NOT FOUND: mcclellan rab.jpgThe McClellan Restoration Advisory Board added two new members in December 2009: Carolyn Gardner, representing McClellan Park residents, and Tina Suarez-Murias, representing the environmental community.
Carolyn Gardner, McClellan residents

Carolyn Gardner grew up in North Highlands in the 1950s and 60s and graduated from Highlands High School. After travelling the world and living and working as an singer/entrepreneur (she is one of the founders of the Famous Amos Cookie Company) in southern California for years, she returned back to her roots some six years ago to help care for her mother. When looking for a place to live in the area, she fell in love with the renovated officers’ housing at McClellan and has been living on the former base ever since.

“I’ve watched the progress here in the last 6 years and it’s just phenomenal,“ Gardner said. “All of a sudden it has just exploded. There’s something very vibrant about the park now.”

Gardner has noticed much more activity on the former base in the past several years. In her daily walks with her dog she notices more and more people. Lately complete strangers wave to her and some have even commented that they have seen her from their offices.

“It’s exciting. I really call it home now and I want to contribute,” she said. “I want to be a part of that progress.”

She picked the RAB to get involved in because she wants to understand what is going on at McClellan -- how the cleanup and redevelopment are working together; and she wants to spread the word.

In fact, even before becoming a RAB member, Gardner was regularly attending meetings, suggesting to Air Force representatives new ways of reaching the community, and even spreading the word on her own to friends and neighbors.

A creative, “out-of-the-box” thinker, Carolyn is emphatic that she is not a “rocket scientist.” As such, being a part of a technical program is a new opportunity for her and she is looking forward to contributing her creativity to the RAB.

“I love it. It’s just fascinating,” she said of her first meeting in December as an official RAB member.
Tina Suarez-Murias, environmental community

A Maryland native, Tina Suarez-Murias moved to Antelope in 1997 and has watched with interest the closure and redevelopment of McClellan as she drives past the base on her way to work in Sacramento.

“When I moved out here, one of my friends back east had a son serving in the Air Force at McClellan, so I felt a connection to the base as soon as I came here,” Suarez-Murias noted.

A board member of the Environmental Council of Sacramento and Save Our Sand Hill Cranes, Suarez-Murias represents the environmental community as she follows the cleanup progress at McClellan.

“I’m keenly aware of the importance of integrating the area into the surrounding community and habitats,” she said.

McClellan’s location is ideal for redevelopment, which Suarez-Murias feels is far preferable to converting farmland, open space, and natural areas for growth and development within the county. She sees the former base as providing tremendous opportunity for business and job development while maintaining wildlife habitat. That mix is unusual for an industrial complex.

“I am especially interested in maintaining the natural areas on the base and linking them to adjacent corridors for preserving wildlife habitat,” Suarez-Murias explained.

Suarez-Murias said the environmental groups she represents expect her to report back on the cleanup at McClellan. In addition, she said those groups are looking for models of land development and land reuse.

“It’s nice to have good models of redevelopment and infill to work from,” she said, “I think we can come up with some good examples at McClellan.”

In addition, Suarez-Murias looks forward to sharing the McClellan cleanup and redevelopment story with her neighbors in Antelope as well. She sees it as an opportunity to integrate history, science and technology, and habitat protection into everyday conversations with her neighbors, many of whom are not California natives and are not familiar with McClellan’s role in our nation’s history.