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May 9, 2008
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Terry (bottom right) with (left to right) husband Jim and their children: Katie (27), Greg (22) and Matt (25).
She is best known for organizing hundreds of residents in 2002 to protest the city’s frequent power outages. After citizens suffered repeated and prolonged power failures, she formed a citizens’ action group called Burlingamers Unwilling to Live with Blackouts (BULB) and set up two Town Hall Meetings that allowed hundreds of residents to register their complaints with both PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates PG&E. BULB persuaded PG&E to spend more than $2.4 million on improvements to circuits in Burlingame. Power outages on Burlingame’s five most problematic circuits decreased 85 percent from 2002 to 2003. BULB is continuing to monitor power reliability.
Terry organized Poppy Drive residents in 1996 to battle three “McMansions” that threatened her neighborhood. She convinced the City Council to make the developer downsize and redesign the houses. Her efforts led to the city’s adoption of design review guidelines that have been the model for other cities.
In 2006 Terry was one of 20 elected leaders chosen for the League of California Cities’ California Civic Leadership Institute, a highly selective program that educates future leaders on issues facing the state. She is a 2003 graduate of Coro Center for Civic Leadership’s Community Fellows leadership program, which examines political, social and economic issues pertaining to the Bay Area and teaches techniques for community collaboration.
She started her career as a travel writer and editor and went on to become a staff writer and editor for the original San Mateo Times, where she who learned how local government works by covering hundreds of city council, school board and county meetings. She later worked as an editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, as Assistant Managing Editor of Forbes ASAP magazine, and as Managing Editor of GreatSchools.net, a nonprofit Web site offering free education information for parents. She also founded and managed two online travel forums for Expedia.com devoted to family travel and adventure travel. She experienced the challenges of running a small business while operating an out-of-print book search business in Burlingame for 18 years. From 2003 to 2008, she was Communications Officer for the Skoll Foundation.
She is currently employed as Managing Editor of the Encore.org Web site for Civic Ventures, a nonprofit organization that is redefining the second half of life as a source of social and individual renewal. Encore.org brings together older adults who are creating a new "Encore" stage of life that brings meaning and fulfillment.
Terry is married to Jim Nagel. They moved to Burlingame shortly after they were married. They have three children, Katie, 27, Matt, 25, and Greg, 22, who all attended Burlingame public schools and graduated from Burlingame High School.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, cum laude, from the University of Washington in Seattle.
