FABLE: Two Ducks and the Fox

Once there were two ducks that always walked along the same road each day to go to the pond. As they went along, one of the ducks quacked to the other, " Why don't we go on a different path today. There are lots of other roads that lead to the pond?"

      "No, no, no. I have always gone this way and I am not about to change my ways," said the biggest duck.

      As the ducks walked along they came upon a very sly fox. "Hello ladies, how are you doing?"

      "Oh we are just on our way to the pond." The ducks continued to waddled quickly to the pond.

      The next day the duck that had wanted to go to the pond another way said, "Please, lets go the other way. If we go the same way that fox will surely eat us."

      "Oh don't be such a worry wart," snapped the biggest duck.

      So they both had gone the same way that they always had, and there was the fox waiting for them with a sack in his paw. As soon as the ducks walked by the fox pounced on them. The ducks ran screaming back to their house.

      The next day the ducks took another road to the pond because they were both still in shock over what the fox did to them the day before.

Moral: Sometimes it is best to change your ways

THE ASS, THE FOX, AND THE LION

 

 An ASS and a Fox had become close comrades, and were constantly in each other's company. While the Ass cropped a fresh bit of greens, the Fox would devour a chicken from the neighboring farmyard or a bit of cheese filched from the dairy. One day the pair, unexpectedly met a Lion. The Ass was very much frightened, but the Fox calmed his fears.

"I will talk to him," he said. 

So the Fox walked boldly up to the Lion.

"Your highness," he said in an undertone, so the Ass could not hear him, "I've got a fine scheme in nay head. If you promise not to hurt me, I will lead that foolish creature yonder into a pit where he can't get out, and you can feast at your pleasure."

The Lion agreed and the Fox returned to the Ass.

"I made him promise not to hurt us," said the Fox. "But come, I know a good place to hide till he is gone."

So the Fox led the Ass into a deep pit. But when the Lion saw that the Ass was his for the taking. he first of all struck down the traitor Fox.

Traitors may expect treachery.

THE CAT, THE COCK, AND THE YOUNG MOUSE

 

  A VERY young Mouse, who had never seen anything of the world, almost came to grief the very first time he ventured out. And this is the story he told his mother about his adventures.
"I was strolling along very peaceably when, just as I turned the corner into the next yard, I saw two strange creatures. One of them had a very kind and gracious look, but the other was the most fearful monster you can imagine. You should have seen him.



"On top of his head and in front of his neck hung pieces of raw red meat. He walked about restlessly, tearing up the ground with his toes, and beating his arms savagely against his sides. The moment he caught sight of me he opened his pointed mouth as if to swallow me, and then he let out a piercing roar that frightened me almost to death."

  Can you guess who it was that our young Mouse was trying to describe to his mother? It was nobody but the Barnyard Cock and the first one the little Mouse had ever seen.

"If it had not been for that terrible monster," the Mouse went on, " I should have made the acquaintance of the pretty creature, who looked so good and gentle. He had thick, velvety fur, a meek face, and a look that was very modest, though his eyes were bright and shining. As he looked at me he waved his fine long tail and smiled.
"I am sure he was just about to speak to me when the monster I have told you about let out a screaming yell, and I ran for my life."
"My son," said the Mother Mouse, "that gentle creature you saw was none other than the Cat. Under his kindly appearance, he bears a grudge against every one of us. The other was nothing but a bird who wouldn't harm you in the least. As for the Cat, he eats us. So be thankful, my child, that you escaped with your life, and, as long as you live, never judge people by their looks."

Do not trust alone to outward appearances.

FABLE: The Monkey and the Crocodile

The monkey has a sweet heart.

Once there lived a monkey in a jamun tree by a river. The monkey was alone - he had no friends, no family, but he was happy and content. The jamun tree gave him plenty of sweet fruit to eat, and shade from the sun and shelter from the rain.

One day a crocodile came swimming up the river and climbed on to the bank to rest under the monkey's tree. 'Hello', called the monkey, who was a friendly animal. 'Hello', replied the crocodile, surprised. 'Do you know where I can get some food?' he asked. 'I haven't had anything to eat all day - there just don't seem to be any fish left in the river.'

'Well,' said the monkey, 'I don't eat fish so I wouldn't know - but I do have plenty of ripe purple jamuns in my tree. Would you like to try some?' He threw some down to the crocodile. The crocodile was so hungry that he ate up all the jamuns even though crocodiles don't eat fruit. He loved the sweet tangy fruit and shyly asked whether he could have some more. 'Of course', replied the monkey generously, throwing down more fruit. 'Come back whenever you feel like more fruit', he added when the crocodile had eaten his fill.

After that the crocodile would visit the monkey every day. The two animals soon became friends - they would talk and tell each other stories, and eat as much of the sweet jamuns as they wanted. The monkey would throw down all the fruit the crocodile wanted from his tree.

