The County of San Mateo has embarked on an ambitious project to reconstruct Middlefield Road in North Fair Oaks, an unincorporated community between Redwood City, Menlo Park and Atherton.

The San Mateo County Arts Commission, which views the arts as an essential part of a healthy and vibrant community, champions policies and practices that promote social and cultural equity. We strive to promote inclusive and diverse programming and to ensure equitable access to arts and culture for all, with consideration for race, ability, sexual orientation, age, gender, economic status, and cultural background. We also commit to partnering with artists and arts organizations that represent and celebrate the diversity of our county, through the fair and equitable distribution of programmatic and financial support. Through these actions, arts are a vehicle for social change.

Note: This is an archived version of an article that first appeared in 2016.

 This article was first published in July 2016. More than a century ago Rue Clifford rode a horse through the streets of South San Francisco to gather signatures to support building a library. Her work paid off: industrialist turned philanthropist Andrew Carnegie gave the young city $10,000 to build its first free public library on Grand Avenue.

I joined the Veterans Commission to deliver gifts to Haven Family House. But, that is not all I am doing to help homeless families.  

First she lost her balance.

Due to state stormwater pollution prevention requirements and recent instances of tree damage and unauthorized tree removal, we have instituted an Erosion Control and/or Tree Protection Pre-Site Inspection Requirement for construction or demolition on specific site types.

There is no place like home.  And even when the place your family calls home is substandard, when you are about to be displaced because where you live is being sold, it is unsettling. Redwood Trailer Village was such a place.