Ask Your Councilman: Ryan O'Neil

agreed to be our first guinea pig for a new column. We're introducing you to your new councilman with some short and fun questions.

Then, it's your turn to ask him the questions YOU want answered in the comments section below. He's said he'll respond to those he can in the comments.

Please keep your questions relevant and courteous -- and, of course, they must comply with our regular standards of commenting.

---

Why did you move to Fairfax?

The choice to start a family in Fairfax was an easy one. My wife Christine and I both grew up here in Marin. Myself in Corte Madera at the top of Ring Mountain, and my wife grew up in San Anselmo along the creek. We both found ourselves very connected to nature and the environment. I love exploring wild areas, and Fairfax was the perfect place to do this. We liked this aspect of hiking, but also we wanted to be able to walk to the downtown and get breakfast and a coffee.  Fairfax was (kid, family, dog and environmentally) friendly. 

What's your favorite spot in Fairfax (indoor or outdoor)?

My favorite spots in Fairfax are outside along the mountain water intermittent streams. When the rains come, you can find really awesome waterfalls on some steep slopes. They are usually surrounded with ferns and moss and tucked in to places most people don’t see unless you search them out. I also like the little league field. The best view of the games in my opinion are from the centerfield hill below the Pavillion where you can watch the kids and enjoy the purity of the game. As a former high school baseball coach, I like to give youth hitting instruction. The look on a small kids face when he ropes the ball off a gate is priceless. Power comes from “leverage and technique.”  

What did you study in college? What do you do for work now?

I graduated with a degree in Speech Communication, but really studied life in college. To me, college was all about learning how to depend on yourself, developing relationships with others and problem solving. (Kind of like real world stuff.) For work now I own a custom athletic bag manufacturing and embroidery business in San Rafael with my dad and brother. We make custom athletic bags for over half of the NFL, professional, college, high school, youth and business programs. Our product is 100 percent made in USA. (Something we all should consider when purchasing any products.)

This past weekend: what did you do?

Took the dogs on hikes so long they slept it off for a few days, took the kids to ride their new Razor Scooters, cleaned up the chaos caused by the holiday and called my best friend from college to set up a backpacking trip to Kodiak Island Alaska in 2013.  =)

What's the number one biggest thing you want to accomplish on the town council?

What I’d like to accomplish on the Town Council is to increase community involvement. We have a HUGE talent pool here in Fairfax. If we could learn what our citizens specialize in, encourage them to participate and loan their expertise to help our community thrive, we could make our town even more vibrant and self-sustaining. 

There is no wonder why the indigenous people chose to live here in Marin centuries ago. It offers you everything you need to sustain yourself, provided you take care of the natural environment to which we belong.

OK, your turn. What do you want to ask O'Neil?