Solana Beach, CA (special) -- Israeli-born Doug Sheres, 29, was elected Nov. 7 to a four-year term on the Solana Beach City Council. His election will bring to two, along with Marcia Smerican, who is in the middle of her term, the number of Jews serving on the five-member city council. Sheres ran on a platform of slowing down growth in the coastal city.

This is the first political office for Sheres, who was born in Haifa to David and Ita Sheres, and was naturalized as an American citizen while still a child. His maternal grandfather, Rabbi Moshe Goldberg, came from Jerusalem to San Diego in 1984 to participate in Sheres' bar mitzvah.

Sheres graduated from Patrick Henry High School and from UCSD, where he majored in psychology. He has been married for two years to the former Danica Katz, and is a partner in the downtown money management firm of Rice Hall James & Associates. His swearing-in is scheduled Dec. 5.