Frances Prince
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Frances K Prince (1937–2017) was the first woman
mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of
Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...
and played a pivotal role in the city's development for three decades. Initially entering politics as a result of a dispute with a developer over her residential neighborhood, Prince returned to school and earned a law degree. She was concerned about over-development, conservation, and city planning, and formally entered politics in 1972, moving from the planning commission to the city council and finally mayor. She also served on state agencies, chairing the regional commission of the state parks authority. Upon leaving office, she worked at a large law firm which focused in the area of civil defense before scaling back her career to work as a director of a senior citizens' facility.


Early life

Frances Kay Roush was born on October 24, 1937 in San Pedro,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. She attended the
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...
, receiving a bachelor's of arts degree in history and political science. While at university, she met her husband Harvey Prince, with whom she had three children and in 1968 they moved to Thousand Oaks.


Career

Prince entered politics soon after the family's move, after noting the developmental company William Lyon Homes breaking a promise to use some of its land for a park, with it instead being used for the construction of high-density housing. She was one of the residents who founded the homeowner's association for the neighborhood and was elected as its president. The association was active, with Prince fighting developers who failed to live up to their plans or violated their permits. In 1972, she was appointed to serve on the planning commission evaluating development issues at the city-wide level, looking at such things as balancing code violations with safety issues and public desire. She was one of the commissioners who worked on the development of the Thousand Oaks General Plan to ensure that adequate
open space reserve An open space reserve (also called open space preserve, open space reservation, and green space) is an area of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside. The purpose of an open space reserve may include ...
s were maintained. Prince served on the planning commission until 1975 and was elected to the City Council in 1976. Her concerns were about controlling over development and limiting growth to maintain lower taxes and housing prices, as well as preserving the semi-rural environment of the area. In 1978, Prince founded and served as chair of Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency to protect area green spaces. She served two terms as mayor with her first term from 1978-1979 and her second from 1983-1984 the first woman elected to that office. She was active in plans to develop the city library, which opened in 1982 and to develop an arts center, and which was finally approved for development as the
Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is a performing arts center and city hall for the city of Thousand Oaks, California. Across Thousand Oaks Boulevard from Gardens of the World, the site is considered the downtown core of the city. City hall incl ...
in 1990. During her tenure on the council, Prince returned to school and graduated as
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...
of her class with Juris Doctor's degree from
University of La Verne College of Law The University of La Verne College of Law is the law school of the University of La Verne, a private university in Ontario, California. It was founded in 1970 and is approved by the State Bar of California, but is not accredited by the Americ ...
in 1980. She was also appointed to serve on the governor's state parks agency conservation commission. Serving on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the regional board of the state agency, she began as an advisor 1980, became a full member in 1982, and served as the chair on the Conservancy's board of directors until 1984. At the end of her final term as mayor, she chose not to run again, and went to work for a large Los Angeles law firm specializing in civil defense work. In 1991, Prince resigned from the firm and went to work for Senior Concerns, a facility which focused on the needs of older citizens and functioned as a day center for people who had
Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
. When the group was given a building to repurpose an apartment complex for their needs, she led the sometimes heated discussion with the City Council and was seen as a pivotal force in the final approval of the project in 1992. and


Death and legacy

She died on 6 February 2017 and is remembered for her skill as a public policy maker. ''
The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' noted in an article in 1997, that between 1969 and 1984, "probably no one had more impact than Prince on the public life of Thousand Oaks".


References


Further reading

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External links


Council Members Public Information Office
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Frances Women mayors of places in California Mayors of places in California 1937 births 2017 deaths University of La Verne alumni San Diego State University alumni 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians People from San Pedro, Los Angeles People from Thousand Oaks, California California city council members Women city councillors in California 21st-century American women