Biography
Professional
As a Senior Redevelopment Planner with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, Marti understands municipal government and she knows how to get things done. In addition to working closely with the Councilmember’s office in Sacramento to implement policy, she is experienced in redevelopment, city planning, economic development, and affordable housing. She manages a $26 million budget and regularly coordinates improvement projects with the City and County’s Planning, Transportation, and Economic Development Departments, as well as works with the City’s Code Enforcement and Neighborhood Services Departments.
Serving as the Chair of the Vallejo Design Review Board until 2009, Marti was a leader in overseeing the implementation of the Downtown and Waterfront Design Guidelines for projects and buildings constructed in the merged Waterfront/Downtown Redevelopment Area. Most recently, the Board approved the Vallejo Station Parking Garage and Bus Transfer Facility projects. In 2009, Marti was also a Member of the Housing Element Advisory Committee working to help shape the City’s affordable housing policy for the next five-years.
A champion of sustainable urban planning and open space preservation, Marti was the Co-Chair of the Vallejo Waterfront Coalition (VWC), a former member of the Mare Island Restoration Advisory Board, a member of the Solano Orderly Growth Committee, and a former member of the Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Solano County General Plan Update.
As Co-Chair of the VWC, Marti led negotiations and a 10-month long settlement agreement between Callahan-DeSilva, the Waterfront Master Plan Developer, and the Vallejo Redevelopment Agency guaranteeing an additional four-acres of public open space for Vallejo residents on the Waterfront, increasing view corridors and animal habitat, and improving the Project’s overall design and land use types. The VWC won the Clearwater Award for Excellence on the Waterfront in 2005 for its proposed Vallejo Waterfront Community Plan and its tremendous effort to improve community involvement and participation in the development of Vallejo’s Waterfront.
On the Mare Island Restoration Advisory Board, Marti assisted in the oversight of the Island’s environmental remediation and preparation for future development. As a CAC Member working on the County’s General Plan Update, Marti helped form the vision for sustainable development and growth in the County, as well as preservation of agricultural land and open space. In 2008 and as a Solano Orderly Growth Committee Member, Marti worked on the passage of Measure T—to extend the Orderly Growth Initiative and ensure preservation of farmland and natural areas in Solano County for the next 28 years!
Prior to her career change to urban planning and redevelopment, Marti was a Sales Collateral Manager and Cartographer at the former Pacific Bell Directory and current AT&T for four years. Earlier in her career, she held a variety of other positions including Admissions Recruiter at a small Liberal Arts College, Director's Assistant on a study abroad program in Nepal, and a Research Associate on a Nine-county Bay Area Recycling Project.
Personal
Marti is the youngest of five children and she was the first to receive a college education. Raised the first half of her childhood in Western Massachusetts and the second half in the Bay Area, Marti graduated in 1984 from Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek, California. From the time she was 12 until she was 19, she worked in her Mother’s bakery in the East Bay, and spent summers back east, in Massachusetts, assisting her Father at New England arts and craft shows selling his hand-crafted wood furniture.
She completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Environmental Studies from the now obsolete World College West (Petaluma, California) in 1988. After a five year hiatus, Marti returned to graduate school at San Francisco State University completing her Master of Arts Degree in Geography with a concentration in Resource Management and Environmental Planning in 1998. She also completed her Masters of Business Administration at Hope International University in 2000.
Marti loves to travel to far flung places. She has lived in Colombia, Nepal and England and traveled in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Marti has lived in Vallejo since June 2003.