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About Len Colamarino
Len moved to Atascadero in January 2005. By January 2008 he had become active in civic affairs due to his concern about the way Atascadero was being managed and the blight and stagnation in the downtown. He launched this website, http://upgradeatascadero.org/, and later in 2008 ran for City Council. After the election ended unsuccessfully, Len was appointed to the Atascadero Planning Commission, where he has served continuously now for almost six years.
While on the Planning Commission, Len cast one particular vote that now is resonating throughout the Atascadero community. In June 2012, when the extremely popular Walmart/Annex project came before the Planning Commission for approval of the project's Environmental Impact Report, Len looked at the financial terms of the project and recognized the risks that those terms presented for the city. Though it was unpopular to question the project's terms, and though the chairman of the Planning Commission attempted to silence him, Len persisted in questioning the financial risks during the public hearing. And when satisfactory answers to his questions were not provided, he voted against recommending the project's approval to the City Council on the existing terms. He was the only member of the Planning Commission or City Council even questioned the financial risks for the city, and was the only dissenting vote in what was little more than a rubber-stamp approval of a politically popular project. Len's stand on this matter subjected him to considerable political criticism at the time but, as it has turned out, his position was the correct one. It has recently been revealed out that the roadwork needed to prepare the Del Rio freeway interchange for the influx of traffic that this large project will bring will cost around $12 million. That is a whopping $7.5 million more than the very preliminary estimate of $4.5 million which the City Council was content to rely on when it rushed to approve the project. In addition, just about all of that additional $7.5 million will land on Atascadero taxpayers, because the contract accepted by the City Council capped the two developers' exposure for increased costs at $200,000 apiece. As the San Luis Obispo Tribune said in endorsing Len's candidacy on October 5, "[I]f only others had listened," when he stood up for what was right instead of just doing what was popular at the moment.
Len is a member of the Board of Directors of the Atascadero Historical Society, and served a term as a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of San Luis Obispo County. In addition, he was one of the volunteers who co-authored the Atascadero Bicycle Transportation Plan for 2010 to 2025, which was adopted by the Atascadero City Council in 2010. He also helped organize the bicycling part of Atascadero’s 4th of July celebrations in 2012 and 2013.
Len's professional background is as a business attorney. Before coming to Atascadero, he practiced law in New York City for almost thirty years, initially at a large Wall Street law firm and eventually at a boutique corporate firm that he co-founded in midtown Manhattan. His practice embraced, among other things, dispute resolution, corporate governance, finance, and drafting and negotiating of contracts for many kinds of transactions.
Len has served on the Board of Directors of numerous corporations. He continues to serve as a director, as well as a member of management and legal officer, for several corporations in which he is a principal, none of which are located in San Luis Obispo County.
Len earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1976 at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a staff editor of the Law Review. Before attending law school, he majored in economics, and minored in political science and history, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973, summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon (an honorary economics fraternity).
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1951, Len is married to Robin Noble, a licensed marriage and family therapist who, among other things, volunteers as a counselor at Atascadero High School.
Len moved to Atascadero in January 2005. By January 2008 he had become active in civic affairs due to his concern about the way Atascadero was being managed and the blight and stagnation in the downtown. He launched this website, http://upgradeatascadero.org/, and later in 2008 ran for City Council. After the election ended unsuccessfully, Len was appointed to the Atascadero Planning Commission, where he has served continuously now for almost six years.
While on the Planning Commission, Len cast one particular vote that now is resonating throughout the Atascadero community. In June 2012, when the extremely popular Walmart/Annex project came before the Planning Commission for approval of the project's Environmental Impact Report, Len looked at the financial terms of the project and recognized the risks that those terms presented for the city. Though it was unpopular to question the project's terms, and though the chairman of the Planning Commission attempted to silence him, Len persisted in questioning the financial risks during the public hearing. And when satisfactory answers to his questions were not provided, he voted against recommending the project's approval to the City Council on the existing terms. He was the only member of the Planning Commission or City Council even questioned the financial risks for the city, and was the only dissenting vote in what was little more than a rubber-stamp approval of a politically popular project. Len's stand on this matter subjected him to considerable political criticism at the time but, as it has turned out, his position was the correct one. It has recently been revealed out that the roadwork needed to prepare the Del Rio freeway interchange for the influx of traffic that this large project will bring will cost around $12 million. That is a whopping $7.5 million more than the very preliminary estimate of $4.5 million which the City Council was content to rely on when it rushed to approve the project. In addition, just about all of that additional $7.5 million will land on Atascadero taxpayers, because the contract accepted by the City Council capped the two developers' exposure for increased costs at $200,000 apiece. As the San Luis Obispo Tribune said in endorsing Len's candidacy on October 5, "[I]f only others had listened," when he stood up for what was right instead of just doing what was popular at the moment.
Len is a member of the Board of Directors of the Atascadero Historical Society, and served a term as a member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of San Luis Obispo County. In addition, he was one of the volunteers who co-authored the Atascadero Bicycle Transportation Plan for 2010 to 2025, which was adopted by the Atascadero City Council in 2010. He also helped organize the bicycling part of Atascadero’s 4th of July celebrations in 2012 and 2013.
Len's professional background is as a business attorney. Before coming to Atascadero, he practiced law in New York City for almost thirty years, initially at a large Wall Street law firm and eventually at a boutique corporate firm that he co-founded in midtown Manhattan. His practice embraced, among other things, dispute resolution, corporate governance, finance, and drafting and negotiating of contracts for many kinds of transactions.
Len has served on the Board of Directors of numerous corporations. He continues to serve as a director, as well as a member of management and legal officer, for several corporations in which he is a principal, none of which are located in San Luis Obispo County.
Len earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1976 at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a staff editor of the Law Review. Before attending law school, he majored in economics, and minored in political science and history, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973, summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Epsilon (an honorary economics fraternity).
Born in Rochester, New York, in 1951, Len is married to Robin Noble, a licensed marriage and family therapist who, among other things, volunteers as a counselor at Atascadero High School.