Saturday, March 22, 2014

Saturday Night Videos


CONTROLLER (控制者) from Saman Kesh on Vimeo.
LIFE from Rod Blackhurst on Vimeo.

Chapel Perilous from Matthew Lessner on Vimeo.

Plastic Flowers {official video HD} from hiorganic on Vimeo.

COMING UP FOR AIR from Finisterre on Vimeo.

Font Men - SXSW 2014 Official Selection from dress code on Vimeo.
Metropolis II (The Movie) from Supermarché: Henry & Rel on Vimeo.

January in Japan from Scott Gold on Vimeo.

Planning Director, Brian Crawford defends the high concentrations of affordable housing in Marinwood-Lucas Valley, Tam Valley and Strawberry

Get Microsoft Silverlight
for the full meeting see June 24, 2013 Planning Commission Meeting

Editors note: 3/22/2014 When I published this last year, it caused a minor sensation in Marinwood-Lucas Valley.  It showed the absolute hubris of the county to assume that a community that is populated as our neighborhoods should be a target for affordable housing development because our land values are lower than the rest of Marin.  The planners and politicians show their cards that their objectives is profits for the developer is more important than the needy people they serve or the community that hosts them. The video clip was mysteriously deleted or altered. I have not checked if it is still available in the full meeting clip.  The County government removes embarassing material regularly.  If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention.  We will Save Marin Again! 
The urban Brian Crawford earned $239,525 in 2012 according to Marin IJ HERE to tell us all how we should develop our communities.  Isn't he special.  He'll get to retire early too at up to 90% of his salary.
The median Household income for San Rafael in 2011 was $71,510. He earns roughly 3 times this amount.
Who are the real elitists?


One of the more outrageous aspects of the Housing Element for unincorporated Marin is that 78% of all affordable housing is located in Marinwood-Lucas Valley which is just 0.6% of the entire county.   The planners and politicians justify this as "public policy" and "available land"..  blah, blah, blah.

Doesn't it make sense to integrate the needy throughout the county evenly?  Won't this provide opportunity and fairness and integration?

Of course, this makes too much sense.  The self style "elites" in other parts of Marin  make excuses to shirk their responsibiliy, complain that they are built out and can't possibly take their fairshare,  The housing allocations get pushed onto the weakest political districts without representation - like Marinwood-Lucas Valley.

Question Authority.

Growth for the Sake of Growth is the Ideology of the Cancer Cell-Edward Abbey

Teardown battle in Minneapolis: A city at war with itself

A home under construction in the 4500 block of Chowen Avenue
MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley
A home under construction in the 4500 block of Chowen Avenue in Minneapolis.
For the moment, emotions are running high in the dispute over teardowns in Minneapolis’ most idyllic districts. But even if a moratorium on new home construction in Linden Hills and four other popular southwest neighborhoods is lifted after a few months, as now seems likely, tensions over the broader issues of growth and density are here to stay. Minneapolis, in some sense, is a city at war with itself.

One side prefers the city pretty much as it is. The southwestern neighborhoods, in particular, are deeply satisfied with the status quo, and why not? Quiet tree-lined streets; lakeside views; biking and walking trails; great little restaurants and coffee shops; sailboats set against the backdrop of a distant glassy skyline. Why risk any change that might break the spell?

But there’s another less myopic side, one that sees population and tax-base growth as vital to the city’s future. Without more people and more taxable assets, Minneapolis won’t be able to maintain city services, improve schools and add the transit connections that a successful, competitive city requires. Another way to say it is that the whole city, rich and poor together, cannot move forward without taking maximum advantage of the current “back to the city” real estate trend.

In her campaign last fall, Mayor Betsy Hodges set a goal to add more than 100,000 residents and push the city’s once-shrinking population back up over 500,000. It’s not an outlandish target; rival cities, including Seattle, Denver and Portland, have grown that much in recent years by building dense, urbanized districts that appeal to young residents.

