Early Political Career
Dean started her political career by organizing the Bonita-Berryman Neighborhood Association, which led to her appointment in 1971 to the city's Planning Commission. In the early 70s, she worked with Urban Care to stop the development of a large shopping center on the waterfront. She also worked with Urban Care to achieve Council approval for what is recognized as one of the best Landmarks Preservation Ordinances in the Nation. In 1976, she was elected from a caucus in her congressional district as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in New York City pledged to Senator Frank Church.
Dean served on the Berkeley City Council for 15 years between 1975 and 1994. She was first elected to the City Council in 1975 as an at large member, she served on the council until 1982. When district elections were adopted in Berkeley in 1986 Dean was the first elected council member from District 5, she held the seat until 1994 when she was elected Mayor.
Read more about this topic: Shirley Dean
Famous quotes containing the words early, political and/or career:
“It was common practice for me to take my children with me whenever I went shopping, out for a walk in a white neighborhood, or just felt like going about in a white world. The reason was simple enough: if a black man is alone or with other black men, he is a threat to whites. But if he is with children, then he is harmless, adorable.”
—Gerald Early (20th century)
“To throw obstacles in the way of a complete education is like putting out the eyes; to deny the rights of property is like cutting off the hands. To refuse political equality is like robbing the ostracized of all self-respect, of credit in the market place, of recompense in the world of work, of a voice in choosing those who make and administer the law, a choice in the jury before whom they are tried, and in the judge who decides their punishment.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
“I restore myself when I’m alone. A career is born in public—talent in privacy.”
—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)