Don Lane, Neighbor

A fourth generation Californian, Don Lane arrived in Santa Cruz in 1973 at the age of 17 to study politics and history at UCSC. After graduating with honors, he staffed the local election campaign of then Congressmember Leon Panetta.

Searching for a way to remain in Santa Cruz with long-term employment, he started the Saturn Café and built the restaurant into a local institution. Once the Saturn Café was on steady footing, Don returned to community involvement, serving on the City Water Commission and the City Public Works Commission. He was also active in the local Democratic Party, serving as chair of the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party and as president of a local Democratic Club.

In 1988, while still managing the Saturn Café, Don was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council. During that term, Downtown Santa Cruz was devastated by the Loma Prieta earthquake. Much of his tenure was focused on working with other city officials and community members on the successful downtown rebuilding effort. Don also successfully championed a handful of affordable housing projects and led an effort to improve homeless services. He also served on the Board of Directors of the local Metro Transit system and on the Regional Transportation Commission.

After completing a term as Mayor of Santa Cruz in 1992, Don chose not to run for reelection...and turned his attention to new projects. He sold his majority ownership share of the Saturn Café, took a short term position as a campaign coordinator for Representative Sam Farr, and then played a key role in initiating two new nonprofit organizations. The first nonprofit was the Homeless Community Resource Center--which has now grown into the highly successful Homeless Services Center. The second nonprofit organization was Youth Opportunities, a job training program for disadvantaged teens--that was located within a downtown ice cream shop. The Youth Opportunities program trained and employed more than fifty teens during its four year run.

More recently, Don has worked as an administrator with three different nonprofit organizations in Santa Cruz and he is currently employed as the administrative manager of the Appleton Foundation, as Santa Cruz-based charitable foundation. He now serves as a member of the Santa Cruz City Council, after being elected to the Council in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.  He also serves on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, Santa Cruz County LAFCO and the Santa Cruz County Criminal Justice Council.

Don lives with his wife Mary Howe, an electronics technician and union member at UCSC. His daughter Tida Lane-Howe lives in Portland.