One day the crocodile began talking about his wife and family. 'Why didn't you tell me earlier that you had a wife?' asked the monkey. 'Please take some of the jamuns for her as well when you go back today.' The crocodile thanked him and took some of the fruit for his wife.

The crocodile's wife loved the jamuns. She had never eaten anything so sweet before. 'Imagine', she said, 'how sweet would be the creature who eats these jamuns every day. The monkey has eaten these every day of his life - his flesh would be even sweeter than the fruit.' She asked her husband to invite the monkey for a meal - 'and then we can eat him up' she said happily.

The crocodile was appalled - how could he eat his friend? He tried to explain to his wife that he could not possibly eat the monkey. 'He is my only true friend', he said. But she would not listen - she must eat the monkey. 'Since when do crocodiles eat fruit and spare animals?' she asked. When the crocodile would not agree to eat the monkey, she pretended to fall very sick. 'Only a monkey's heart can cure me', she wailed to her husband. 'If you love me you will get your friend the monkey and let me eat his heart.'

The poor crocodile did not know what to do - he did not want to eat his friend, but he could not let his wife die. At last he decided to bring the monkey to his wife.

'O dear friend', he called as soon as reached the jamun tree. ' My wife insists that you come to us for a meal. She is grateful for all the fruit that you have sent her, and asks that I bring you home with me.' The monkey was flattered, but said he could not possibly go because he did not know how to swim. 'Don't worry about that', said the crocodile. 'I'll carry you on my back.' The monkey agreed and jumped onto the crocodile's back.

The crocodile swam with him out into the deep wide river. When they were far away from the bank and the jamun tree, he said, 'My wife is very ill. The only thing that will cure her is a monkey's heart. So, dear friend, this will be the end of you and of our friendship.' The monkey was horrified. What could he do to save himself? He thought quickly and said 'Dear friend, I am very sorry to hear of your wife's illness and I am glad that I will be able to help her. But I have left my heart behind on the jamun tree. Do you think we could go back so that I can fetch it for your wife?'
The crocodile believed the monkey. He turned and swam quickly to the jamun tree. The monkey leaped off his back and into the safety of his tree. 'False and foolish friend,' he called. 'Don't you know that we carry our hearts within us? I will never trust you again or ever give you fruit from my tree. Go away and don't come back again.'

The crocodile felt really foolish - he had lost a friend and
a supply of good sweet fruit. The monkey had saved himself because he had thought quickly. He realised that a monkey and a crocodile could never be true friends - crocodiles preferred to eat monkeys rather than be friends with them.

Lisa Grady of Bridge Housing to RWQCB: "We want protection from liability after we buy Marinwood Plaza"

History of Marinwood Plaza in 2014

Renee Silveira was shocked to learn that Bridge Housing wants a guarantee after purchasing Marinwood Plaza that they will not be liable for the toxic waste.* It seems no one wants to be the responsible party to clean up all of the residual toxins that could find its way to the Silveira Ranch water source, poisoning the dairy herd, the residents and potentially thousands of people that drink milk.  

Supervisor Susan Adams called multiple times and Assemblymen Mark Levine called on behalf of the developers and landowners to vacate the toxic waste clean up order and extend the final clean up date  so they may have additional time to get financing and permits.  

Why didn't they consider the risks to PUBLIC HEALTH first?  

Lisa Grady, Marinwood Village, Former Senior Project Manager

See full Board Packet with the Geologica Report responses from Marinwood Plaza, LLC, Bridge Housing and Silveira Ranches HERE

Email sent to the RWQCB on January 8, 2014.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Lisa Grady
To: Aue, Kent@Waterboards
Cc: Tom Graf (tom@grafcon.us)
Subject: Water Board Order Regarding the Marinwood Plaza site
Date: Wednesday, January 08, 2014 4:47:12 PM

Kent:

As you know, BRIDGE intends to develop the site post-remediation and we have assumed
that vapor mitigation in the form of sub-slab ventilation or ventilated flooring will be
necessary for some period of time in the areas currently showing vapors exceeding
allowable concentrations. We want to make sure this is taken into account with regard to
the order.

Additionally, without understanding the constraints and regulations governing the
Waterboard, it would be ideal if staff were able to modify the order with regard to timing.
While we hope this won’t be the case, the entitlements and environmental approvals may be litigated. We were anticipating that the completion of the soil removal would occur once BRIDGE has secured the necessary financing to begin construction. We anticipate that the entitlement and environmental approvals will be secured in 12 to 18 months from today. Once that occurs, and assuming there is no litigation, we would proceed with the completion of the construction documents, financing and building permitting. Typically, that takes about a year’s time. So, the earliest construction start date isn’t likely to be until June of 2016.

The other item I would like to discuss at some point is the Prospective Purchaser document
we need to protect us from liability once we take title. You indicated that the Water Board
no longer issues these but I’d like to understand how we get to an equivalent level of
protection absent that document.

