October 30, 2014

 

By Kenneth D. Miller

Assistant Managing Editor

 

 

 

Twelve-term Congresswoman Maxine Waters announced this week that she is endorsing the reelection of Lynn Vivian Dymally to the Board of Water Replenishment District of Southern California District 3.

 

“Lynn Dymally is an excellent representative on the Water Replenishment District Board of Southern California,” Waters told the Sentinel. “She has worked tirelessly to bring funding for local water projects that promote job development.”

 

Dymally currently serves as board vice president, is chair of the Groundwater Quality Committee, and is a member of the Water Resources Committee.

 

“Southern California can no longer depend on imported water and we must develop recycled water which Lynn is qualified and prepared to deliver,” Waters added.

 

During early 1980s, Lynn’s father and political pioneer the late Merv Dymally founded the Robert Smith Water Institute to prepare women and people of color to serve on water boards which at the time were dominated by white men.

 

Water has been a very significant issue in the Dymally family for many years.

 

Her brother served on the West Basin Water Board as well as the Metropolitan Water Board.

 

“It’s a family legacy and it’s an honor to continue a tradition and legacy,” Dymally explained.

 

“I am so pleased to endorse Lynn Dymally. I’ve known Lynn since she was a very young girl and she has worked hard for this community in so many ways. I am very proud of the leadership that she has provided on the board,” continued Waters.

 

Dymally represents Division 3, which includes the cities of Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Lakewood, Long Beach and Signal Hill.

 

“We have to discover other [water] sources such as recycled water to replenish our ground basin as well as for direct portable use,” said Lynn.

 

Her father served as the first and only African American California Lieutenant Governor from 1974-1978.

 

Based upon her fifty plus years of public service experience and well-established legacy in water, Dymally was unanimously appointed to the Board of Directors for (WRD), Division 3 in September 2013 to fill the vacant seat of the late Honorable Lillian Kawasaki.

 

Her current committee assignments include: chair of the Groundwater Quality Committee and member of the Water Resources Committee.

 

A retired associate professor of Legal Studies in Business from California State University, Long Beach where she lectured, developed programs & curriculum, researched, and published for fifteen years, Dymally also served as a faculty fellow with the Center for Community Engagement, Commis­sioner on President’s Commission on the Status of Women, faculty representative to the Associated Students Elections Board, faculty advisor to Associated Students Judiciary, and faculty advisor to the Black Business Student Association.

 

Born and educated in Los Angeles County, Dymally attended public schools and earned a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of California at San Diego majoring in Communica­tion/Sociology, a Masters of Arts degree in Business Management from the University of Redlands, and a Juris Doctorate degree from Whittier College School of Law.

 

In 1982, she was elected to the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees where she served for 10 years. While in law school, she was selected to be a Judicial Extern for United States District Court Judge, the Honorable Terry J. Hatter and she worked as a Law Clerk for the Los Angeles County Counsel Office in the Special Services Division. She has also volunteered her time by providing weekly tutoring to children who participated in Executives Fore Kids, a golf program for at risk youth in the city of Compton. Dymally has also served on the Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent's Roundtable, as well as on two LBUSD School Site Councils.

Category: Community