Seat you are seeking: Boulder County Commissioner. District 1

Age: 46

Family: Wife Mariella, age 46; son Nicky age 10, daughter Tera age 5

Occupation: I was a truck driver and yard foreman at Ecocycle in the 1980s' then went to graduate school to get my PhD in physics; then worked for the Student Environmental Action Coalition, then served as Director of the University of Colorado Environmental Center, 1992-2004; have authored many journal articles, and 2 books on transportation planning. I have served as Boulder County Commissioner since 2005.

Hometown: Born in Pittsburgh, PA; moved to Boulder when I was 18

Your Web site: www.willtoor.org

Favorite local place to hang out:On our local mountain bike trails

What do you like most about living here?:I love the intellectual ferment, and the public support for addressing the important local and global issues of our time - from health disparities to open space preservation to global climate change.

Interests & hobbies:Biking, mountain biking, hiking, climbing, gardening.

Favorite TV show: I don't watch TV

Favorite Web site:www.postcarboncities.net

People who inspired you (and how): Martin Luther King for showing how powerful nonviolent social change can be; David Brower for showing what one person's vision can do to save the environment; and Barack Obama to restoring hope for our country.

How you have contributed to the community: I have been very involved ever since I arrived as an 18 year old kid in 1980. In the 1980s I worked at Ecocycle in its early days, helping to establish it as one of the nation's premier recycling organizations and I worked to shut down the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. In my work at CU I helped the campus become a national leader in the sustainability movement, creating nationally recognized sustainable transportation and renewable energy programs; in y work as mayor of Boulder I played an important role in developing the strong Ecopass and community transit programs; helped bring the business and environmental communities together to support denser mixed use infill as an alternative to urban sprawl; helped create significant new affordable housing; and helped create a regional consensus around transportation solutions for US 36; in my role as board member and then chair of the Denver Regional Council of Governments, I helped restore Boulder's role as a respected regional partner; in my current role as county commissioner I have helped create a new county focus on energy sustainability, the first ever countywide human services plan, and have stabilized the county budget.

What are the biggest issues facing your constituency now:

My two highest priorities are: 1) Implementing the county sustainable energy plan to reduce our fossil fuel consumption, our vulnerability to energy prices, and our contributions to climate change. One key step is supporting ballot issue 1A, the clean energy issue. 2) One of our biggest challenges is the growing gap between rich and poor, and especially the startling increase in childhood poverty. We should be judged on how we treat the most vulnerable among us. That is why I support implementing the new countywide human services master plan, greater public funding for nonprofit health and human services agencies, and ballot issue 1B, the worthy cause tax extension.