Please give me a call if you have questions. Thanks and Happy New Year.

Lisa

Lisa Grady | Senior Project Manager
BRIDGE Housing Corporation | 345 Spear Street, Suite 700, San Francisco, Ca., 94105
Direct: 415.321.3534
p. 415.989.1111 ext 7514
f. 415.495.4898

lgrady@bridgehousing.com

Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to toxins in the environment.

*Of course, if anyone were to receive such a guarantee, then the public will never be certain that a full cleanup has taken place.  It simply gives the buyer a permanent "get out of jail card" free.

Postscript:  Lisa Grady left employment with Bridge Housing shortly after this letter was discovered and made public.

Residents live in filth, fear in mismanaged Bay Area public housing

Residents live in filth, fear in mismanaged Bay Area public housing see Center for Investigative Reporting

Feb 17, 2014

• 

  Amy Julia Harris

  Housing and Development Reporter

Editor's Note: The New HUD financed affordable housing in Marinwood like the proposed Marinwood Village will import out of county residents from East Bay Cities to fill them just like Hamilton's Bay Vista and Wyndover projects. Marinwood-Lucas Valley has been given 70% of all affordable housing in the 2012 Housing Element for unincorporated Marin. Supervisor Susan Adams was a prime advocate of placing housing here.

For months, Geneva Eaton woke to handfuls of half-dead mice wriggling in her glue traps.

Credit: Lacy Atkins/San Francisco Chronicle

There were at least 16 life-threatening health and safety violations at the five public housing projects managed by the housing authority, according to the two most recent years of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports. Seniors and disabled residents lived amid exposed wiring and missing smoke detectors and fire alarms. Most well-kempt housing projects don’t have these major health and safety violations, HUD says.
Nearly 1 in 5 apartments in the Hacienda and Nevin Plaza complexes are infested with insects and cockroaches, inspection records show.
Then there are the indignities that don’t show up in formal government reports: A woman with no legs giving herself sponge baths from her bathroom sink because maintenance workers didn’t install a simple safety bar in her shower. The fire department rescuing a paralyzed veteran from his third-floor apartment because the elevators didn’t work for three days. A disabled man who watched in horror for nearly a month as raw sewage slowly dripped from the neighbor’s bathroom upstairs.
Residents say their pleas for basic maintenance are ignored by officials paid to provide services to the poor.
CIR also found a number of cases in which housing authority workers claimed in official documents to have fixed problems. But they hadn’t.
“It’s just continual chaos here,” said Everett Dennis Lewis, a disabled resident of Hacienda. “The housing authority doesn’t give a crap.”
There are 4,055 public housing agencies in the United States, all overseen by HUD. Last year, the federal government labeled 44 as “troubled” – housing authorities that had such severe problems with their finances, management or living conditions that the government was on the brink of shutting them down.
Richmond was one of them.
In the most recent federal assessment reports, released in 2013, Richmond received a score of 47 out of 100, one of the lowest rankings in the country. It received failing marks for running up debt and failing to track its finances. Its executive director was deemed ineffective.
Richmond managed to receive a passing grade for the condition of most of its apartments. For the most part, the projects in Richmond aren’t as dilapidated as those in Detroit and New Orleans. But the breakdown in finances and leadership manifests itself daily at Richmond’s two largest – and worst – complexes as residents struggle with rodents, filth and security problems.
“They are a dysfunctional organization,” said Gerard Windt, division director of the HUD office that oversees Richmond.
The Richmond Housing Authority got $26 million in 2013 from the federal government to provide safe and decent housing for the needy. Richmond has 715 units of public housing for the poor, elderly and disabled. It also gives out Section 8 vouchers to subsidize rent for an additional 1,750 residents on the private market.
Residents who end up in Richmond’s public housing are predominantly old or disabled African Americans. More than three-quarters of them make less than 30 percent of Contra Costa County’s median income, or $18,750 a year, according to HUD. Many of them used to have jobs as grocery baggers, janitors and food service workers until they got old or sick. Some lived on the streets, and others struggle with addiction.
Residents don’t get their apartments for free. Almost 90 percent pay between $200 and $500 a month in rent, according to HUD. Eaton pays $262 a month to the housing authority.
The authority’s executive director, Tim Jones, said he’s “running an operation on life support.” He blamed years of budget cuts from the federal government for the problems plaguing the housing authority and insisted that the agency is on the road to recovery. He said the problems come down to money.
All 4,000-plus housing authorities across America face these same slashed budgets. About 1 percent of those agencies find themselves on HUD’s troubled list.
Maintenance complaints neglected
When Juanita Hasnat moved into Nevin Plaza in 2011, the housing authority knew she was disabled. But her apartment didn’t have a simple disabled access fixture: a safety bar in the bathtub.
Hasnat told the housing authority about the oversight, thinking it would be a quick fix. But

A Different Vision for Marinwood Plaza- A Vibrant Retail Location

Marinwood Village is an excellent location for an Artisan Market like the Barlow or the Oxbow Market in Napa.  Located just off the 101 highway, it is perfectly situated for both local business and tourism.  The Barlow and the Oxbow Market are just two examples of the concept

Affordable housing can be located in a more family friendly, environmentally safe location at a density that makes sense for Marin.

