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Shirley Dean
Mayor of Berkeley
In office
December 1994 – November 2002
Preceded byLoni Hancock
Succeeded byTom Bates
Personal details
BornEaton, Colorado
Political partyDemocratic


Shirley Ann Dean (Bryant), considered moderate in Berkeley politics,[1] is an American politician who served as the Mayor of Berkeley, California from 1994 to 2002. Before serving two terms as Berkeley's Mayor, Dean served on the Berkeley City Council for 15 years between 1975 and 1994[2] and was a leader of the Berkeley Democratic Club.


Shirley Dean grew up in a single parent family, and graduated from Berkeley High School in 1952. She was selected as a Distinguished Graduate in the Berkeley High School Hall of Fame,[3] and was the first in her family to attend college. She graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a BA in Social Welfare in 1956.


During part of the time that she served as Mayor, she worked on a half-time appointment for UC Berkeley Undergraduate Admission and Relations with Schools and the Office of Admissions.[4] Her responsibilities included writing the plan and supervising field work for the recruitment of minority students to the UC Berkeley campus and visiting high schools throughout the State of California. She received two Distinguished Service Awards from UC Berkeley for her work before she retired in March, 2000.[5]


In July 2008, Dean announced that she intends to run for mayor again, in the November 2008 election.[6]


Mayor[edit]

Shirley Dean was first elected Mayor of Berkeley in 1994 after a close run-off race.[7]


She was re-elected by more than 56% of the vote in 1998.[8] Some may remember that the month before her 1998 victory her opponent, Don Jelinek, accused her of having disguised her identity while visiting Wilmington College, the college that rival Councilmember and Jelinek supporter Kriss Worthington attended.[9] Dean stated that she visited the school seeking to read about Worthington in the college’s newspaper, a public record. She also stated she never asked for non-public records and that upon the request of the college showed her California Driver’s License bearing her full name and address. There is no record of her ever having said a word about the material she read in the college's newspaper.


During most of her two-term tenure as Mayor, she worked with divided City Council that had a 5-4 progressive majority. The position of mayor in the city of Berkeley is largely a symbolic post, carrying no more power than other council members.[10] Dean compensated by working relentlessly on programs she thought were best for the city.[11] For much of her career, Dean's political base was the very active network of Berkeley neighborhood organizations, however many of her critics and rivals found her to be too conservative. Dean and other members of the City Council were openly mocked at a city-sponsored art festival where a satirical, mock City Council meeting was staged in which actors took over the Council Chambers and ridiculed Berkeley's elected officials.


After September 11, when the progressive City Council majority voted to condemn the war in Afghanistan, Dean went on Fox News and reported that the Council’s actions were prompting a flood of letters and e-mails threatening an economic boycott of the City .[12] On a television show regarding the issue, she called her Council colleagues who had voted for the measure “patriots” who had every right to protest.


Dean lost her bid for reelection in 2002 to fellow democrat Tom Bates. The day before the election Tom Bates stole 1,000 copies of The Daily Californian because the paper had endorsed Dean. Bates was charged with the theft, pled guilty, was fined, and ordered to pay the paper restitution.[13]


Dean's accomplishments as Mayor include:

  • Recognition for bringing the Arts and Theater District to life in Downtown Berkeley by establishing a public-private partnership with the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre and bringing in the JazzSchool, Aurora Theater, and Nevo Center for the Performing Arts in one of Berkeley’s oldest buildings[14]. The Arts and Theater District was showcased by the United States Conference of Mayors as an example of revitalization of a declining downtown area. It is estimated that over a 5 year period the city's original investment of $5.5 million on Arts District projects generated over $150 million in public and private spending in the downtown area.[15]
  • Putting together the funding to build the Berkeley I-80 bridge a bicycle and pedestrian overpass that spans the multi-lane I-80 Freeway providing safe passage from the city to the Eastshore State Park and the Berkeley Marina.[16]
  • Development of a plan for City-sponsored housing assistance for people with AIDS to remain in their own homes based on the input of a task force she formed that included members of the AIDS community. The unanimously approved plan served as the pre-cursor to the city obtaining federally sponsored supportive housing.[17]
  • Working to restore the landmark Marin Circle Fountain with private funds. The fountain is the largest public works gift ever given to the city of Berkeley.
  • Working in partnership with Country Joe McDonald to honor veterans by bringing the “Wall that Heals”, a Vietnam War memorial, to Berkeley in honor of those who served, died and protested that war.[18]
  • Establish programs expanding and renovating the city's library, constructing 800 new housing units including the Gaia Building downtown, and lowering crime.[19]
  • As Chair of the East Bay Public Safety Corridor, leading the East Bay regional effort to ban the sale of Saturday Night Specials, enact trigger lock ordinances, and impose special taxes on retailers who sell guns.[20] This work was recognized by the United States Department of Justice and Attorney General Janet Reno as exemplary. She also secured private contributions to purchase an outdoor sculpture, “The Berkeley Peace Bell”, made from melted guns.[21]

