Supporters of Margaret Becker, District 2 City Council candidate in Redwood City, attended her campaign launch event on Sunday, August 28th. About thirty were in attendance at the afternoon event where Becker spoke about her reasons for running and her campaign goals. Becker says the timing is right for a collaborative leader who knows Redwood City well and has a track record of getting things done for the community.

In 2016, City Council appointed her to the Housing and Human Concerns Committee, where Becker took a leadership role resulting in City Council’s passage of ordinances to increase housing affordability and security. “Affordable housing is one of the biggest issues Redwood City faces and I would bring a deep understanding of the needs and opportunities that currently exist to maintain and increase housing at every affordability level.” Her leadership on housing issues helped lead to City Council’s passage of renter protections , inclusionary zoning, and also Redwood City’s innovative Safe Parking Program that has gotten all residents living in their vehicles to a safe location with wrap around services for finding permanent housing.

She would bring a long history of dedicated work in social and human services to the Council job. She has been a community organizer for health care reform, directed a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) program for youth in foster care, and served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer where she spent over two years on sanitation and education projects in a remote under-resourced community. “Trying to find systemic ways to help improve people’s lives has been first and foremost throughout my career,” says Becker.

After getting a Master’s degree in Public Health, Becker worked for over 20 years in health education and communications. She raised her two children in the home near downtown where she still lives and was an active volunteer in the public schools they attended, serving on Clifford School’s site council and as an after school coach. She has served on the Grants Committee of Sequoia Health Care District and also on the Board of the local nonprofit, Young Dreamers, a leadership and service organization for high schoolers.

Becker says if elected, her highest priority will be to balance the growth of Redwood City with maintaining Redwood City’s close community feel. She says equity and the environment need to be considerations in every policy decision and initiative. Homelessness, affordable housing, parking and traffic congestion, and public safety would be at the core of her work on Council.