Clean water, clear air and plenty of sunshine.

That's a fitting description of San Diego. But it also describes the essential issues for Donna Frye, the City Council's longest-serving member.

Frye has long been a fierce protector of the environment. In the 1990s, she helped found S.T.O.P. - Surfers Tired of Pollution - along with her husband, legendary surfer Skip Frye. Their grassroots battle led to a state law requiring ocean water to be regularly tested for bacteria and beaches to be posted when levels are found to be unsafe under uniform, statewide standards.

Since joining the City Council in 2001, Frye has also fought to shine the bright light of day on the murky workings of government.

Notably, she championed a tough open-government City Charter ballot measure, which passed with 82 percent of the vote in 2004. Her boycott that year of closed-session meetings of the Council led to far greater public access and input to those meetings.

Frye also blocked a proposal to move public comment to the end of City Council meetings, earning her the prestigious Beacon Award from the California First Amendment Coalition in the process.

Donna Frye's quest for open government led to badly needed transparency in San Diego's most vexing financial challenge - the city's under-funded pension system. She was alone in publicly heeding the earliest warnings about the pension debacle and she was the solitary vote against retirement-benefit increases in 2002, which contributed to the current pension crisis.

Drawing on her bachelor's degree in business and experience as a successful small-business owner, Frye has mastered the complexities of the San Diego City Employees Retirement System (SDCERS) and continues to push for meaningful reform of a system which continues to imperil the city's financial health.

But her interests extend beyond budget battles and ledger sheets. As chair of the Council's Natural Resources and Culture Committee as well as the San Diego River Conservancy, the councilmember exerts considerable local influence on the issue she once rode to prominence as a community activist: protecting the environment.

She remains passionate and vigilant about clean water and air, and is dedicated to preserving our parks, canyons and open space. Her fight to restore and protect the San Diego River earned Frye the Legislator of the Year Award for 2005 from the San Diego River Park Foundation.

She also received the 2005 San Diego Environmental Champion Award from the San Diego League of Conservation Voters. Frye's work has also been recognized in Sacramento, where Senator Christine Kehoe honored her in 2005 as the California legislature's "Woman of the Year."

"With California's ongoing drought and the water crisis facing San Diego, it is essential that we expand our recycling of treated wastewater and find ways to use it safely instead of simply dumping it into the ocean," Frye says.

The councilmember is also committed to making San Diego energy independent. She led the charge to require the City to install solar panels and employ energy-efficient designs in all new city buildings. She also worked to expedite permits for new housing and commercial development which integrate solar energy and conservation measures.

Frye believes her "green" goals are highly compatible with the creation of permanent jobs with good wages. She also works hard to protect industrial lands, and encourages growth in manufacturing industries and research institutions locally, particularly in the solar, maritime and biotech sectors.

On a personal note, Donna Frye grew up in Clairemont and still resides there with her husband Skip and her mother Laura.