Early Political Carreer[edit]

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.[22] 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.[23]


Dean served on the Berkeley City Council for 15 years between 1975 and 1994.[24]


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.[25]


Recent Community Involvement[edit]

Since leaving the Mayor’s Office in 2002, Dean has been involved in several community and environmental organizations, serving on the boards of:

  • Save Strawberry Canyon, an organization working to preserve the watershed and woodlands of Strawberry Canyon from proposed massive construction by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[26]
  • A Better Way, an East Bay social service and mental health agency that serves children and their families.
  • Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP)[27], working to extend the waterfront park through Point Molate in Richmond, California.[28]


In 2003, Dean was named Woman of the year by the Zonta Club of Berkeley/North Bay.


Dean made headlines in 2007 when she, at age 71, city council member Betty Olds, 86, and noted environmentalist and co-founder of Save the Bay, Sylvia McLaughlin, 90, climbed a ladder to join in a tree-sitting protest aimed at saving the Memorial Oak Grove outside the stadium of the University of California, Berkeley. The grove would be mostly cut down under a building plan for a new athletic facility. [29] [30]


Offices Held[edit]

Political offices
Preceded by
 Berkeley City Council Member
1975–1982 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
 Berkeley City Council Member, District 5
1986–1994 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Mayor of Berkeley, California
1994–2002 		Succeeded by



External links[edit]


References[edit]

  1. ^ Shirley Dean to Seek Another Term as Mayor (sources Dean as moderate)
  2. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  3. ^ Berkeley Alumni Association - Alumni of All Berkeley Schools September 23, 2008
  4. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  5. ^ League of Women Voters Full Biography for Shirley Dean
  6. ^ Article in The Daily Californian
  7. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  8. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  9. ^ Berkeley Mayor Accused of Lying About Fact-Finding Expedition
  10. ^ Structure of Berkeley Government
  11. ^ Article in The Berkeley Daily Planet
  12. ^ Berkeley Draws Ire for Anti-War Stand
  13. ^ Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates to Plead Guilty to Theft
  14. ^ The New York Times ARTS IN AMERICA; Berkeley Now Nurtures Theater as Well as Protest
  15. ^ Mayors Gather in Indianapolis to Learn About Model Arts Programs
  16. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  17. ^ Homelessness Prevention - Continuum Of Care Plan - City of Berkeley, CA
  18. ^ War Memorial on its way to Berkeley
  19. ^ Bates Ousts Incumbent Dean in Berkeley Mayors Race
  20. ^ Gun Control - City of Oakland
  21. ^ City of Berkeley Guns to Art Project Peace Bell
  22. ^ Article in The Berkeley Daily Planet
  23. ^ Landmarks Preservation Ordinance 2006 Update
  24. ^ Profile of Shirley Dean at the Berkeleyan
  25. ^ Candidate - 2008 - Dean - City of Berkeley, CA September 23, 2008
  26. ^ Wild Neighbors: Strawberry Canyon and UC’s Edifice Complex
  27. ^ Citizens for East Shore Parks Board of Directors
  28. ^ CESP works with park agencies to forge an affordable Brickyard Plan
  29. ^ A Dose of Maturity for a California Protest
  30. ^ Dean, Olds, McLaughlin Join Campus Tree Protest
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