HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 9615
City of Palo Alto (ID # 9615)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Special Orders of the Day Meeting Date: 9/17/2018
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: Proclamation Honoring Mary Gordon
Title: Proclamation Honoring Mary Gordon
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Clerk
Attachments:
• Attachment A: Proclamation Honoring Mary Gordon
Proclamation
Honoring Mary Gordon
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon is a highly acclaimed and accomplished landscape architect and garden designer
living and working in Palo Alto for the past 67 years; and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon chaired the Palo Alto Planning Commission from 1974-1980 and was a member
for 15 years (1965-1980), co-chaired the first Area Beautification Committee (ABC) of the Palo Alto Chamber
of Commerce in the 1950s, co-founded the Women’s Workshop for Paths and Trails Committee in the 1960s, and
spearheaded Palo Alto’s first Comprehensive Plan (1980); and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon was instrumental in Baylands protection and master plan development, and the
open space protection in the Foothills; and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon designed over a thousand gardens and estates, residential and commercial, in
Palo Alto and the greater Bay Area during a 67 year career of private practice; and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon worked tirelessly to develop and support a regional paths and trail network
around the bay; and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon guided and developed landscape plans and details to increase the tree canopy
and help beautify the PAUSD over the past 12 years; and
WHEREAS, Mary D. Gordon has been the recipient of the 2012 Canopy Tree Award as well as numerous
garden design awards and honors, and her designs have appeared in books and on the covers of Sunset Magazine
and Better Homes and Gardens.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Liz Kniss, Mayor of the City of Palo Alto, on behalf of the City Council do hereby
recognize Mary Gordon for her expertise, artistic landscape works, and her service to the City of Palo Alto and
the surrounding region which has left enduring impressions on our lives and enriched our public and private
spaces for decades to come.
Presented: September 17, 2018
______________________________
Liz Kniss
Mayor