Whether it is protecting local services, our environment, or our local economy, Melissa is focused on workable solutions that will support a healthy future. As vice-chair of the Sustainability Commission, a member of the General Plan Advisory Committee, a Rotarian, and a Chamber of Commerce Boardmember, Melissa is dedicated to delivering meaningful outcomes.

Melissa’s love of Sausalito started early when she was voted “class leader” at the Sausalito Nursery School in 1993. She attended Redwood High School, where she was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for the advancement of Human Rights by the Human Rights Commission.  In the years since, her leadership has continued in roles at the Obama White House, Mayor Gavin  Newsom’s office, UN Environment, UN Women, and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ campaign. She is the founder and CEO of Allied for Startups, a worldwide network of advocacy organizations focused on improving th e policy environment for startups. Melissa holds a master’s degree in public affairs, cum laude, from Sciences Po in Paris, France, and an undergraduate degree in American Studies with honors from UC Berkeley.

Melissa lives on the waterfront in Sausalito and can often be seen swimming along Bridgeway. She is an accomplished Marathon swimmer who swam the English Channel in 2018. She currently holds the world record for the fastest crossing of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. She uses her swims to fundraise and in 2019 earned over $20,000 for the Rotary Foundation and PolioPlus.  She is a proud member of the resilient 2020 Sausalito Woman’s Club Jinks Class and of the Sausalito Historical Society.

Melissa Blaustein is committed to creating and maintaining a healthy Sausalito. As a community leader and advocate, she has proven time and again that she gets things done for our town when it matters the most.

As vice-chair of the Sustainability Commission, Melissa collaborated with local business owner Nick Mindel to champion a single-use plastics ban, which was endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce, Sausalito Beautiful, and the Sausalito Woman’s Club.

As a Sausalito Chamber of Commerce Boardmember, Melissa is determined to work with, and support, our local businesses as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Melissa served on the selection committee for the Love Sausalito grants, protecting and supporting our businesses during their most vulnerable hour.

On the General Plan Advisory Committee, she fought hard for our town’s resiliency and climate mitigation efforts, successfully advocating for the addition of a specific sustainability element to the general plan. Melissa is driven to make sure that every Sausalito resident has access to resources and is treated with respect.

She serves on the countywide business task force on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is committed to making sure that Sausalito uses the opportunity to learn from this historic moment, and take the next steps to eliminate racism, in all its forms.

Melissa co-founded the Active Allies of Sausalito Coordinating Committee, which successfully lobbied for funding for police-worn body cameras after they had been cut from our budget.

She continues to work in partnership with law enforcement to reimagine how to best serve Sausalito’s safety needs.

As a dedicated Rotarian, Melissa delivers meals to our seniors every week in the face of the pandemic. She also serves on the Rotary housing board fighting for more affordable senior housing to allow our residents to continue to age in place. Melissa understands the role of housing in making Sausalito a more inclusive community.

As a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on Housing Melissa worked with city leaders to successfully create an affordable housing inclusionary ordinance, requiring new developments to create affordable units.

She pushed for approval of JADUs (junior accessory dwelling units) to create new pathways for housing and developed a roadmap to more innovative housing solutions. She believes our teachers and city employees deserve to live in the community they serve, and should not be hindered by skyrocketing rents.

I am a first generation American. My parents survived war-tortured Poland as children, grew up under communism, and defected in the 1960s to a better life in America. They expected achievement from their children commensurate with the opportunities available in this country and so by the time I was 25 I had earned a double major in Engineering and Philosophy from Virginia Tech and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford. I actually did work on rockets for a while so my friends like to use the “It’s not rocket science” joke whenever I make a mistake. My entrepreneurial experience began working as an engineer for a medical device startup, founding a light industrial machine tool startup, and then helping two Stanford undergrads launch what became Evite.com.

This all led to running my own small business that supports angel investors. These are people who love to invest their time and money helping entrepreneurs bring positive change to the world. I have successfully guided this membership based business through two recessions, and I learned a lot from helping more than one hundred other small businesses grow—from high-tech startups to neighborhood restaurants.

I recently finished a six-year term on the Board of Directors of Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, which delivers three million meals a year to homebound seniors. During my tenure on the Meals on Wheels Board, we raised a capital campaign of $45m to build a new state of the art kitchen to increase threefold the number of people served.

Stepping off the Meals on Wheels board means I have more time to give back and serve the home that I love. This is what led me to volunteer this year to serve on Sausalito’s Economic Development Advisory Committee where I was elected Vice-Chair. There I led some creative thinking on how to buy the Bank of America property and what to do with it. I also proposed revisions to the Statement on Racial Justice, which were adopted for recommendation and served on an ad hoc team that helped expedite building permits for a local business that was in danger of closing without them.

I love Sausalito. I love the people, the waterfront, the town’s character—and its characters. I count myself one of them. I ride everywhere I can on my bicycle, and love to kayak and paddle board. I’m a lifetime member of the Sausalito Cruising Club and an avid sailor. All of us who live here cherish Sausalito’s colorful nature, its beauty and its economic diversity. I am running for City Council because there is so much more we can do as a community to keep us on the path of progress. Your vote will help me move the city forward.

