Elizabeth Patterson

Biography

Ms. Patterson was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. She moved to Northern California in 1968, lived on a ranch in San Luis Obispo and then in Ithaca, New York for five years before returning to the Bay Area. Elizabeth has lived in Benicia since 1983 where she raised two girls and one large dog.

Ms. Patterson became a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 1991 and has been a Planning Director for two Bay Area towns. Elizabeth has been involved in several regional and local issues using conflict resolution to reach a consensus for planning and managing urban and natural resource assets. She was Executive Director of the Partnership for Regional Livability, a project for the White House Task Force on Livable Communities during the Clinton/Gore administration.

Elizabeth was lead staff for the Delta Public Trust status and trends report and draft legislation for the creation of the Delta Protection Commission while she was at the California State Lands Commission. Ms. Patterson has worked before and within the State Senate as staff to Senator Thompson. She worked as a retired annuitant staff environmental scientist on the California Water Plan and previously for the Governor's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force, Flood Plain Management Task Force and the Stakeholder Coordination Group for the Department of Water Resources.

Ms. Patterson was elected to Benicia City Council in 2003 and elected mayor in 2007 serving three terms to her retirement in 2020.  She served on the Benicia Planning Commission (1998-2000) and was Chair of the General Plan Oversight Committee (GPOC) for three years from beginning to end (1995-1998). The General Plan was futuristic adopting as an overarching goal sustainable development with a watershed planning area.  Mayor Patterson served on city committees including People Using Resources Efficiently (PURE), Sunshine (open government), Sky Valley Open Space ,Solano Economic Development Corporation, and regional boards for Solano Transportation Authority, Solano County Water Agency, SolTrans (transit) ABAG, BCDC (alternate), and President of Northern Division of League of California Cities.

Ms. Patterson is vice chair of the Sacramento San Joaquin Rivers Delta National Heritage Area advisory committee.