Toni Young Legacy
In 2009, the Port Hueneme City Council voted unanimously to name the Hueneme Beach Festival after its 1998 founder, Toni Young.
Toni Young was first elected to the Port Hueneme City Council in 1992 and became the City’s first woman mayor in 1995. She was serving her fourth term as mayor at the time of her death on December 16, 2008--slated to retire from the City Council the very next day. Mayor Young was both known and respected for her plain-speaking and no-nonsense approach to government.
Mayor Young enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Arroyo High School in 1969 and one year at Pasadena College. She went through boot camp at Bainbridge, Md. After graduation from boot camp, she was transferred to Data Processing "A" School at Naval Training Center, San Diego.
She would meet and marry another sailor in San Diego named Otto Young. The result was a 38-year marriage as well as son, James Young; and daughters, Josephine Rhynes and Jennifer Young Anderson.
Even though she served as a charter board member of the Port Hueneme Water Agency and started the Hueneme Beach Festival, her influence spread far beyond the Port Hueneme city limits. She was an effective advocate on such regional boards as the South Coast Area Transit, Gold Coast Transit, and the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
She was elected to the prestigious position of President of the Southern California Association of Governments for 2005-06. She also served as a member of the League of California Cities' Public Safety Policy Committee at the National League of Cities and as president of the Channel Counties Division of the League of California Cities in 1997.