The San Francisco Exodus  

• Gabriel Metcalf
• Oct 14, 2013

My friends keep moving to Oakland. Gone from San Francisco for greener pastures and cheaper rents, because it’s just gotten too hard, by which I really mean too expensive. Their move signals that something has gone terribly wrong in this most progressive of American cities.

In some ways, we came by the problem innocently. San Francisco had the good fortune to be one of the very few 19th century industrial cities to successfully make the transition to a new, post-industrial economic base. It wasn’t just bohemians who set up shop here—all kinds of entrepreneurs and creative business people decided to call San Francisco home. As wave after wave of older industrial jobs moved out of town, new types of work were created to replace them.

At the same time, San Francisco was a great place to live. Partly from historical inheritance and partly from the work of activists who chose to make the city the focus of their activism, the city remained a walkable, urban paradise compared to most of America.

Something has gone terribly wrong in this most progressive of American cities.

A great quality of life and a lot of high-paying professional jobs meant that a lot of people wanted to live here. And they still do.

But the city did not allow its housing supply to keep up with demand. San Francisco was down-zoned (that is, the density of housing or permitted expansion of construction was reduced) to protect the "character" that people loved. It created the most byzantine planning process of any major city in the country. Many outspoken citizens did—and continue to do—everything possible to fight new high-density development or, as they saw it, protecting the city from undesirable change.

Unfortunately, it worked: the city was largely "protected" from change. But in so doing, we put out fire with gasoline. Over the past two decades, San Francisco has produced an average of 1,500 new housing units per year. Compare this with Seattle (another 19th century industrial city that now has a tech economy), which has produced about 3,000 units per year over the same time period (and remember it's starting from a smaller overall population base). While Seattle decided to embrace infill development as a way to save open space at the edge of its region and put more people in neighborhoods where they could walk, San Francisco decided to push regional population growth somewhere else.

Whatever the merits of this strategy might be in terms of preserving the historic fabric of the city, it very clearly accelerated the rise in housing prices. As more people move to the Bay Area, the demand for housing continues to increase far faster than supply.

There’s a lot of housing under construction now, and for the next couple of years, we’ll see more built. But a few years of strong housing production, building out neighborhood plans that the city has worked on for the last two decades, is going to be too little, too late to undo the larger trend. Absent any transformative approaches, new housing construction is likely to return to its normally low levels after the current round of building is finished.

Railing against Google buses, fancy restaurants or new condos—the visible signs of gentrification—will do nothing to stop San Francisco from becoming more expensive. These are not causes of the rising rents; they are symptoms. The root cause is that many people have chosen to live in San Francisco, and we are now all

Marin Grassroots members confront me at the "State of Emergency" meeting for civility in public meetings.

Marinwood Village- an ideal home for Napa's Workforce?

[Editor's Note In Fiscal Year 2006/2007  Marin won a grant from Caltrans to study Marinwood Village for housing Napa workforce commuters 36 miles away .   As unreal as this sounds, they actually won $91,120 for the study which became the "Marinwood Village Collaborative". The hand picked  participants  were sworn to keep matters secret  until it could be presented to the community.  Just another example of your tax dollars at work and Supervisor Adams "efforts to redevelop the Marinwood Plaza site"]

Community--Based Transportation Planning Grants
Marinwood Village Planning Process

• Grant Amount: $91,120
• Grant Recipient: Marin County Community Development Agency
• County: Marin

Project Area – An underutilized shopping center on a five-acre commercial parcel in the Marinwood community.

Project Focus – The Community Based Transportation and Coordinated Land Use Plan (CBT Plan) will concentrate on coordinated transportation and land use within Napa County and into our neighboring Counties which provide Napa with its work force. According to the recent Napa County Community Indicators report, a growing number of Napa County’s residents are retirees who no longer contribute to the work force. As more of Napa’s baby boomer residents retire in their homes, there will be an even greater need for employees to commute into Napa for work. Also according to the Indicators report, there is an increasing trend in retirees relocating to Napa County. The combination of the availability of jobs and higher priced housing or lack of available affordable housing in Napa County has forced many Napa employees to commute into Napa from Solano and Lake Counties

Project Goals – The Marinwood Village project will provide transportation, housing and environmental benefits that support local, regional, and State planning goals. Redevelopment of Marinwood Plaza will also help fulfill the County’s goal of less development in the rural areas of west Marin County and more in the urbanized area along the Highway 101 corridor. The project will

combine housing and employment opportunities on one site, thereby improving the jobs/housing balance in the area; and it will expand shopping opportunities for Marinwood residents, thereby reducing the frequency and length of vehicular trips. The project will also encourage alternative modes of transportation by improving bike and pedestrian routes and providing better access to the bus stops along Highway 101.


