaign was the degree to which my team and I pounded the pavement reaching out to voters. All told, we knocked on 5,538 doors, covering about 86% of our wonderful small town. Not everyone…