HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 7861
City of Palo Alto (ID # 7861)
City Council Staff Report
Report Type: Special Orders of the Day Meeting Date: 3/20/2017
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Summary Title: Proclamation Honoring Loretta Green
Title: Proclamation of the Council of the City of Palo Alto Honoring Loretta
Green
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Clerk
Attachments:
Attachment A: Proclamation Honoring Loretta Green
Proclamation
Honoring Loretta Green
WHEREAS, the City of Palo Alto is proud to honor beloved community journalist Loretta Martin Green for
her significant contributions to building a community of empathy, respect, awareness, compassion and
interwoven destinies; and
WHEREAS, Loretta Green was recognized as Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly by
Assemblyman Joe Simitian for being the voice of our community through her work on 11 years’ worth of
columns in the San Jose Mercury News. “Her columns reflected the pulse and sentiment of the public. Loretta’s
gracious and elegant writing style will be greatly missed,” Assemblyman Simitian said in his proclamation upon
her retirement; and
WHEREAS, Loretta Green was also a reporter for 21 years with the Palo Alto Times and Palo Alto Times
Tribune, and has been recognized as an outstanding professional journalist by the Associated Press, the
Peninsula Press Club, and Association of Newspaper Editors; and
WHEREAS, Loretta Green is a 46-year local resident who has been active in our community for decades;
she has been a member of Links Inc., a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley,
served on the Board of Directors of the Museum of American Heritage and Stanford University Hospital, and is
a longtime member of University AME Zion Church in Palo Alto; and
WHEREAS, Loretta Green is the recipient of numerous awards including the Palo Alto Chamber of
Commerce’s Tall Trees Award in 1991 as Outstanding Professional, the Athena Award in 1988, the Mid-
Peninsula YWCA’s Black Woman Award, the East Palo Alto Teen Home’s Positive Image Award, and the
Career Action Center’s Woman of Vision Award; and
WHEREAS, Loretta Green, in honoring you, we are honoring our community, because, as you wrote in
your last column, “I want to thank you for showing me courage in the face of devastating fire, catastrophic
illness, inhumane cruelty, the guns of war, wrenching loss and overwhelming moral conflict. Thank you for
telling me the truth and trusting me with it. Thank you for believing that when you told me who you were, that
is exactly who you would see in my story.” You wrote, “I have been fortunate enough to gain your trust and
respect. You have taken me into your lives and shared your passions, your pain, your triumphs, your aspirations.
We have smiled together and wept together. We have agreed and disagreed. All of it has been a blessing.”
NOW, THEREFORE, I, H. Gregory Scharff, Mayor of the City of Palo Alto, on behalf of the City
Council, do hereby proclaim Loretta Martin Green as a community hero and extend appreciation for her years
of significant contributions, service and leadership.
Presented: March 20, 2017
______________________________
H. Gregory Scharff
Mayor