Portola Valley: Steve Toben takes seat on Town Council Portola Valley: Steve Toben takes seat on Town Council (December 24, 2003)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Steve Toben won't have to forego plans for the first and third Wednesdays of the month anymore now that he's ended his four-year term on the Portola Valley Planning Commission.

Now he's committed for the evenings on the second and fourth Wednesdays as he begins his first term on the Town Council.

Mr. Toben, 47, has lived in Portola Valley since 1992. In a conversation with the Almanac shortly after he announced his candidacy, Mr. Toben cited three priorities for the next four years:

** Maintain core values of the town around the preservation of open space and rural character.

** Strengthen communication between town government and residents.

** Keep an eye on the budget to avoid overextending the town financially.

Mr. Toben is president of the Flora Family Foundation in Menlo Park, which supports philanthropic activities of the descendants of Bill Hewlett, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Co.

Previously, he served nine years as a program officer at the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, where he directed the foundation's programs on the environment and conflict resolution.

Mr. Toben is a graduate of Yale law school and the University of North Carolina. His wife Janice is the coordinator for social and emotional learning at the Nueva School in Hillsborough. He has two sons, ages 19 and 15.

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