Community Outreach – Over the course of this planning project, more than 100 meetings with public interest and advocacy groups were held. In addition to these special purpose meetings were two series of general, open public meetings, in the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008, each of which had three meetings for a total of six. Also in the fall of 2007 Napa’s Transportation Future hosted a Speakers Series with six outside experts to bring national transportation experts to the community.

This grant gave us the Trammel Crow Marinwood Village Collaborative

See article here:

A Housing Solution Gone Awry

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Jeremiah Johnson Hierro, 4, plays in Marcus Garvey Village in Brownsville, Brooklyn. His mother sends him away in the summer for his safety.

By GINIA BELLAFANTE

 

In the early 1970s, the architect and city planner Oscar Newman came forth with a book and theory called “Defensible Space,” which relied in part on data from New York City public housing to propose a set of design solutions to the mounting problems of urban living.

The idealism of the ’60s extended to the notion that architecture in itself could engender meaningful social change, a belief now long out of circulation and perhaps never more so than at a time when the city’s civic leaders view development largely as bait for luring foreign capital. Mr. Newman examined public housing and determined that bigger, essentially, was worse; that taller buildings correlated with higher rates of crime and that design that was focused on giving residents a greater sense of ownership over where they lived would help prevent the delinquencies that had taken hold in the projects. The fewer the number of apartments sharing a common entry, for instance, the greater the ability for residents to both feel and exercise a sense of control over their environments.

      

Mr. Newman’s work brought momentum to a movement, here and abroad, for more intimately conceived apartment buildings, especially for the poor, one of the most celebrated examples of which was Marcus Garvey Village, with 625 apartments, in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Visiting Marcus Garvey today, it is nearly impossible to imagine the excitement that surrounded its groundbreaking 40 years ago, but it was born of thrilling alliances, as an exhibit at the Center for Architecture downtown, titled “Low Rise High Density,” illustrates.

      

In the late 1960s, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller initiated the short-lived Urban Development Corporation, which sought to match the best architectural talent to the creation of low- and middle-income housing. Marcus Garvey resulted from a collaboration between this agency and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies, an architectural research organization headed by the architect Peter Eisenman. In 1973, three years before the project was completed, the project’s design, realized by the architect Kenneth Frampton, was paid tribute with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. The buildings themselves resembled student co-ops on progressive college campuses. Apartment doors opened to the outside rather than onto hallways; the units had communal mews and private backyards. And yet, ultimately, the distinguishing elements delivered consequences radically different from the grand intentions.

      

The fate of Marcus Garvey Village is not addressed in the Center for Architecture’s show, but the sense of exuberant experimentation that attended the project could not insulate it from the problems of poverty that have troubled Brownsville for decades. As one former official at the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development told me, Marcus Garvey actually makes the ailing towers of the Housing Authority so heavily concentrated in Brownsville “look good.”

About 10 years ago, Susan Saegert, a professor of environmental psychology at the City University of New York and two doctoral students looked at life in the structures and found that the courtyard areas, a hallmark of the design, became a nexus of the drug trade in the ’80s and ’90s precisely because they were shielded from public access and view. What was meant to foster an elevated sense of privacy instead contributed to criminality.

      

Marcus Garvey turned into a home base for the Folk Nation gang. A decade ago, the complex became the target of a joint operation by the Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to combat the problem of drug- and gang-related violence in the residences. Since the construction of Marcus Garvey, the poverty rate in Brownsville has not gone down; it has gone up — to close to 40 percent today from 29 percent in 1970. As Professor Saegert wrote in her analysis, “Development does not end when developments open. This is when the real work begins.” Mindful design can accomplish little divorced from broad, aggressive strategies to fight social inequality.
      

The most dispiriting irony about life in Marcus Garvey Village today is that its residents could not possess less of a sense of control over where they live. Crime has abated but a heavy and oppressive police presence has not, residents told me. Marcus Garvey Village is patrolled by a private security force as well. When I visited several weeks ago with a colleague, guards insisted on following us and tried to claim, inexplicably, that we could not talk to residents on their stoops or in their apartments even if we were invited in.

      

One resident, Jamal Matherson, told of seeing a friend pinned down one evening a few weeks ago by three police officers for no obvious reason when they were talking outside their building. Another resident talked about seeing a little girl on a stoop approached by a police officer who checked her drink to make sure it did not contain alcohol (she was having iced tea). If you happen to be having a glass of wine on your stoop in Cobble Hill, the chances that a police officer will tell you to stop are roughly equal to the chance that a schnauzer will pass on an excellent stock tip. If you are drinking wine on the stoops of Marcus Garvey Village you will most likely be questioned and given a ticket.

