
Citizen of the Year Banquet Sunday Nov. 2 - save your seat now to honor Maggie Boscoe & Carlos Baltodano at Orinda Community Ctr.
Mark Your Calendars for the Tree Lighting Ceremony Thursday Nov. 6 Orinda Library Plaza

Congratulations to Maggie Boscoe!!
2025 Citizen of the Year
Maggie will be honored at a banquet on November 2, 2025, catered by Shelby's, at the Orinda Community Center.
Maggie moved to Orinda 40 years ago. Over these 40 years Maggie has spent countless hours volunteering her time and skills to help bring art to the citizens of Orinda. She also helps local artists make their work available for the public to appreciate.
She has been the volunteer curator for the art gallery at the Orinda library for the past 18 years. The art gallery displays works by local artists and changes every month. Maggie finds the artists, corresponds with them to help them select and display their work as well as holding artist receptions at the gallery.
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As soon as she moved to Orinda, Maggie started teaching music and art at Del Rey School where she taught singing, recorders, plus the infamous Singing Socks, where she taught her students to work together by having them put their handmade “singing” socks through holes at the appropriate time to the music. Always a crowd pleaser. After six years of instruction, her students were very enthusiastic and appreciated all types of music and art.
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Maggie has been a member and supporter of the Orinda Arts Council (now Lamorinda Arts Council) for the past 40 years, where she has been president and vice-president. She is currently involved with organizing a fund raiser for the Arts Council as well as a 75th Anniversary celebration for the Council. She also was a Member and President of the Contra Costa Music Teacher’s Association.
Maggie’s greatest accomplishment in the arts is “Artify Orinda”. She started this project in 2019 after seeing painted big bellies and other surfaces in Walnut Creek, San Ramon Lafayette and other cities. She approached the City Council about doing this in Orinda, and made a presentation to them. You have all seen the results of her hard work throughout Orinda in the form of the original paintings on utility boxes, big belly trash cans and on a few spots on buildings. It was not an easy path for Maggie, coordinating the artists, the City Council and the merchants.
The Council wanted to see proof of concept, and to approve the art that would be on city property before it was displayed to the public. To get approval of the concept she got agreements from Mash Gas Station and CVS Pharmacy to display art on their buildings. She had local artists paint panels of the correct size to fit four places on the CVS building and one on the Mash Gas Station. The City Council approved the concept and so the process for painting utility boxes and Big Belly trash cans started. Maggie selected artists and had them supply photos of their work for City approval. Through Orinda Arts Council Maggie obtained donations from the public to get the art printed and installed as well as getting the artists paid for their work. Besides the murals on the Mash gas station and CVS there are now over 20 additional pieces of art on the utility boxes and Big Bellies. Maggie continues to be the driving force behind these displays of public art and is working to get approval from Cal-Trans to have more utility boxes painted.
Maggie also volunteers her time and talent to many local organizations such as the Singing Messengers, a volunteer group that travel to convalescent homes each week to provide song and entertainment to the residents. She has been involved with the group for 18 years lending not only her singing voice but helping organize programs and playing piano.
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As many people like to sit and view some of the public art in the Library lower plaza, Maggie led fundraising to purchase a bench in honor of the late Orinda resident Anne Parr, who had taught pottery at the community center for many years. Maggie got approval from the city for the location and design of the bench which was procured and installed by the city in the plaza near Café Teatro. Maggie had a plaque made and installed it on the bench in a ceremony with other donors. Maggie’s efforts for the citizens of Orinda also include serving as fire captain for her neighborhood and Firewise committee for 70 homes. She has also helped community service projects through St. Stephens Church, Acalanes chapter of DAR and the Orinda Rotary Club.
Maggie has enriched Orinda as she has initiated and followed through on r many large and small projects.

