I felt the Marin IJ story was generally accurate but left out some key facts. Here was my letter to the journalist Megan Hansen:
Megan,
Thank you for covering the Housing Element meeting for
unincorporated Marin yesterday. It is great to inform the public about
the big change to our community. Without the your coverage and the
MarinIJ, it would be like a tree falling in the forest with no one around.
No one will hear it. Local journalism protects our democracy .
Your story while generally accurate, did miss out on a few
points.
First, you quoted me speaking about Grady Ranch.
I spoke for all the housing in Marinwood Lucas Valley.
My key points were:
1.)
71% of all affordable housing for Unincorporated
Marin is concentrated in just 5.78 square miles in Marinwood- Lucas Valley. This
will grow our community by at least 25%. We occupy just 0.6 percent
of the land mass and only 2% of the population. Does it make sense to
concentrate all this housing in a single community?
2.)
How can the goal of diversity be achieved when
Marin is simply locating all of the “diversity” in high density housing in a
single community?
3.)
Isn’t the rest of Marin NIMBY when they
shove most of the housing into a small, powerless community?
Contrary to your inference that most speakers were against
affordable housing, most expressed support and willingness to
accept a fair proportion but were concerned about the impact to the schools and
social services and the inevitable tax burden to pay for the huge population
increase. Please review the tape.
Lastly, I understand that the Marin IJ has received a
lot of readership over the George Lucas Grady Ranch vs LVHOA by portraying them
as NIMBYs. The real reason that LucasFilms withdrew was due to State, and
Federal regulators, the upcoming Disney deal. No reasonable person thinks
that a neighborhood asking for a stop light and other minor mitigations
would have stop multibillionaire George Lucas. Nels Johnson covered this a
month after the original story broke.
It is important that the Marin IJ cover this story
fairly. Community members have received death threats. (One of
which was actually published on the Marin IJ website. How would you like
someone to threaten to burn down your home?) It is causing unnecessary division
in the community and the anger is based on a falsehood.
Keep up the coverage. This is an unfolding drama that is not
likely to end soon. Feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Stephen Nestel
www.savemarinwood.org
Our Community, Our future
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