Stoops, in the Jane Jacobs sense, are supposed to inspire communality; here they inspire more surveillance. Mews are rarely used anymore, one young mother, Shelecia Johnson, told me.

Barbecues rarely happen. Ms. Johnson has a 4-year-old son; in the summer when things are both dull and more dangerous, she sends him away. Soon, he will be headed to the Carolinas.       

      

School Expansion Costs Estimate $2.5- 3 Million Dollars,

According to Luke McCann, deputy Superintendent Marin County Office of Education, the cost to build a 6000 square foot modular addition is $2.5 - $3 million dollars. It is being built to accomodate the County Community School at the Las Gallinas campus. The school will house 40 students and instructors.  The amount does not include instructors, books, computers or furnishings.   Above is the budgeted cost estimate.  The structure is modular and built on a slab foundation.

The cost of portables can run around $170,000 installed each.  We will need 5-7 portables for a total cost of $1.5 million dollarsl

The Marinwood Village project by Bridge Housing was initially estimated to bring 150 students which will definitely trigger expansion of our schools. Through the  "magic" of statistics they revised their estimates to 60 students.  Bridge Housing "school impact fee" is estimated to be only $200,000 total.  

For this reason alone, the Marinwood Village project should be halted until an equitable financing scheme can be found that will not erode the funding of our Dixie School district.

We must insist that the supervisors get the math right on school funding when planning for non-profit developments. 

Our children's education, our community is not "for sale".

Save Marinwood. Our community. Our future.

Toxic Waste concentration is 2000 times legal limit at Marinwood Village (01:37)

This brief clip is from the full hearing on the Toxic Waste cleanup for former Prosperity Cleaners site at Marinwood Plaza. It is alleged that Prosperity Cleaners dumped Toxic Waste (PCE)  behind their store in Marinwood Plaza, creating a massive environmental problem.  The PCE has migrated through the soil under the 101 Freeway and is heading straight for the water well located on the Silveira Ranch. The well provides drinking water for the for the residents and the dairy herd.  Potentially thousands of people including pregnant women and children could be affected by the toxic contamination of their milk if the site is not cleaned up immediately.

Supervisor Susan Adams and Assemblymen Mark Levine lobbied the RWQCB to remove the current clean up order and extend the date for compliance so that it will fit their financing and construction schedule.  Supervisor Susan Adams has a PHD in Nursing and we are shocked that she would protect the development interests over the public health.  She ran on "Cows not Condos" to protect Marinwood from over development in her initial campaign for Supervisor. She is running for re-election in 2014.

Read more on PCE environmental cleanup HERE

Time is running out. 

Toxic Waste Cleanup of Marinwood Plaza- Renee Silveira speaks

Renee Silveira describes the shock of discovery that a toxic waste spill had spread perilously close to the Silveira Dairy Ranch well water. She did not receive notification until years after the initial discovery of the problem by Hoytt Enterprises.

Marin Grassroots, Asks the Governor to declare a "State of Emergency" on Free Speech

Raw Footage of "State of Emergency" Rally in Marin on July 23, 2013.

See the story here in the Marin IJ

The following is from the press release of Marin GrassRoots:

Marin Grassroots, who works to support the engagement of low-income people in civic engagement, is requesting a State of Emergency to be placed in Marin County due to severe limitations to the democratic process and threats to residents’ civil rights. The obstructionism and gridlock that the Tea Party has brought to the U.S. House of Representatives has now descended on Marin County, where local government is beset by a growing mob of angry homeowners.

"Residents of color report being singled out in the controversy. Raphael Durr of San Rafael states that, “I feel like it’s the Civil War here in Marin. I’m afraid of backlash I’ll receive from attending a public meeting as a Black man.” Martha Vega, single mother of two declared that, “As a Latina, it’s difficult to get landlords to rent to me, despite my steady income and strong references.”

Speakers at public meetings have put an explicitly racial lens on their concerns. One prominent realtor, for instance, accused a Marin County Supervisor of “volunteering us for the ghetto,” and went on to comment that, “If you’re white in Marin, looks like you are out of luck.”

Among the most affluent counties in the U.S., with the smallest proportion of minority residents in the entire Bay Area, Marin is facing a growing crisis over whether its democratic institutions can function. The voices of constructively-engaged citizens, including low-income and minority residents, are routinely drowned out at County board meetings by what one resident calls, “an angry mob of hundreds of mainly white homeowners.” With no coherent vision of the future of Marin or the Bay Area, these homeowners appear bent on shutting down public discussion and decision making altogether, regardless of the consequences.

Hopefully a state of emergency will bring the focus of discussion back to a coherent vision of Marin County’s future, and to reduce the increasingly threatening voices heard locally, in the media, and in public meetings. One Marin resident who has long been accustomed to bring constructive ideas to their locally-elected representatives is predicting a descent into complete chaos if current trends continue. Because civic engagement in a democratic society is how to promote the best interests of the larger community, rather than to polarize and shout down the opposition, they fear that the civic institutions responsible for local self-government will soon become incapable of taking important actions that the vast broad majority publically supports."