In theory, there’s room for each side in this skirmish to have its way. After all, a key element of the growth strategy is to add density mainly along commercial corridors with transit service so that the city’s established single-family neighborhoods can be left undisturbed. In practice, however, it’s not quite so simple, as the new mayor and council are finding out.
That’s where teardowns come into play. The appetite for city living hasn’t been this strong in many decades, and the southwest neighborhoods hold special appeal. A portion of the housing stock, especially in the far southwest, consists of postwar two-bedroom ramblers that are too small for modern tastes and built on lots that are more valuable than the houses. These are ripe for rebuilding and, if you drive the streets south and west of Lake Harriet, you’ll see hundreds of new infill homes that have popped up in recent years. A few of them are too large, and a few are downright ugly. But the vast majority of them are well designed and fit nicely into their surroundings.

“It’s wonderful news for Minneapolis that people want to invest and live in the city again,” said Caren Dewar, director of the Urban Land Institute-Minnesota. “But how to manage all this will be an ongoing challenge for the city because this is the direction that the market wants to go.”

The value of these teardowns is clear; they add tax base that the city desperately needs. How much? Well, just across the city line in Edina, officials have been struggling to manage a wave of teardowns — more than 280 in the last three years — over the objections of neighbors who hate the construction and the scale of the new homes. But the added value of those 280 new homes exceeds the taxable value of the entire Southdale shopping mall, according to Edina City Manager Scott Neal.

So, the stakes are high for Minneapolis. And that’s why the moratorium launched by new 13th Ward Council Member Linea Palmisano may have been hasty and shortsighted. Is it wise for Minneapolis to hang up a sign that, in effect, warns investors to stay away? Is it smart to encourage people to build their new homes in the suburbs instead?

Excessive power

In political terms, the moratorium reflects the excessive power that a few disgruntled and fearful neighbors can exert in Minneapolis, especially with a new mayor and council still feeling its way. Yes, the growth side has won many battles. Coming out of the Great Recession, the city has led the metro area in construction permits and new housing units.
Linea Palmisano
MinnPost file photo by Terry Gydesen
Linea Palmisano
But the status quo side has gained momentum recently. It almost certainly has succeeded in stopping the Southwest light rail project, the largest transit project ever proposed for the metro area. And the moratorium, although minor by comparison, further illustrates the built-in advantage that the status quo enjoys: It is an actual constituency; it can vote and it can complain loudly to elected officials, even about petty details and imaginary consequences. By contrast, the new 100,000 people that Hodges hopes to attract have no voice at City Hall. No one shows up to speak for them or for the long-range benefits they could bring.

It’s not that some of the complaints over teardowns are without merit. Jason Wittenberg, Minneapolis’ acting planning director, acknowledges that there have been serious problems on some construction sites: debris dumped on neighbors’ property; improper placement of dumpsters and portable toilets; problems with drainage and water table; disregard for designated work hours, and even some possible cheating on building heights.

“The most urgent point in all this is about construction site management,” he said. “Council Member Palmisano is right when she says that crews ‘should build like they live next door.’ They should have more consideration for neighbors. It feels like the communication isn’t what it should be.”

Lessons from Edina

The question is whether that merits a moratorium, or whether the city could fix all of that by beefing up its enforcement while construction continues. As a first step, the city should consult with Edina, which last year enacted a new system to deal with similar complaints.

Neal, the Edina city manager, offered this advice: It’s more about emotion than anything else. People love their neighborhoods, and that’s a good thing. The prospect of change incites fear and suspicion. It’s important to have one point-of-contact person to eliminate surprises and to tightly manage the site, making sure that the neighbors are informed and that the crews follow the rules — every day. Both sides — the contractors and the neighbors — need predictability, he said. You can’t just pass rules and expect contractors to comply.

Edina’s new emphasis on communication and enforcement seems to be working, although the suburb could use more than just one enforcer/coordinator.
Two homes in the 4500 block of Abbott Avenue under construction.
MinnPost photo by Bill Kelley
Two homes in the 4500 block of Abbott Avenue under construction.

As for complaints about the scale of new homes, Wittenberg said that Minneapolis will review changes it made in 2007 that reduced heights and expanded the space between homes. Edina’s new 30-foot height limit and sideyard regulations match closely the scale that Minneapolis set seven years ago.

Truth is, modern lifestyles demand homes larger than those built 60 years ago. Unless the city wants to discourage a renewal of its housing stock, it must, within reasonable limits, allow larger homes. Those homes will cast shadows. A few trees will need to be cut, although that should be kept to a minimum. Skilled architects can use design to give new homes a less obtrusive profile. Those techniques should be emphasized before construction begins.

