Pat Figueroa: longtime council member seeks another shot Pat Figueroa: longtime council member seeks another shot (October 18, 2002)

By Bill D'Agostino

As a council member, Pat Figueroa ushered in a new city hall, the new library, a light rail stop in downtown and the Shoreline regional park. "I've really seen this city evolve and it's been a great evolution," she said.

Figueroa has spent approximately 18 years on the council in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Term limits prevented her from running for three consecutive terms during those times. She hasn't been on the council for four years but now she's hoping to get back.

Figueroa said that no single issue made her decide to run this time around. "I've really just decided to refocus my energy back to doing council activity. I've really enjoyed it and I felt that I was effective," she said.

When asked what qualifies her to be on council, she said the fact that she has done it before. "I am aware of the time and effort it takes. I think I did a reasonable job when I was on the council."

Prior to becoming a council member, Figueroa, 59, worked as a trained mediator. She felt that gave her a good background for work on the council and being able to come to consensus. "In the end as a council member, you can't do anything by yourself, unless you can convince three other people."

Figueroa, an extremely active community volunteer, grew up in Southern California. After moving to Arizona, she decided to come to the Bay Area "like everybody else, because of high tech." She received a B.A. in mathematics from San Jose State University.

Her husband works as an electrical engineer for Hewlett Packard.

To ease traffic congestion and to help the housing crisis, Figueroa emphasized a council member's role in getting involved with larger federal and state agencies. "There's a lot of things we can do as a city but there's a lot of things we have absolutely no control over: it is the state and it is the federal government," Figueroa said. "The only thing we can do is become a part of the process in the beginning. If you are not a part of the process in the beginning it is so difficult to make the changes as you go along."

"We think of ourselves as a small city," she added. "But when we get ourselves out beyond Santa Clara County and beyond the San Francisco Bay Area, we're not necessarily that small."
Favorite book(s): Science fiction books. "What I like about science fiction is that it is not reality. You can just lose yourself."