I don’t remember when I first met Mildred, but we became friends and worked together on a lot of policies and issues that involved drugs and alcohol in Richmond. Mildred understood the devastation that alcohol abuse can wreak and the damage that especially poorly regulated or illegally licensed bars and liquor stores can do in communities like the Iron Triangle, where she lived.

In 2003, I successfully nominated her for the People Who Make A Difference Award 2003 by the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board. See the article at the end of this email)

Mildred monitored every ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) license application or transfer in Richmond and fought to use the law to at least impose conditions on the license and sometime to have it denied or revoked.

She was instrumental in amending Richmond’s Zoning Ordinance to include language that would allow the imposition of a conditional use permit and conditions on a troublesome liquor outlet that had been “grandfathered in” without a conditional use permit, which is required for all new businesses.

She also successfully pushed for a Richmond policy that would take advantage of ABC regulations that allow local governments to request new conditions when a license is transferred.

Mildred dogged the ABC incessantly and made sure they were carrying out their mandate and enforcing regulations. She routinely filed protests, and although she won some, the only one I could find on-line is one she lost (http://www.abcappealsbd.ca.gov/res/docs/Decisions/pdf/AB_8300/8313.pdf). She was probably right but just got overwhelmed by government lawyers.

Mildred never had a car or a computer. The Richmond Public Library was her office, and she walked or took the bus wherever she needed to go during the day. I often gave her a ride home after a late-night City Council meeting where some alcohol-related issue was on the agenda.

Last year, she just disappeared, and no one knew where she had gone, although it was presumed she had gone to live with a relative somewhere. Her obituary in the Contra Costa Times yesterday cleared up that mystery. I even learned for the first time that she was a “Rosie the Riveter,” having worked in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in WWII.

Mildred M. Carlton

Mildred M. Carlton Former Richmond Resident Passed away December 19, 2011 in Carmichael, California. She was born September 1, 1925 to Samuel Mack and Vinnie Loretta Carlton. She was the youngest of 12 children. She attended grade and high school at Saint Louis, Oklahoma and graduated in 1944. She moved to Vallejo, California to live with her sister Ilene who now lives in Salem, Oregon. She is survived by her sister Ilene and brother Gene Carlton of Rio Linda, California. Mildred played the clarinet in the high school band and was an outstanding member of the award winning basketball team. Mildred worked at Mare Island Ship Yard in Vallejo, California from 1944-1947. She then worked for the California University printing press until her retirement in 1979. She then bought a new home and moved to Richmond, California, where she lived until 2010. She then moved to Walnut House assisted living in Carmichael, California. Mildred was an active member of the First Presbyterian Church in Berkley and was a leader in the Navigator's Program. While at her home in Richmond, Mildred was very active in community affairs. She was very successful in controlling new businesses that might be selling drugs or alcohol. She worked closely with Richmond City Counsel, Richmond Police and Fire Department and received many awards and plaques from the city. Services will be held Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 2:00pm at Sunset Lawn Chapel of the Chimes, 4701 Marysville Blvd., Sacramento, California. Interment following the service. Pastor William Vickery will be conducting the services.
Published in Contra Costa Times from December 25 to December 26, 2011

Supervisors Laud Mildred Carlton
May 10, 2003
By Rebecca Rosen Lum
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
RICHMOND - A Richmond woman who has spurred new legislation and brought the weight of existing law to bear to stamp out illegal alcohol sales is being toasted by the county for her efforts.
Mildred Carlton was tapped for the People Who Make A Difference Award 2003 by the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors and the Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board.
Carlton, 77, launched the Richmond Citizens Alcohol Coalition in 2000, and the group has since doggedly pursued ordinances to impose restrictions on liquor sales and public drinking.
Silver-haired, gravel-voiced and intensely focused, the longtime Iron Triangle resident has become well-known by bureaucrats and booze sellers alike. She is credited with having shut down some of the city's most problematic liquor stores and has done battle with merchants, elected officials, and bureaucrats, whom she spurns as masters of the loophole.
"Every time you get a good solid law, you get a 'notwithstanding the above,'" she grumped.
"Mildred is very persistent -- very persistent," said Everest Robillard of the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. "Do I get a lot of calls from Mildred? You bet. But she keeps me informed. She's got her ear to the ground."
She has researched crime statistics and faced down more than one hostile consumer -- "I graciously and courteously got rid of him," she said of one encounter. And she has tangled with some merchants whom she might otherwise call friends.
"It's troubling to me," she mused. "They are such fine people in so many ways. They never touch alcohol, but the things they do in their store ... A fellow came in with an open can in his hand, put it down on the counter, handed over his money for another can, and the guy behind the counter didn't say a thing."
The award comes at an auspicious time: Later this month, she goes to court on a protest she filed against one owner. He has appealed.
The Richmond City Council's public safety committee, including council members Tom Butt, Richard Griffin, Mindell Penn and Jim Rogers, nominated Carlton for the honor. She will pick up her award at a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Board of Supervisors chamber in Martinez.
She said her coalition cohorts -- Susan Geick, Naomi Williams, Myrtle Braxton-Ellington, and Bob Strauss -- have contributed too much for her to accept the award on her own behalf, she insisted.
She can derail praise faster than she can break up a band of loiterers outside a corner store. She'd rather tout the accomplishments of others, like Richmond police Sgt. Ron Berry -- "He has such a good soul" -- or Butt, whom she calls "a priceless gem."
She refused the title of chairman of the coalition. She is simply its coordinator, she said.
But if Carlton never loses steam in cleaning up booze-related problems in the city, officials have apparently lacked her unflagging zeal. Although the city passed an ordinance governing the sale and transfer of liquor licenses two years ago, it has yet to implement all its guidelines, she said. She's ready to rumble.
"This is going to be a bit of a hit against the police department," she said.
Contact reporter Rebecca Rosen Lum at 510-262-2713 or rrosenlum@cctimes.com.