Congratulations Carlos Baltodano!!
2025 Orinda Volunteer Award
Carlos Baltodano is a 32-year resident of Orinda. He is a community leader who believes volunteering allows the opportunity to work with others to improve services, shape programs and strengthen Orinda in ways that truly matter. He is presently a Board member of both the Orinda Association (OA) and the Orinda Community Foundation (OCF ). He was OA's Board President from 2019-2021. While serving on the Board, he updated the By-laws, expanded alliances with other community organizations (OCF, Orinda Chamber of Commerce and the Lamorinda Sunrise, Lamorinda Presents ). He started a joint Citizen of the Year and Environmental award program events with OCF. He organized and led the Candidates Public Forum for City Council, MOFD and School Board. He believes strongly that it is a community service needed to better inform residents what candidates' positions are on issues that affect Orinda. These events required working closely with the League of Women Voters as a co-sponsor of the events.
As a Board member of the Orinda Community Foundation since 2019, he has worked as a team member to write and produce the annual Newsletter that is sent to every household in the City of Orinda. He has worked closely as a team leader to coordinate involvement with the Orinda Association on the annual Citizen of the Year and Environmental Award programs. He leads advertising for the Annual Grant program and articles of innovative programs funded by the OCF.
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During his six years on the Orinda Planning Commission, including one year as Chair, Carlos states that one of his most challenging and rewarding issues was tackling downtown development. The Commission had to balance preserving Orinda’s semi-rural character, while encouraging thoughtful growth and revitalization. Another major effort was the approval of the Housing Element, which identified sites for new housing, including affordable units. These complex discussions involved different viewpoints, and he is proud that the Commission created a process built on transparency, respect, and meaningful dialogue.
In his professional career as the Director of the Contra Costa Building Department, he oversaw plan review, building inspection, and permit processing for 14 cities in the County. He believes in bringing services closer to the people being served, which led to establishing local inspection offices in Orinda and Lafayette for a faster and more efficient permit approval process. That experience reinforced a simple idea -- government works best when it’s accessible, efficient and responsive. Carlos has carried that mindset into his volunteer work and he’s always looking for ways to make local programs more connected to the community.
Carlos served for five years as a Trustee and later Chair of the East Oakland Youth Development Center ( EOYDC ). The Center empowers young people with character, skills and methods to positively contribute to society. Serving EOYDC deepened his belief that a strong community needs to help grow the next generation of leaders. To grow, organizations must keep involving and training others to positively contribute to the community,
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Carlos states, ” Volunteering is one of the most rewarding things you can do. You don’t have to lead a commission or chair a board but every hour, every effort helps. When we give our time, we build the kind of community we all want to live in “.

Past Citizens of the Year
2024 Rich Thompson
2023 Bill Waterman
2022 Vince Dell'Aquila
2021 Melanie Light
2020 Tom Trowbridge
2019 Peter Hasselman
2018 Carole & Andy Amstutz
2017 Janet Riley
2016 John Wyro
2015 Mark Roberts
2014 Susan Garrell
2013 Pat Rudebusch
2012 Richard Westin
2011 Steve Harwood
2010 Linda Landau
2009 Kate Wiley
2008 Ted Urban
2007 Bill Judge
2006 Rebecca Kunzman
2005 Randy Holleschau
2004 Sue Severson
2003 Kay Aaker
2002 Pam Hall
2001 Jo Alice Canterbury
2000 Pete Giers
1999 Rosina McKee
1998 Lynn Olson
1997 Jan Coe & Vanessa Crews
1996 Amy Worth
1995 Ellen Amen
1994 Bill Dabel, Bobbie Landers & Aldo Guidotti
1993 Janet Pease
1992 Richard Heggie
1991 Clarence Woodard
1990 Bob and Sheyla Kantor
1989 Carol Breuner
1988 Peirce McKee
1987 Jack and Linda Knebel
1986 Midge Zischke
1985 Joyce Hawkins
1984 Bran Yaich
1983 Lloyd McDonald
1982 Elizabeth Frazier Karplus
1981 Rev. B. Jean Clark
1980 Bill Cooper
1979 Capt. Ernest Hendricks
1978 Craig McCay
1977 Del Loper
1976 Martin McNair
1975 Harriet Ainsworth
1974 Vasco Giannini
1973 Jerry Wendt
1972 Stephanie Mann
1971 Irene Moylan
1970 Ann Christofferson
1969 Muir Sorrick Shank
1968 Carl Webber
1967 Clark Wallace
1966 Richmond Bartle
1965 Sam Stovall
1964 Barbara Parker Smith
1963 Waltor Treanor
1962 Dr. John Boulware
1961 Al Winsor
1960 Clarence Betz
1959 William Koch
1958 Gerry Cullen
1957 Ann Pallaczek
1956 Perc Brown
1955 Dr. George Prlain
1954 Frank Isola
1953 Jean Henderson
1952 Ernest Rahmeyer
1951 Edgar Stewart
1950 Ramsay Underwood
1949 Dr. Joseph Sheaff
1948 Dr. Ralph C. Hall