Cathedral City drew Danielle Mead and her husband here in 2021 for the reasons that matter: a city with its own local police and fire departments, a community of year-round families rather than seasonal visitors, and neighborhoods where working people raise their families and build strong communities. 

Five years later, Danielle has done more than settle in. She serves on the Cathedral City Planning Commission and on the Steering Committee for the city’s Development Code Update — the most significant overhaul of Cathedral City’s zoning and development rules in a generation. On the Planning Commission, she championed an expansion of public notice requirements that extended the notification radius from 300 to 500 feet and, for the first time, included renters alongside property owners. That change is now city code. She previously served on the Historic Preservation Committee. And you can count on finding her each year at Cathedral City’s rainbow crosswalk painting near City Hall — because she believes this city belongs to everyone who calls it home.

By profession, Danielle is a web designer and e-commerce consultant. It’s work that gave her ideal skills for public service: listening carefully to understand what people actually need, translating complex problems into practical solutions, and following through. She believes residents deserve exactly the same from their city government.

Prior to moving to Cathedral City, Danielle served as Transportation Chair for the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood (HHWNC) Council in Los Angeles, representing over 40k residents, property owners, and businesses. She was a member of HHWNC’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) committee, which gave her a strong foundation for the work she does now on Cathedral City’s Planning Commission.

She is a graduate of the Civility Leadership Institute, founded by General Wesley Clark — a national program that trains community leaders in constructive dialogue across political differences. In a time when civic conversation often generates more heat than light, she thinks those skills belong in every council chamber.

Danielle lives in the Panorama neighborhood with her husband and their dog. She’s running because Cathedral City has everything it needs to be exceptional. She wants to help it get there.