Emily Reilly was raised in a blue-collar, steelworker town about 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. There, she says she found a close-knit community always willing to help in times of need.

“I took that community support for granted,” she said. “ I was very fortunate to have that kind of childhood.”

She moved to Santa Cruz County in 1979 and found another community here she loves, opening her eponymous Mission Street bakery 25 years ago and serving on the Santa Cruz City Council since 2000.

Emily’s Bakery sits on the busy intersection of Laurel and Mission streets. Thousands of vehicles rush by every day, sharing the road with bicyclists and pedestrians from several surrounding schools including UC Santa Cruz.

When she learned that construction plans on the street didn’t include keeping crosswalks, Reilly became involved, helping to form the Mission Street Widening Task Force. It was the beginning of a career in politics that’s lasted until now. She has served on the Santa Cruz City Council, and as mayor.

“It’s our neighborhood,” she said. “There were many children who play there and Caltrans didn’t understand that. But they were persuadable.”

“The improvements really made a difference to the neighborhood,” she said. “It was very inspiring.”

Reilly moved to Santa Cruz County in 1979 with her two sons after a divorce. Living on a limited income, she baked cookies for her kids and brought the extras to sell at their school.

“That’s how it all began,” she said.

Reilly is now running for the Assembly seat in the 27th district, which will be vacated by John Laird after the June 3 primary.

“I believe the set of skills I’ve acquired over the years is exactly what we need in Sacramento right now,” she said in a Register-Pajaronian interview Tuesday.

If she makes it to the Legislature, Reilly has said she will take key issues to Sacramento, including health care, global warming, coastal protection, affordable housing and transportation, among other things.

“You can build dense housing to the point where nobody’s quality of life is acceptable,” she said. “We need to put the density along transit corridors.”

She has said she will continue to support Laird’s AB 1 bill, which would provide health care to California’s children.

“A community is only as healthy as its sickest member,” she said. “I’m dedicated to fairness and speaking for the underrepresented.”

Reilly has picked up endorsements from nearly 200 community members, politicians and business leaders.

At times, her progressive stance on certain issues — marriage equality and promoting medical marijuana among other things — have lost her support.

As mayor, Reilly spearheaded the drive to create a mandatory green building program for all new construction, making Santa Cruz one of the first cities in the state to create such an ordinance. She also led efforts to bring the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center to Santa Cruz.

In addition, Reilly helped pass the city’s green building ordinance, which passed in 2006. Part of the effort included speeding up the permitting process for building projects.

“And we haven’t had a single complaint,” she said.

Reilly acknowledges that issues affecting south county — specifically water use and the battle over keeping agricultural land versus building low-cost housing — have no simple solutions.

“It’s really important to protect our ag land,” she said. “Just look at all the work the Santa Cruz County Land Trust is doing. It’s easy to talk about things in black and white, but that’s not how you are successful. People should be able to make compromises without compromising their principles.”

Reilly has also served on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and the Metro Board, where she worked closely with bicycle and pedestrian issues.

She’s also a proponent of transportation projects that would give commuters the option of not using their vehicles, thus relieving congestion on the roadways. But these projects will take time and effort, she said.

“Because I only get to be in office for a short time, it’s important to see how the consequences of my actions affect the long-term health of the district,” she said. “It’s important to understand that we’ve gotten ourselves into this position over a long period of time, and it will take a long time to get out of it.”

“It’s not my job to preach government to the people,” she said. “It’s my job to listen to them and take their voice to Sacramento.”

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*Courtesy photo*

(Published in 5/7/08 edition)

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