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Interview with Mayor Terry Nagel
Mayor and 29 year resident of Burlingame Terry Nagel has been very active throughout her mayorship. In 1996, Terry organized Poppy Drive residents to battle three “McMansions” that threatened her neighborhood. She convinced the City Council to make the developer downsize and redesign the houses. Her efforts led to the city's adoption of design review guidelines that have been the model for other cities. In 2002, she organized hundreds of resident to protest the city’s frequent power outages, and established a citizens' action group called Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts (BULB), ultimately persuading PG&E to improvements its circuits in Burlingame. In 2006 Terry was one of 20 elected leaders chosen for the League of California Cities' California Civic Leadership Institute, a highly selective program that educates future leaders on issues facing the state.
In addition to her role as mayor, Mrs. Nagel keeps active with the Skoll Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that supports social entrepreneurs around the world, where she serves as their Communications Officer. Recently Mayor Nagel sat down with members of the Shinnyo-en Foundation to talk more about her work and commitment to service.
Can you share with us your journey that led you to become Mayor of Burlingame? I grew up on Long Island in New York and transferred out to Southern California when my father took a job there, but as soon as I visited Northern California I knew this was the place for me, and ever since college I’ve always lived here in the Bay Area. In my earlier career I started as a travel journalist and visited many different cities and adapted to many different cultures, but there was something special about the community spirit in Northern California that made me stay. After working as a travel writer, I thought I should branch out a bit because I was getting a bit pigeonholed, so I took a job at the San Mateo Times. Eventually the paper was sold and everyone needed to search for new jobs. Fortunately, I was hired by the San Francisco Chronicle. Then, right when the big dotcom boom began, I heard about an opening at Forbes Magazine, located right in my town, Burlingame. I was the assistant managing editor of one of their publications that focused on the high-tech industry. When the bubble burst, the magazine folded and I went to work for a nonprofit. The organization, Greatschools.net, provides information for parents who want to get involved in their child’s education and make schools better. And after working there, I realized I liked working for places not concerned with making money but trying to do good in their communities. And how did you end up in government? Well, working in a nonprofit, I became increasingly interested in the activities going on in my community. I took a course on Civic Leadership through the Coro Community Fellows Program, and they introduced me to how government works behind the scenes. In 2003 I landed a spot on the city council, and eventually became mayor. How do feel in your role as mayor? I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to try and build community spirit and have tried to get many people involved in local government and participate in decision making along the way. And I’ve seen real growth in the connections within the community. Do you have any examples? I’ll give you one. There was an older gentleman whom I just knew casually from one of the little coffee shops, Il Piccolo on Broadway, and one day he said to me, “I am in big trouble.” He’s over 70 and he was evicted from his apartment because he complained when they raised the rent an additional$600 a month and he couldn’t afford it. He said, “I don’t know what to do. I can’t drive anymore, I need to be within walking distance of this neighborhood, this is my whole life here.” We put some feelers out with people in the coffee shop and, lo and behold, he found a new place. Then one day he was talking with some people he didn’t know very well at the coffee shop and he said that he needed to move tomorrow but didn’t have any family in the area and didn’t know how to do it. And then right there, a dozen people came forward and said, “We will help you.” They didn’t know each other, they got to his apartment and he hadn’t packed a thing and didn’t have a truck. So they rented a truck, packed his things and moved him into his new place. And he was so grateful that he had them all over for a very informal but truly heartfelt home dinner to thank everyone for their help. That’s a real example of community at work. What were your impressions of the last Bridge of Friendship event? We are overwhelmed with gratitude for all that you do for Burlingame. And the lunches are a wonderful opportunity for people to connect. It’s so important to make those community connections, not just with email and newsletters, but with events like the Bridge of Friendship and the Community Picnic that really bring a community together. I think it’s great that this year the Shinnyo-en Foundation spotlighted people who do outstanding work in volunteer service, and I think the idea of joining and collaborating with the Community Picnic this year was wonderful. Despite a bit of competition with the Blue Angels and other events taking place that day, we had a great turnout and the talent during the show was wonderful. Do you have any final thoughts for our readers? If there’s one thing I’ve learned as mayor, it’s that people can never be recognized too much. In Burlingame I started a “Best of Burlingame Award,” and began by recognizing one individual a month. But people started offering more and more suggestions of recipients, so now we give them out at every council meeting because there are so many people that we want to recognize for their commitment to serving their community. And you know for some people this is the highlight of their lives. I’m shocked in a way, but it’s a big deal to be recognized by a group of your peers for your service to the community. And I don’t think we can do this enough. And also with the city’s centennial, we were looking for a great way to kick off the celebration and I thought, well, I bet there must be some interesting people who have been connected with Burlingame in the past. I talked with this wonderful person named Martha Rosman May of the Burlingame Historical Society. She said, “As a matter of fact there have been several famous people, even famous people on a national level and international level who came from Burlingame. She and I began creating this list together and it kept growing and growing. At the kickoff event for the centennial, we had an amazing turnout with many of these people we recognized as “Extraordinary Burlingamers” inviting their whole families and friends to come join in with the celebration. The greatest part of the day was, with every one person we recognized, we inspired at least two people to go out and give back to their community. So many people came up to me afterward and said, “You know I love this city, and I’m going to go out and do something for Burlingame.” The lesson I took away from all of this was you can’t recognize people too much. |
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