Ryan Coonerty

Ryan Coonerty (born March 10, 1974) is an American businessman, academic, author, politician, who serves as mayor of Santa Cruz, California in 2008 and 2011.

In addition to serving on city council, he co-founded NextSpace Coworking in Santa Cruz in 2008. Coonerty is also a lecturer in the Legal Studies department at the University of California, Santa Cruz and in the Political Science department at Cabrillo College. Coonerty is the author of Etched in Stone: Enduring Words From Our Nation's Monuments from National Geographic.

In 2010 and 2011, he is the Second Harvest Food Bank’s Holiday Food Drive co-chair. In 2010, the drive set a record by raising 2.2 million pounds a food.

Background

Ryan Coonerty graduated from Santa Cruz's public school system and attended the University of Oregon, where he graduated from the Honor's College. He received a master's degree from the London School of Economics and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to attending law school, he managed a school bond campaign for Santa Cruz City Schools that raised $86 million to repair and remodel school facilities and served as an outreach coordinator for Assemblyman Fred Keeley. Following law school, he served as legislative counsel for the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age in Washington, DC. In 2000 he was on the professional staff for the National Commission on Federal Election Reform. Coonerty has been involved in community activities including serving on the board of the Santa Cruz Community Credit Union, Dientes Community Dental Care, Santa Cruz Education Foundation, and the Locally Owned Business Alliance.

Teaching

Coonerty began his teaching career at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2003, as a lecturer in the Legal Studies department. Coonerty teaches several courses including Civil Liberties in the Age of Terrorism; Jews, Anti-Semitism and the American Legal System; Law and Democracy; and Constitutional Law. In 2006, he began teaching courses at Cabrillo College, also located in Santa Cruz County. Coonerty taught International Relations and American Government in the Political Science department at Cabrillo. Students gave Coonerty generally positive ratings on a website based on a set of qualifications such as helpfulness and clarity of instruction.

Politics

In 2004 and 2008, Coonerty was elected to four-year terms on the Santa Cruz City Council, finishing first in a field of 10 candidates in 2008. He served as mayor from November 2007 through 2008. In 2007, he considered running for the California State Assembly for the seat of John Laird who was forced out by term limits. He opted out of the state race in April 2007.

As mayor in 2008, he served as the lead city negotiator in an agreement with the University of California Santa Cruz related to their Long Range Development Plan. The agreement ended half a dozen lawsuits. The agreement was adopted unanimously by the City Council, County Board of Supervisor and the citizen group. For this effort, he was profiled as a Santa Cruz Sentinel Newsmaker of the Year in 2008. He also coauthored the Clean Oceans, Rivers and Beaches initiative which passed as an initiative in the November 2008 election. In 2008, he was selected to be a Rodel Fellow in Public Leadership at the Aspen Institute. He also served as mayor in 2011.

In 2011, he served again as Mayor of Santa Cruz. During his term, he has worked to balance the city budget, launch the Mayor’s Academy and appoint a Technology Task Force to improve the use of technology by the city. As a result of this effort, Code for America Code for America selected Santa Cruz as one of its six partner cities for 2012.

In his terms on the Santa Cruz City Council, Coonerty expressed his intention to bring together labor union members, social service providers, environmentalists, and local businesspeople to promote innovative strategies to improve the quality of life in Santa Cruz. Some of his efforts have received national attention, including the creation of an Ayuda Linea (Help Line) for day laborers to report incidents of abuse. Coonerty led an effort to invest part of the City’s reserve funds in local financial institutions to stimulate the local economy — an effort praised by the National Center for Local Sustainability and now used as a model practice. Coonerty also founded Santa Cruz NEXT, a non-partisan organization dedicated to engaging the next generation of Santa Cruzians in the civic life of the community. He continues to serve on the board.

When gay marriage was legalized in California, Coonerty officiated several same sex marriages. He also voted to have the city join the lawsuits challenging Proposition 8 and supporting San Francisco's challenging the constitutional ban on same sex marriage.

Responding to complaints of illegal behavior in downtown Santa Cruz, Coonerty (with fellow council members Cynthia Mathews and Lynn Robinson) advocated for more police patrols with cooperation with merchants. He also worked with local artists to streamline the city’s permitting process so that musicians could play in restaurants and cafes without having to seek a permit from the Police Department.

In 2011, Coonerty led the council in supporting a 125-room condominium and hotel project even though it was 14-feet taller than zoning limits permitted. The California Coastal Commission voted against the project in August 2011.

NextSpace

In 2008, Coonerty co-founded and is the chief strategist of NextSpace Coworking + Innovation, a shared workspace with locations in Santa Cruz, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Francisco. Coonerty and NextSpace have been profiled by Fast Company [[File:[1]]] as an example of a new approach to job creation and economic development. Coonerty and his business partner are frequently asked to write and speak about coworking and the future of work. Coonerty has spoken at Renaissance Weekend, the Local Government Commission Local Government Commission, CoreNet Global, and at the Founders’ Institute. In 2011, NextSpace announced that it had raised $700,000 in an equity round for expansion.

Etched in stone

Coonerty is the author of a book from National Geographic, entitled Etched in Stone – Enduring Words From Our Nation’s Monuments. The book chronicles America's aspirations by surveying the words engraved on 50 public spaces across the United States. The book features a foreword by historian Douglas Brinkley and photos from photographer Carol M. Highsmith. Upon its release, Etched in Stone was profiled in the Wall Street Journal and Coonerty was interviewed on National Public Radio.

Criticism

When asked in April 2005 if he thought he was more conservative than some of the older council members, Coonerty responded, "I think I have a fundamentally different outlook on the role of government, on important battles that need to be fought. A lot of people came of age in a time of direct conflict and the issues they were fighting were huge. Protecting the North Coast. Lighthouse Field. I believe we're in a different era. It's time to make the table a little bigger, to maybe not have big fights but instead look at a number of targeted policies. I don't see symbolic battles happening. I see it more about making sure the city operates within a set of core values in a way that brings more people into the process."

Some business owners felt the increased law enforcement Coonerty supported in downtown Santa Cruz improved the area, while others called it a "crackdown" and said "[security] didn't need to be so heavy-handed".

In 2006 Coonerty co-sponsored a law prohibiting loitering in Santa Cruz city-owned parking garages. The local newspaper Santa Cruz Sentinel quoted him as saying "Parking lots are meant for nothing more than parking cars and bikes".

In November 2007, Coonerty co-sponsored a law extending the loitering ban to all parking lots. The law came principally at the request of city staff, their union representatives, city Redevelopment Agency, and Santa Cruz Police Department.

In early 2006, Coonerty voiced support for Santa Cruz police after it was reported that undercover officers had infiltrated community meetings to organize a New Year's parade without obtaining a permit. Coonerty supported an internal investigation, which cleared the police of any wrongdoing. Coonerty stated, "The most important thing is to move forward and to design a policy that allows the police to do their job and at the same time protect civil liberties."

After the Sentinel noticed his supporters wrote an "admittedly glowing Wikipedia profile that they hoped might hook Web-savvy young voters.", he was quoted as saying "Given it all, I would rather just not have a Wikipedia page". Like many other politicians, including Hillary Clinton, Coonerty has struggled to stop the spread of misinformation as anyone can edit a page on wikipedia.

External links

• "Ryan Coonerty for City Council". Political web site. http://www.ryancoonerty.org. Retrieved September 25, 2011.