About me...
While I was in high school, in my mother country the Netherlands, I chose to attend the University of Technology in Delft, to study architecture/building engineering. During my years at that university, I realized that I did not want to work as an architect. I did graduate, had several temp jobs to figure out what interested me, went to school at night to get a diploma in accounting, and then found my dream jobs in property management. I took a break from my career to move to California with my husband, Juul, who had the opportunity to work in Silicon Valley as software engineer for -what we thought to be- three to four years. I arrived seven months pregnant, our daughter was born here in the USA, followed by our son three years later. We never moved back to the Netherlands because we fell in love with the space and beautiful nature that this country offers.
For more than twenty years we have lived in the Bay Area. In 2017 we were fortunate being able to move to Marina. We love living at the coast!
As a 19-year-old architecture student, I spent a summer working at a building site in Sweden, where timber frame homes were constructed, unlike the brick/concrete that's used in the Netherlands. I love seeing and hearing home construction here at the Dunes, and at Sea Haven, where I've worked the last three years as Community Association on-site manager.
As an involved resident, I regularly give public comments at city council meetings, planning commission meetings, and traffic advisory committee meetings. I like how easy it is to be heard by council members, planning commissioners and staff, in this small town.
Now is the right time for me to run for city council because I think that my (work) experience and skills can be used to help Marina move forward with several exciting plans, like new city parks at Sea Haven and the Dunes, sports- and aquatic center, the construction of more homes and apartments, hotels, and the Dunes promenade with condos, restaurants and stores - including the grocery store that we're all anxiously waiting for! Many of these projects are located in District 4 but they will benefit the entire city.
I support a new civic center and new fire station near Imjin Parkway / California Ave because the city hall structures are outdated, and the fire- and medical response times for large parts of the city (especially District 4) are unacceptably long. My husband and I will always be grateful for local firefighters who saved his life, almost a decade ago, and we wish that all Marina residents can be as lucky as we have been, if they ever need emergency help. A second fire station in the southern part of the city will be good for all residents because the Palm Ave crew will be more available for central- and northern Marina.