Warning from San Francisco

But for neighbors to stop construction altogether is akin to shooting themselves in the foot, as San Francisco has discovered. With the best of intentions to preserve the city’s character, residents there have fought nearly every effort to renew and expand housing and grow the population. The result: some of the highest property taxes, living costs and housing prices in the nation — and thousands of young people who want to live in the city but can’t.

“The city was largely ‘protected’ from change. But in so doing, we put out the fire with gasoline,” Gabriel Metcalf, a Bay Area planning advocate, wrote recently in Atlantic magazine.

Minneapolis isn’t San Francisco. Still, it faces formidable resistance to the mayor’s laudable goals of growing population and tax base. Political leaders must gather the courage to explain to neighbors that NIMBYism delivers a self-inflicted wound. As for teardowns, the city needs to establish a much better system of communicating and enforcing the rules without slowing the pace of renewal.

Friday, March 21, 2014

Isn't it Ironic?

Oakland vs. Government Surveillance! and Cameras on Marin Buses



And this from the Marin IJ;

Golden Gate Transit gets lump of cash to add cameras to buses



A Golden Gate Transit bus pulls into the San Rafael Transit Center on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (Robert Tong/Marin Independent Journal)Robert Tong
A Golden Gate Transit bus pulls into the San Rafael Transit Center on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. (Robert Tong/Marin Independent Journal) Robert Tong




Roughly 75 percent of Golden Gate's fleet is already outfitted with some type of security camera system. The grant funding, along with the purchase of new vehicles with new cameras, will see 175 of the agency's 180 buses with the technology by 2016, officials said.

Golden Gate spokeswoman Mary Currie said that means more safety for passengers.
"The cameras mean somebody is watching," she said. "It's a safer environment for our passengers. It's a deterrent to crime."

Stanton Klose of San Rafael, who serves on the Golden Gate Bus Passengers Advisory Committee, said he believes the cameras make sense.
"I do think the commuter service is pretty safe, but other routes could be an issue," he said. "They are good to have."

About 22,000 people ride Golden Gate Transit buses each weekday, primarily in Marin, San Francisco and Sonoma counties.

The new system will replace 10-year-old technology that is now on some of the buses.
"There have been some reliability issues," said Steve Miller, director of maintenance for the bus division. "The new equipment will also allow more advanced monitoring of the system."

Right now staff has to go to a bus and plug into the camera system to download the video. The new system will allow for remote downloads.

"It's a labor savings for us," Miller said.
The new technology also lets operators know electronically if part of the system is not working, an aspect dubbed "remote health monitoring."
Most of the buses have eight total cameras, most on the interior, which provide a record that can assist law enforcement, including searches for missing people, as well as help the transit system determine liability in accidents, among other things.
"It can be used for crime investigations; we have caught kids doing graffiti," Miller said. "The cameras really help us, and it's something government agencies want to see us have for safety reasons. For the amount of the investment the return is huge."

Editor's Note: Big Brother is watching. What is to become of all this data?  With facial recognition software, it is possible to track the movement of millions of people.  This surveillance has serious implications on your freedom. It is time to Save Marin Again.

The Gift

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Bob Silvestri discusses High Density Development in Marin. All are Welcome!

COMMUNITY EVENT IN KENTFIELD 
A discussion about high density development in Marin with Bob Silvestri


Date: Saturday, March 22, 2014

Time: 3:00 to 5:00 P.M.

Location:
Marin Art & Garden Center
Livermore Room
30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross, CA

Presentation and Q&A
BEYOND PLAN BAY AREA
Toward a Sustainable Future in Marin
by Bob Silvestri

 
Is the Wincup Project
Smart Growth for Marin?

 

Who says Supervisor Susan Adams never did anything for Marinwood?


..And this is just a beginning .  We have six even bigger projects that may be coming soon!  The Silvera Ranch project and Grady Ranch project each will be nearly THREE times the size!  The Oakview project next door will be TWICE the size.   Big Rock Deli and Rotary Field each are about the same size as Marinwood Village.

