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Conscious Closure
Monday, December 22, 2025 5pm.
At the December 8th Catalysts Call, Founder & Facilitator Susan Kirsch announced that she, author historian Ray Lorber, and webmaster Maurice Green, are retiring and Catalysts meeting activities will cease; except for the website, which will be maintained.
Join this final Catalysts Call to share memories, joys, regrets, take-aways, and pay tribute to others who have made the journey memorable. –the elements of Conscious Closure.
Catalysts Team
Susan Kirsch
Founder and President of Catalysts for Local Control (c/4) and Catalysts Institute (c/3). Former president, Marin Coalition, co-founder of Livable CA, Citizen Marin, and Friends of Mill Valley. Retired educator, non-profit ED, and fundraising consultant.
Ray Lorber
Author of “A History of Catalysts for Local Control” and a leader in tracking state housing legislation. Ray is a regular contributor to the Marin Independent Journal and author of “George Washington’s Providence.” Ray is retired from a career in technology.
Maurice Green, PhD
Webmaster for Catalysts for Local Control, Palo Altans for Sensible Zoning and other non-profit groups. President of Zayda Productions, a web design and videography agency. Retired from a 40 year career as a medical laboratory director.
Dear Catalysts –
I hope you’re doing well in these turbulent times. I think you’ll appreciate the Opinion Piece I wrote with the title “Inspiration from a successful citizen movement” which was published (2/6/26) in the Marin Independent Journal. You might recognize yourself in the descriptions of vision, hope, and action.
I’ve got a new website at SusanKirschCreates.com. Please sign up for my newsletter. Be the first to get the announcement for the publication date of “Simply Go*d: Praise Poems Celebrating the Divine in Daily Life. Even people who don’t like poetry tell me they like this book.
Thanks again for the heart-warming send-off in December. As I explained to a friend, “I’m retiring from day-to-day Catalysts activities, but I’m not disappearing from activism.” PBA2050+ continues to hold my attention in anticipation of the spring release of the MTC staff report.
Wishing you all best wishes for vision, hope, and action.
Susan
Advocacy of Marin residents continues to make a difference
By Dick Spotswood | spotswood@comcast.net
Making Marin work requires an energized citizenry. Our county is fortunate to have many well-informed residents who’ve exerted much influence on improving Marinites’ quality of life, despite not being in elected office.
I’m reflecting on two women who are soon to retire from their decades-long role as community advocates.
Susan Kirsch is founder of Catalysts, California’s leading statewide citizens advocate for returning control over the design, location and composition of new housing back to cities and counties. The Catalysts group boldly rejects our state Legislature’s “one size fits all” housing mandates.
And we have passed the baton…
Join Amy Kalish on the
Wake Up CA Zoom meeting
Monday evenings at 5-6PM
Use the one-time registration link for this meeting.
Check their website for more information
Available NOW on Amazon
A History of Catalysts for Local Control tells the story of how constituents concerned about housing and land use planning are organizing and acting to save their communities. They are saying, “Democracy is ours! We have tools and strategies to protect our neighborhoods and communities against a developer / investor land-grab that fails to deliver on the promise of affordable housing.”
