James Danziger

I was born in Los Angeles and raised in multiple states during many moves by high school. While studying in England after college on a Marshall Scholarship, I married an Englishwoman, represented the British Universities in basketball, and did an M.A. at Sussex University. I then returned to California to complete my Ph.D. in political science from Stanford (on government decision making) and take a job at the University of California, Irvine. Lesley and I bought our first home in Bluebird Canyon, lived through the 1978 landslide, and then moved to a wonderful ocean view home in South Laguna. I joined the SLCA Board and led the year-long effort to persuade the City (against the position of the City Manager) and the locals (some of whom were skeptical) that all of South Laguna should be annexed into Laguna Beach. 

Over the next several decades, I taught and held various positions at UCI and did research on the impacts of information and communications technologies on governments and work environments. Meanwhile, Lesley and I raised two terrific kids. We found time to travel to more than 60 countries, including five voyages while I taught on Semester at Sea. I rejoined the SLCA Board in 2021. My interests in enhancing the quality of life for our community focus particularly on issues of managing the physical and fiscal impacts of visitors, protecting the ocean and natural environment, democratic participation, and transportation, hence my current service on the Parking, Traffic and Circulation Committee.