Sorry.  I didn't have room for the expected 300+ cars in this photo.  Let's hope for the best and hope our new neighbors use public transit.   You also cannot see the 14 foot soundwall that will go along the freeway that will cost taxpayers nearly one million dollars to build.

Our Drone Future


Our Drone Future from Alex Cornell on Vimeo.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Ex-Bush admin official: Internet giveaway weakens cybersecurity, opens door to Web tax




Posted By Giuseppe Macri On 1:28 AM 03/15/2014 
The U.S. government’s plan to give away authority over the Internet’s core architecture to the “global Internet community” could endanger the security of both the Internet and the U.S. — and open the door to a global tax on Web use.
“U.S. management of the internet has been exemplary and there is no reason to give this away — especially in return for nothing,” former Bush administration State Department senior advisor Christian Whiton told The Daily Caller. “This is the Obama equivalent of Carter’s decision to give away the Panama Canal — only with possibly much worse consequences.”

The U.S. Commerce Department announced late Friday it would relinquish control of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) — the organization charged with managing domain names, assigning Internet protocol addresses and other crucial Web functions — after its current contract expires next year.

In response to months of mounting criticism from the global community over sweeping National Security Surveillance programs leaked by former agency contractor Edward Snowden, the administration surrendered to allegations it had too much influence over the Web through ICANN, which designates the roadmap from web-connected devices to websites and servers across the globe.

“While the Obama administration says it is merely removing federal oversight of a non-profit, we should assume ICANN would end up as part of the United Nations,” Whiton said. “If the U.N. gains control what amounts to the directory and traffic signals of the Internet, it can impose whatever taxes it likes.  It likely would start with a tax on registering domains and expand from there.”

ICANN’s Lebanese-born CEO Fadi Chehadé had already recently discussed setting up an office in Geneva — the location of the largest U.N. presence outside New York. If folded into the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union, the organization would have access to a significant revenue stream outside of member contributions for the first time.

“What little control there is over the U.N. would be gone,” Whiton said.
The greater danger posed by the giveaway lies with the security of the Internet itself. While the U.S. has never used ICANN in a war or crisis situation, the potential exists for it to obstruct Internet commerce or deter foreign cyber attacks – powerful tools in the globalized information age.

After numerous recent widespread and successful cyber attacks against the U.S. have already been linked to emerging world powers like China, it isn’t difficult to image a future scenario in which management of ICANN could help ensure intellectual property, economic, national and international security.

“Under invariably incompetent U.N. control, it could mean a hostile foreign power disabling the Internet for us,” Whiton said.




Bruce Anderson's Political Attacks on the Marinwood CSD in perspective.

Editor's Note: The recent revelations of the contributions to the Marinwood Vision plan from the Marinwood CSD ($3k) while Bruce Anderson served as CSD Director and as vice president of 
the Marinwood Association($2k) show that this attack on the Marinwood CSD was totally unfounded.  Bruce did not attend the meeting nor had seen the tape before he wrote this piece attacking his rivals. The CSD heard a request for money but never discussed approving funding for the www.alliancemarin.org CEQA lawsuit.  In January, the CSD decided that no funds should be provided but a statement supporting the environmental concerns of the community must be addressed. 
see article:

Marin Voice: Marinwood has no business contributing to costly housing lawsuit

Posted:   12/21/2013 04:37:00 AM PST





Bruce Anderson (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal) Alan Dep

THE MARINWOOD Community Services District is considering giving away $50,000.
Last month, the district was in dire financial straits and hiding that fact from our community, according to some of those successfully running for district board seats.
This month, with a new board majority, the same individuals are considering gifting $50,000 of district cash to a group claiming to sue the county. [ Editor's Note: The CSD director's merely heard a request. Bruce gets four Pinnochios for this paragraph]

Where is the promised transparency?

And make no mistake; the action contemplated is an outright gift of public funds, not a recovery of funds effort. [ Bruce Anderson DID gift public funds for the privately held Marinwood Plaza project in 2006]

The group receiving the funds is suing the county to have the county re-do its inventory of housing sites. An inventory of housing sites has no financial impact on the district. The only financial impacts to the district come from actual developments, not planning exercises.[ To learn about the lawsuit, see www.alliancemarin.org. It is about problems with the county's flawed DSEIR]

Of course, the board can vote to give away public funds as a gift. There are consequences that the individual board members may want to consider. [ Those who live in glass houses..]

