Oral history interview, Richard Lopez, 2013 (video and transcript)

Richard Lopez, an attorney with Lopez Law Office in the City of Boulder, specializes in civil litigation, and land use and development. He was the first Latino to sit on the Boulder City Council and served as Mayor Pro Tem. Lopez describes his experience of growing up in California and working in the fields picking grapes and peaches. He talks about being a member of the National Guard and the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He describes his education including attending Cal-Poly at San Luis Obispo as an undergraduate and Cornell University for Architecture and Planning. He moved to Boulder in 1974 and became a city planner as well as practicing law. He describes his involvement with growth management policy making in Boulder and his many contributions to community service in the education and non-profit sectors. He also touches on discrimination against Latinos, both in California and in Colorado, and the importance of diversity.