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In This Issue...
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People of the Year 2006
Person of the Year, Supervisor Ellen Pirie
In September, the Adrian Dominican sisters celebrated their 65th anniversary of serving in Santa Cruz County with ceremonies at Dominican Santa Cruz Hospital. As expected, there were speeches. Among them, Adrian Dominican prioress Donna Markham noted that to survive in healthcare for nearly seven decades, the sisters had to be “plucky.” We agree with her choice of words.
During our nearly 20 years bestowing praise as part of our People of the Year editions, we have honored Dominican physicians, nurses and sponsors, including Sister Julie Hyer (woman of the year in 2002), who just this month is retiring from the position of Dominican CEO after a long and distinguished career.
We would like to borrow the word “plucky” to help describe our group of people to whom we pay tribute in 2006. From the soccer mom turned county supervisor to an educational leader turned political activist, this is a crowd of folks who don’t let just any insurmountable challenge keep them from success.
In total, The Post selected six categories this year with which to honor local residents for their dedication to making our communities better places to live and work.
This year’s award recipients include:
â€" Person of the Year: Ellen Pirie;
â€" Organization of the Year: Advocacy Inc., (formerly Ombudsman Advocate);
â€" Educator of the Year: Dr. Mary Anne Mays;
â€" Community Enhancement Group of the Year: Santa Cruz Friends of State Parks;
â€" Volunteers of the Year: Graffiti Busters; and
â€" Emergency Services Agency of the Year: Aptos Fire Surf Rescue Swimmers.
Person of the Year,
County Supervisor Ellen Pirie
When then-Supervisor Walt Symons decided to retire, a field of candidates emerged. Ellen Pirie had not made many headlines before she ran, but she won handily nevertheless. That was six years ago. Now in her second term, Pirie’s stamina has been tested more than once.
“It really wasn’t one particular issue. It was really seeing the County was going to be facing some big issues,” Pirie said, listing growth, transportation, affordable housing and water supply development among the topics. “The second district really needed to be well represented in those discussions and I thought I could do that.”
This year many controversial decisions have centered around Aptos. The future of the Par 3 golf course is among them, as neighborhoods around the once-popular recreational facility fought high density housing while proponents of affordable housing pushed the development proposed by Standard Homes.
Pirie says that she is a strong advocate of building more affordable housing in the County, and this issue was difficult to decide. She adds that had it not been for Standard Homes deciding to withdraw their plans in the face of mounting public criticism, there might not have been a chance for park enthusiasts to have a shot at saving the fields for something more bucolic than more houses.
When the chance came, despite much pressure to the contrary, Pirie backed those neighbors. Now Aptos citizens have a couple of years in which to see if money can be raised to buy Par 3 for an open space park and playing fields.
We know how much support Pirie has given affordable housing during her years in office, including the housing project at the former Golden Torch Trailer Park and South County Housing’s new project in Seacliff. We know that when the topic of affordable housing is raised there is little question that more is needed in the County.
However, we also know that once Par 3 is developed, the last big section of open space is lost in Aptos, and we admire Pirie’s gumption to stay the housing proponents and give residents the opportunity to collectively claim the park for their own.
We also admire Pirie for the enthusiasm and endless energy she brings to her work.
“One of the things I have really loved about this is how much I have learned and how much I learn every day,” she said, adding that she now knows more about garbage collection contracting and road surfacing than she ever imagined she would. “I also didn’t expect that my legal background would be that relevant. … We do a lot of work for constituents. It’s very similar [to a law practice].”
Before winning two terms as one of five county supervisors, Pirie advocated for seniors as the directing attorney for Senior Citizens Legal Services.
Pirie said that this year she wants to move the Highway 1 expansion discussion along, as well as watchdogging the County agricultural lands.
As she puts it, “trying to keep Santa Cruz from becoming San Jose By-The-Sea.”
Pirie also wants to be sure her constituents know she has lots of help in meeting the needs of second district residents. She said she depends on her two colleagues Robin Musitelli and Stephanie Camacho to manage the district’s very busy office.
“I couldn’t do my job without them,” she added.
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