If a citizen decides to sue to recover the gifted funds, the board members may be individually liable for the return of funds since they voted to give them away. In other words, the immunity a board member is normally granted is not available to that board member if they knowingly give away public funds. [hmmm....]

But what of the dire district financial condition promoted prior to the election? Why are they contemplating gifting $50,000 or any amount of district cash that could be earmarked to relieve the touted long-term liabilities of the district? The board needs to explain how all of a sudden $50,000 or any amount in cash is available to give away.
It also needs to detail what will be sacrificed (a needed new fire truck, re-surfacing of the tennis courts, jobs, community services, etc.) in order to fund this donation.
What is the justification? Where are the reports showing the amount the district will be damaged as a result of the county preparing an inventory of potential housing sites?
What has the fire commission recommended? What has the park and recreation commission recommended? [ Bruce Anderson presided over the largest deficits in Marinwood CSD history totaling over $1.2 million dollars]

The proceedings under the lawsuit do not seek any financial return, only that the county re-do its housing element report. A re-do will have no effect on the amount of housing, affordable or market-rate, already allowed by the countywide general plan within Marinwood's sphere of influence.  [ Is a correct accounting for the environmental damage a bad thing?  The toxic waste problem at Marinwood Plaza has been a known public health disaster since 2007 while Bruce served on the CSD Board.]

The district board needs to fully disclose its reasons for this $50,000 gift that bears no return. [ Four more Pinnochios.]

Is that all? Giving $50,000 to someone suing the county makes you a party to that suit. Win or lose, the suit will most likely be appealed. Will there be more requests for funds? Worst case scenario — the county counter sues and wins — who's not-so-deep-pockets get picked? [hmmm...]

The board is young in experience. Its members should have recognized this request for what it is — a gift of public funds no matter the amount — then rejected it out-of-hand.
At the next opportunity, the board should just say no to this request for public funds.
[Bruce should attend the CSD meetings before making vile accusations without merit.]


Bruce Anderson served three terms as a director of the Marinwood Community Services District. [Bruce Anderson endorses Susan Adams for County Supervisor]
Pinnochio did not throw stones in glass houses.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Five "Friends of Marinwood Village" deliver this message (Bruce Anderson, Jon Hammond, Kathleen Gaines, Robert Pendolay and Cameron Case)





At least two of the five of the "Friends" make a living consulting to affordable housing developers.  Several claimed that the Marinwood CSD never got involved in housing issues but this document shows that they have CONTRIBUTED to housing plans in 2006.

What is particularly upsetting about these long term residents, is that none of them have children in the Dixie School district, benefit from low Prop 13 tax rates and/or pay nothing into the schools at all because of the over 65 year exemption.  They completely dismiss the younger generation of families that pay the bulk of the taxes and have kids who may be forced from their local Dixie schools due to overcrowding.

"Newcomers" are the future. May the "old timers" understand that we want a great community with wonderful schools, just like they had for their children.   We will Save Marin again!
Susan Adams explaining the Marinwood PDA that she created August 7, 2007 to a skeptical crowd

And of course none of the "Friends of Marinwood Village" want to talk about the Toxic Waste HERE

Monday, March 17, 2014

Marinwood Village meeting on September 26, 2006

Get Microsoft Silverlight
See the Marinwood Village meeting on September 26, 2006  at the Board of Supervisors HERE

This is the first Marinwood Village Collaborative meeting. Notice all of the "Community Leaders" (Friends of Susan Adams) who voiced support of the concept.  Surprisingly no one mentioned the impacts on schools.  At the time, many of the older residents had no children in school.  The primary concern was restoring a derelict strip Mall with a market.  Some wanted affordable housing but most simply wanted a decaying mall to be restored to life.  The carcinogenic toxic waste spill from the Prosperity cleaners site was discovered later that year but only minor cleanup efforts have been made since then.  Shame on Susan Adams, who holds a PHD in Nursing to ignore this public health risk.  Not only did she know of the spill, she lobbied for an extension of the clean up in January 2014 so that Bridge Housing and Hoytt development could have time for their financing.

