Ask Your Councilman: Tom McInerney

After giving you a chance to ask new Fairfax and San Anselmo council members, and , questions, we're turning now to San Anselmo Mayor Tom McInerney. First, we're giving you a chance to get to know your mayor.

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.

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Why did you move to San Anselmo? 

It was actually sort of random that we moved here. Julie and I were living in the Marina in the city, and really loved it there. But then we had Molly, so like a lot of people we began thinking about the best place to live and raise kids. Julie's parents lived on the peninsula, and mine lived in the East Bay, and Marin seemed like a decent compromise---not too far or too close to grandparents! I had only driven through San Anselmo on the way out to Pt. Reyes, but our realtor found an affordable house that was within walking distance of downtown San Anselmo, so we settled on this town. We were also pretty taken by the beauty of the area, under the majestic Mt. Tam. At the time (early 1998), I thought we had totally overspent on our house, but it turns out we got in at the right time.

What's your favorite restaurant in the Ross Valley? 

Hmmm, this will likely upset some folks. We're regular eaters at and , and Mark and Heidi Krahling are good friends. We also eat regularly at in San Anselmo, and the Krietzmans are also good friends (we were fans of Jackson Fillmore when we lived in the city). We like eating at restaurants that we can walk to, which is why San Anselmo is such a great restaurant town. We have also eaten pretty regularly at , and like some of the changes to that menu, and we also eat at -- great shrimp tacos. I'm also a big fan of in Fairfax, especially the pre-meal wheel of parmesan and the post-meal gummy bears. I recently tried in Fairfax, which is great, and I really hope the new place coming into the Cheda Building in downtown San Anselmo has the same vibe.

What did you study in college and what do you do now? 

I was a double major in English and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. The best four-and-a-half years of my life! I had a dream of becoming a famous political consultant in Washington (think David Plouffe), but my dream came crashing down when Michael Dukakis came up short about 160 electoral votes of becoming president during the campaign I worked on, so I decided instead to go the safer route of law school, to Santa Clara University. I'm a labor and employment lawyer in San Francisco, generally representing employers in employment matters.

For Ski Week: what did your kids do? 

My kids didn't really have a ski "week." Molly had two days off from St. Ignatius, where she is a freshman, but most of the weekend she was at crew practice and hanging with friends. I took Joe (7th grader at ) and a friend skiing for a few days up to Heavenly.

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

That would have to be to help implement the . The program is off to a good start, with the recent award of a major grant to utilize Phoenix Lake as a detention basin, and ultimately in San Anselmo and Lefty Gomez field in Fairfax will also serve as detention basins during high rainfall periods, and we hopefully will replace many of our bridges in the Ross Valley that often act as dams. It will be a long process, but is incredibly important for the continued economic sustainability of our town. We really won't be able to sustain a vibrant business community or maintain our property values if we're flooding every four to five years.

Your turn: what do you want to ask McInerney?