I don’t have a rigid platform; I have an approach. I am open minded, deliberate, data driven, thoughtful and collaborative. The current City Council has three incumbents who are lawyers. I love lawyers, my life partner is a lawyer. But I believe my engineering and financial background and mindfulness inspired approach will be a value-add; we can use an engineer with a poet's heart on City Council.

Through my experience working with small businesses, I’ve acquired skills that I can apply to the City Council: managing a given budget for maximum benefit, the importance of planning (and navigating the balance between following that plan and remaining flexible), and working effectively with people to build morale and motivation toward common goals.

My life experiences have taught me that there are often win-win outcomes that are overlooked by the stakeholders because of poor communication or entrenched thinking. I’ve discovered I have a talent for listening, for learning, and for introducing creative alternatives that open up new possibilities for win-win outcomes to occur. Being a good collaborator also requires being open-minded, having patience, respect and trust.

I approach things with an analytical mind rooted in a human perspective (we are not widgets!), and so strive to have a balanced approach between the analytical and emotional in addressing the city’s challenges, conflicts, and opportunities. I believe it’s possible to reach consensus on issues and achieve better outcomes because all stakeholders have a part in shaping our community.

If you agree that Sausalito City Council could benefit from a different mix of talent and a new approach, I welcome your vote.

Many of you already know me as "the Seaplane Guy", but for almost 25 years I have both lived in and owned several businesses in Sausalito since moving here in 1994. I live here in town with three caring, courageous women - my two growing daughters and my loving fiancé. I am also the owner and steward of the historic, 75-year-old Seaplane Adventures at the North end of town. During this time, I have served in many roles as volunteer, Board Chair and Committee Chair for various City, non-profit, civic organizations and committees in Sausalito, including:

• Sausalito Chamber of Commerce - Board Member & Chairman
• Sausalito Business Advisory Committee – Member & Chairman
• California Small Business Advisory Council (Chaired by CA Assby. Marc Levine) - Councilmember
• Marin City Community Development Corporation – Board Member

All of these companies/organizations were started and grown right here in town:

• 1994-2000 – The adhoc Group (acquired in 2000) – CEO and Founder 
• 1995-2005 – The Just Think Foundation – Co-Founder – Media Literacy Non-Profit
• 2001-present – Blue Yonder Foundation – Founder – Aviation/Aerospace Scholarship Fund
• 2008-2011 – Pacific Carbon Exchange – CEO and Co-Founder
• 2012-Present – Seaplane Adventures – Owner and CEO
• 2017-Present – Automodality, Inc. - CEO

I very much love this incredible town - for its beauty, its unique character and its magnetic charms beloved by the whole world. I want to work with all of you to face these challenges and watch Sausalito grow, prosper and shine brightly as she has always done. I first came to Sausalito in 1977 when my Grandmother brought me here. My family is originally from a small town in Oklahoma and my Grandmother had never been outside of the State until she was 70 years old, and the only place she wanted to go was Sausailto, CA. To this day I still have a curio figure of Sally Stamford that my Grandma bought in a gallery here on that trip. I hoped that one day I would come and live here and that dream came true in 1994. Since that time I have started several businesses and  a non-profit, established my roots and am raising a family here. I owe a lot to this community that has helped me grow, prosper and make many of the best friendships I have had my entire life. I wish to give back andcontribute my energy, skills and genuine care for this community by serving as a City Councilman.

The Marin Economic Forum recently reported that 32% of all small business in Marin have closed due to the global pandemic leaving 11% job losses in their wake. We have a LOT of work to do to recover and rebuild the Sausalito business community in the coming months and years. With every calamity comes an opportunity! Together we can help shape what new businesses come to our town that we will welcome and support. Businesses that will appeal to residents and visitors alike!

I have both lived in and owned several businesses in Sausalito since moving here in 1994. During that time, I have also served in many roles as volunteer, Board Chair and Committee Chair for various non-profit and civic organizations in Sausalito, where I have seen extraordinary growth and change. The recent global pandemic is creating new challenges for us, including fiscal pressures on the Town’s budget, and several longtime, local businesses boarded up and shuttered for good. Nationwide calls for police reform have reached our local police agency and we are embarking upon a new relationship with our true sister city, Marin City, in the reunification of our schools to better serve all kids in our shared community.  Wildfires and power shutoffs have posed new challenges and public safety risks that further test both our citizenry and our business community. After nearly 24 years as a resident here and in Marin, I believe I have the experience, the track record and the ability to foster the collaboration needed to effectively address these challenges – and opportunities - during these difficult times.

The challenges before us are very real. Long-standing businesses are closing, families are feeling financial pressures not seen in over a decade since the Great Recession and the City's finances are being adversely affected by the pandemic-induced economic downturn. But we Sausalitans can DO something about all this! It has never been more important than it is now for both Sausalito residents and Sausalito businesses to rally around each other and support one another through this trying period. The time is now to get involved and contribute to this incredible place we call home.