The toxic plume has spread under the 101 Freeway and is now on the border of Silveira Ranch threatening its water supply to people and hundreds of dairy cows.  Thousands of people could be affected by this environmental crime if the toxins contaminate the milk.  The toxic waste has been found to be 2000 times above safe levels.  

The site is now scheduled to be cleaned by August 2016.

Get involved.  Vote for change. 
Got Milk?

Bizarro Common Core kindergarten math homework stumps DAD WITH Ph.D.

Bizarro Common Core kindergarten math homework stumps DAD WITH Ph.D.


Posted By Eric Owens On 2:49 PM 03/16/2014 In | No Comments
Here is the latest in the never-ending litany of frighteningly stupid Common Core math worksheets. This one comes from the father of a kindergarten student in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina.

“I have a Ph.D., and I have no idea what is supposed to be done with this homework assignment,” the flummoxed father told The Daily Caller.

He sent the bizarre worksheet to TheDC on the condition of anonymity because he didn’t want to risk having his child be the subject of any reprisals from school employees.
“I can tell you that my five-year-old brought this home as kindergarten homework Thursday,” he said. “It was a single page worksheet, with the ‘Dear Parent’ section stapled to the top.”

The doctoral dad added that he did research some of the terms on the worksheet “enough to know that ‘K.OA.1′ is Common Core language.” (TheDC’s cursory Google search of the term ‘K.OA.1′ brought up “Kindergarten Common Core Math” with the second hit.)
The baffled parent also noted that the “subtraction stories” worksheet is copyrighted by Houghton Mifflin.

“I did consider that this was some sort of mistake—that is, the wrong instructions were attached to the worksheet,” the kindergarten father told TheDC. “But, notice, the headers seem to match.”

The Ph.D.-holding dad also spied the apparently misspelled word “transprancy” [sic] just above the picture.

“I have no idea what ‘transprancy’ means,” he observed. “It is disturbing to think about how much thought goes into the curriculum. And by that, I don’t mean how little thought, but just that: How much.”

This math lesson – such as it may be – is just one more in the constantly burgeoning inventory of sad and hideous Common Core math problems.

Just this month, for example, Twitchy exposed a stupid, overly complicated set of Common Core math problems involving “number bonds”—and so much more. Those problems were also being inflicted on kindergarteners. (RELATED: Here’s PROOF that Common Core aims to make America’s children cry)

Also in March, a frustrated dad posted his kid’s absurd Common Core-aligned math homework on Instagram. (RELATED: ‘Why are they making math harder?’ More absurd Common Core math problems)


In February, a group of Common Core-aligned math — math — lessons oozed out of the woodwork which require teachers to ask students if the 2000 presidential election was fair and which refer to Lincoln’s religion as either “liberal” or nothing. (RELATED: Common Core MATH lesson plans attack Reagan, list Lincoln’s religion as ‘liberal’)
In January, The Daily Caller also brought you a surreal, subtly cruel Common Core math worksheet. (RELATED: This Common Core math worksheet offers a glimpse into Kafkaesque third-grade hell)

January also brought a set of incomprehensible directions for nine-year-olds. (RELATED: Here’s another impossibly stupid Common Core math worksheet)

In December, Twitchy found the most egregiously awful math problem the Common Core had produced yet until that point. (RELATED: Is this Common Core math question the worst math question in human history?)

In November, Twitchy collected several more incomprehensible, unintentionally hilarious Core-aligned worksheets and tests. (RELATED: EPIC FAIL: Parents reveal insane Common Core worksheets)
Over the summer, The Daily Caller exposed a video showing a curriculum coordinator in suburban Chicago perkily explained that Common Core allows students to be totally right if they say 3 x 4 = 11 as long as they spout something about the necessarily faulty reasoning they used to get to that wrong answer. (RELATED: Obama math: under new Common Core, 3 x 4 = 11 [VIDEO])

Follow Eric on Twitter and on Facebook, and send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com

Supervisor Susan Adams pledges Support of Year Round Homeless Shelter. Mayor Phillips wants to see it in Unincorporated Marin.