Here is a clip from the above full press conference showing Sustainable Marin director Kiki La Porta:

Here is a clip that shows how I was treated when I arrived at the press conference by a well known activist, Lynne Wasley from "Stand up for Neighborly Novato"  also heard on tape is Dave Coury who declared, "This is War" in a Board of Supervisors meeting  HERE




I let you decide who the "bully" is in the above unsolicited confrontation.

"Now say you love Plan Bay Area, sissy"

An Urban Paradise in " Marinwood City"?

Is this the face of a future Marinwood City?

[Editor's Note.  The following is a lecture by urban planner Randal O'toole given in Witchata, KS criticizing the Smart Growth policies that are targeted for the Marinwood Priority Development Area. Will we learn from the mistakes of Portland, Oregon or will we destroy our community for a planning Fad?]

Randal O’Toole said he spent 15 years studying urban planning, and he said he’s learned this:

“Urban planners promise us paradise on earth, but first we have to give them the power to create it.”

Imagine an urban planner in 1950 writing a 50-year plan for Wichita. O’Toole showed illustrations of some things we take for granted today but were unknown at that time, such as direct dialing a long-distance telephone call, using a personal computer, and flying on a commercial jet aircraft. But, he said, nearly everyone had rode on trains.

We know that predictions made in the past often turn out to be nowhere near accurate. But urban planners still make these type of long-range plans. The problem, O’Toole said, is that when plans are made, someone is going to benefit from that plan. Those people will lobby to keep the plan in effect so that they continue to benefit. This will be true even if the plan turns out to be totally wrong and a disaster for everyone else.

Cities are too complicated to plan, O’Toole said. There are too many people, and there are too many parcels of land with too many possible uses. Despite this complexity, planners think they should be allowed to dictate the use for each parcel of land.

Since planning is so complicated, planners follow fads. As an example, O’Toole showed an example of a city that created a pedestrian mall downtown, as did some 200 cities across the country. Almost all have since been reopened to traffic.

Another fad was slum clearance, where high-rise housing projects were built to replace slums. These buildings proved to be unlivable, and many have been torn down.

One of the latest fads is “smart growth,” which seeks to increase the density of urban development. O’Toole’s hometown of Portland has embraced this fad. There, an urban growth boundary limits the expansion of developed areas. Instead of growing out, planners want the city to grow up. Minimum density zoning means that high-density housing that replaces single family housing.

Row houses in Portland. These replaced a single-family home.

O’Toole showed a photograph of a nice house that he said sells for $160,000 in Houston. In Portland, at the peak of the bubble, a similar house would sell for $380,000. He said that Portland planners are proud of the fact that developers will buy a house on a quarter-acre lot, tear it down, and replace it with four skinny row houses.

Could this happen in Kansas, he asked? O’Toole said that President Obama’s Secretary of Transportation has decided to require all metropolitan areas to write plans to include compact development.

Light rail is another favorite tool of urban planners that hasn’t worked. O’Toole told how Portland built light rail rather than highways. Federal dollars encouraged this. But light rail was so expensive that Portland had to cut back on its thriving bus service. Bus fares were raised and service was cut, so bus ridership plummeted.

A light rail train in front of an apartment building in Moscow …
… and the same in Portland.

Portland built still more light rail, however, urged on by campaign contributions from rail contractors. Land near the light rail stations was zoned for high-density development. But no one wanted to develop there, because there was a surplus of high-density development and no parking around these light rail stations — except for train riders, and few people rode the trains. So Portland subsidized high-density development along light rail lines.
Portland also created tax increment financing (or TIF districts) along the light rail lines. O’Toole referred to the money allocated to TIF districts as stolen from police and fire services, and from public schools. But still more TIF districts were created along even more light rail train lines.

Cars parked illegally at a high-density, transit-friendly development in Portland. Management knows that if parking regulations are enforced, tenants will leave.

The claim by government officials is that light rail promotes economic development. But it’s a zero-sum game, O’Toole said. Development is promoted in one place at the expense of development elsewhere. The added tax burden of TIF makes it a negative-sum game, as the cost of TIF financing slows the economic growth of cities that use TIF compared to those that don’t.

O’Toole showed a photograph of a mixed-use development in Portland with three floors of apartments upstairs, with shops on the bottom floor. But all the stores are empty, because there is no parking for shoppers. [Editor's note::This is exactly what will happen with Marinwood Plaza if current plans are adapted. This site should be 100% commercial and housing should be located elsewhere]

All the spending on light rail in Portland has led to a decrease in the share of commuting trips taken using transit, O’Toole said.

