At age 29, I decided to move across the country and settled in Olympia, WA. While there, I attended graduate school in public administration at The Evergreen State College. In 1987, at age 34, I took a position as Executive Director of the United Way of Lewis County in Centralia, 25 miles south of Olympia, and remained there until 1991.

The year 1991 was a busy year. I married my wife, Holly G. Riggs, we moved to Roswell, NM, where I had taken a position as Executive Director of the United Way of Chaves County, and we had our first child. Roswell was a wonderful community, but in 1995, I took another job as Executive Director of the United Way of Portage County in Kent/Ravenna, OH. We had our second child just months before moving.

In 1996, my wife opened a business, Wild Goats Coffee & Cafe, in Kent. We owned and she operated the business until 2003 when I took the position of Executive Director at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, CA.

I have over 17 years nonprofit management experience. I have also served as board president of the Streetsboro Area Chamber of Commerce in Ohio in 1998 as well as president of three Toastmasters Clubs and a literacy coalition. I am incoming Secretary of the South Ukiah Rotary Club and have been a Rotarian for over 17 years. I have also served on a number of community boards over the years.

I believe that in the months ahead, a new reality will emerge in Ukiah and communities throughout the world. As we approach world peak production of natural gas and oil, the forthcoming gap between demand and supply of fossil fuels will severely impact our lives. We need only remember when oil production peaked nationally in the 1970s to understand what lies ahead. The difference between then and now is there are no more new places from which to import oil.

Most politicians won't discuss oil and natural gas depletion. They are either ignorant of it, or they fear it will lose them votes. My campaign is not about ignorance or fear however. It is about empowering ourselves in the face of perhaps the greatest challenge human beings have ever encountered.

I believe Ukiah and other communities must be proactive to the changes ahead. I envision community-wide educational campaigns to reduce energy consumption and vigorously transition Ukiah to renewable energy. I believe that Ukiah must develop community gardens and seed banks, municipal compost production, car co-ops, equipment libraries, and localized manufacturing of solar technology to be prepared for the anticipated changes from fossil fuel depletion.

Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over and Powerdown, says:

"Energy and water are the two issues that will most affect our lives in the future -- especially here in northern California. If you think energy and water prices are high now, just wait. Bob Gragson has a better understanding of the problems we are likely to confront along these lines, and of the positive strategies that local communities can adopt, than anyone else I know of in this region."

I also advocate for a living wage ordinance, affordable and sustainable housing, a local currency to help strengthen the local economy, and incentives for business development of locally-owned and operated artisan trades. Additionally, I propose Ukiah establish a city council with five ward seats and two at-large seats to create better representation of all neighborhoods on council. I also believe that Ukiah should develop instant runoff voting like Berkeley and San Francisco have so all elected city officials would enter office with at least 50% of the vote.

To level the playing field and improve citywide representation, many communities have postions on their council that divide the city into districts or wards. Each district then elects someone from their district as a representative to council. These district positions allow representation from neighborhoods throughout the community. This is very much needed in our community, and I am an advocate for this.

Also, most of the time our elected council members end up in their position with far less than 50% of the vote. The reason for this is at least two-fold. First, rather than independent positions, each election has a field of candidates vying for two positions. The top two vote getters win the positions even if it is with less than 25% of the vote.

Second, without Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in which voters can select their second, third, and other choices for the positions, it is very difficult in a crowded field of candidates for any one candidate to emerge with 50% of the vote. There are two alternatives to achieving this: (1) hold a runoff election which is expensive, or (2) use instant runoff voting to determine the outcome during the same election.

Earlier this year, Berkeley adopted IRV with passage of Measure I on March 2. San Francisco has also adopted IRV. We can do it here in Ukiah too.

I would like to thank the following folks who have recently contributed to and supported my campaign: Darca Nicholson, John Schaeffer and Nancy Hensley, Max Koeninger, Mary Misseldine, David Rounds, Grant Lawrence, Russ Buckbee, Debbie Halbert, Keith Johnson, Nancy Duley, Jack Carrier, Constance Dubick, Cliff Paulin, David Arkin and Anni Tilt, Jim Edwards, and Ray and Barbara McCoy.

You can contribute online with your credit card, or send a check made payable to Friends of Bob Gragson, P. O. Box 681, Ukiah, CA 95482 -- ID#1268608. The law requires that you supply an occupation and employer for contributions of $100 or more.

For a "Gragson for City Council" lawn sign, window sign, or bumper sticker, or to volunteer to distribute my campaign literature in your neighborhood or call your neighbors, please contact me at bob@gragson.com.