Momentum Builds for Marin Homeless Shelter  see article


A recent cold snap called attention to the need for a winter shelter for Marin County’s homeless population, estimated at over 900.

patch
During a record-setting cold snap earlier this month in which overnight temperatures plunged into the 20s on eight consecutive days, a San Rafael homeless man who goes by “Haysz” developed frostbite on his hand.

“It’s been freezing cold,” he said. “It’s been pretty hard.”

Haysz is among an estimated 900 or so homeless people who live in Marin County, about half of whom live in San Rafael, Mayor Gary Phillips said.

A faith-based program in Marin provides 215 shelter beds to the homeless, but the county’s Rotating Emergency Shelter Team (REST) was by all accounts inadequate in meeting the demands of  hundreds of homeless people during the unusually long cold snap blamed on at least five Bay Area deaths.

The recent cold snap calls attention to the need for a permanent shelter that would address a problem that well intentioned REST program participants can’t shoulder alone.
Momentum appears to be building to create such a facility.

Phillips and Marin County Department of Health and Human Services Director Larry Meredith earlier this month agreed to work together to push for a year-round shelter, the Marin Independent Journal reports.

Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams has also pledged to support a year-round facility, the report said.

An IJ editorial makes a compelling case for a permanent winter shelter, too.

Where such a facility would be built, however, remains an open question. Phillips said he wants to see to a shelter outside San Rafael’s city limits, mostly to “send a message that’s it’s a county problem,” he told Patch.

Haysz insists the REST program doesn’t offer enough beds, a problem that became especially pronounced during this month’s cold snap.

“I think It would help a lot,” he said of the suggestion that a permanent shelter be built.
Homeless advocates support the idea of a homeless shelter, but not at the expense of permanent housing.

“Shelters tend to be temporary in nature, but since Marin County doesn’t have an emergency shelter that is low-barrier we think it’s an important piece of the puzzle, just as long as it’s not in lieu  of permanent housing,” Ritter Center Deputy Director Benjamin Leroi said.

See related story in the Marin IJ HERE

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Quick Poll: Do you support the development of Marinwood Plaza as currently proposed by BRIDGE Housing?

Do you support the development of Marinwood Plaza as currently proposed by BRIDGE Housing?



Please take the single question survey at: http://bit.ly/MarinwoodBridgePoll
Some important facts about the proposed development:
  • 86% of the residential is exempt from basic property taxes (72 affordable units vs 10 market rate units)
  • Proposed at ~30 units per acre densities (existing community majority densities are 4-5 units per acre)
  • Consists of 3-story apartment buildings less than a 500 ft distance away from Highway 101
  • Will redevelop an underutilized shopping center into a mixed use residential/retail development
  • Lack of elevators discourages senior housing and impedes ADA accessibility for higher levels
  • Affordable units consist of 1, 2, & 3 bedroom floorplans, market rate units consist of 1 bedroom floorplans


Link to development proposal: http://bit.ly/MarinwoodBridgeProp

To respond by email, please answer the question at the top with the following info:

1) A “Yes - I DO support the currently proposed development” or “No - I DO NOT support the currently proposed development” response

2) Full name and full address


VIDEO: Susan Adams "Marinwood PDA was recommended by locals".



See Supervisor Susan Adams at 42:59  explains to the audience at the Association of Bay Area Governments  that all PDA have been submitted by the local communities before submitting it to ABAG.  This is quite odd. 

We do not know of any public meetings in Marinwood by Ms. Adams or anyone else discussing the Marinwood Priority Development Area for urbanization.

It is all land East of Las Gallinas to the 101 Freeway.  Our neighbor Supervisor Adams lives in this area.

WHO SUBMITTED MARINWOOD for Priority Development?  We deserve to know.

Also, the Executive Director, Kevin Kirkey admits at the end of the exchange with Ms. Adams(44:40), that housing allocations are high in Unincorporated Marin (and since 71% of all housing is in Marinwood-Lucas Valley that means us).  He said it was a problem to be addressed later.  What could he be referring to?

Do you feel like you are in the dark about the massive changes underway in our neighborhood?

Why won't Supervisor Adam's answer simple questions about the Marinwood Priority Development Area that was submitted in 2007?


We have a right to know.  Get active.  Demand answers. 

Did you ever attend a meeting for the Marinwood Priority Development Area?