So what is the result of following urban planning fads in Portland? O’Toole said: “If your goal is to make housing unaffordable, make your streets more congested, increase taxes or reduce the quality of urban services, then by all means follow the kind of fads that Portland is doing.”
O’Toole said that cities should follow the type of planning efforts that Anaheim, California has followed in the Platinum Triangle. Instead of using TIF financing to sell bonds and take land by eminent domain, cities should not rely on eminent domain and subsidy. Government should get out of the way, he said.

Clean up or Cover Up at Marinwood Plaza?

On May 13, 2015,  several residents for Marinwood appeared before the Regional Water Quality Control Board in Oakland, CA to testify for the immediate clean up of the Toxic Waste at the Prosperity Cleaners site at Marinwood Plaza, 132 Marinwood Avenue, San Rafael, CA.

In February 2014, the same board issued a clean up order to the plaza's owners Marinwood Plaza, LLC .  They objected on grounds that clean up is very expensive it would it difficult for the new owners to obtain financing in a timely fashion.  The spill had spread UNDERNEATH the freeway and was approaching the well on an adjacent dairy  farm that produces food for thousands.  

Supervisor Susan Adams and Assemblyman Marc Levine personally intervened on behalf of the DISCHARGER in 2014 (not the public in immediate health risk) to DELAY THE CLEAN UP.

One year later and two buyers have dropped interest in the property and NO CLEAN UP or plan for CLEAN UP has begun.

Residents are frustrated.  Hundreds of lives may be affected.   The board simply wants to test more wells instead of ordering the immediate clean up

We must Save Marin Again.

Marinwood Village Enviromental CRIME! PCE Risks to You (en espanol )

From the National Library of Medicine

Perchloroethylene (PCE, PERC)

en español

Perchloroethylene is used in dry cleaning. Long-term exposure may affect health.

What is perchloroethylene?

Perchloroethylene is a colorless, nonflammable liquid with a sweet, ether-like odor. It is also called tetrachloroethylene, PCE, or PERC. The chemical formula for perchloroethylene is C₂Cl₄.

Perchloroethylene is a volatile organic compound (VOC). Perchloroethylene is a manufactured chemical that is primarily used for dry cleaning fabrics and degreasing metals. It has also been used to make other chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons, and rubber coatings; as an insulating fluid and cooling gas in electrical transformers; and as a scouring, sizing, and desizing agent in textiles. It is an ingredient in aerosol products, solvent soaps, printing inks, adhesives, sealants, paint removers, paper coatings, leather treatments, automotive cleaners, polishes, lubricants, and silicones. It is also an ingredient in some consumer products, including typewriter correction fluid, adhesives, spot removers, wood cleaners, and shoe polish.

How might I be exposed to perchloroethylene?

You can be exposed to perchloroethylene if you dry clean your clothes, which will release small amounts of perchloroethylene into the air after they are dry cleaned, or if you use a laundromat that contains dry cleaning machines. You can also be exposed if you use products that contain perchloroethylene, such as fabric finishers, adhesives, spot removers, typewriter correction fluid, shoe polish, and wood cleaners.

Exposure to low levels of perchloroethylene in the air and water can occur because of industrial releases. There is more perchloroethylene in the air in urban and industrial areas than in rural and remote areas. You can be exposed to higher levels if you live or work close to dry cleaning facilities, chemical waste sites, or chemical storage areas where perchloroethylene has been stored.

At work, you can be exposed to perchloroethylene if you work in a dry cleaning, metal degreasing, chemical production, rubber coating, or textile facility.

How can perchloroethylene affect my health?

Short-term exposure to high levels of perchloroethylene can affect the central nervous system and cause unconsciousness and death. 
Perchloroethylene is listed as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" in the Thirteenth Report on Carcinogens published by the National Toxicology Program because long-term exposure to perchloroethylene can cause leukemia and cancer of the skin, colon, lung, larynx, bladder, and urogenital tract.

Long-term exposure may also damage the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys; it can also cause respiratory failure, memory loss, confusion, and dry and cracked skin. If you are pregnant, long-term exposure to perchloroethylene may damage a developing fetus.

Short-term exposure to high levels of perchloroethylene can cause buildup of fluid in the lungs, eye and respiratory irritation, severe shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, sleepiness, confusion, difficulty speaking and walking, and lightheadedness.

Short-term exposure to low levels of perchloroethylene can cause dizziness, inebriation, sleepiness, and irritated eyes, nose, mouth, throat, and respiratory tract. Direct contact with perchloroethylene liquid or vapor can irritate and burn the skin, eyes, nose, and throat.

If you have a disease of the heart, liver, kidneys, or lungs, you will be more susceptible to the health effects of perchloroethylene.

If you think your health has been affected by exposure to perchloroethylene, contact your health care professional.

For poisoning emergencies or questions about possible poisons, please contact your local poison control center at 1-800-222-1222.

This description is based on the information found in the Web links listed with this topic.

More Links
Map of Superfund Hazardous Waste Sites with Perchloroethylene in the United States. TOXMAP (National Library of Medicine) 
Tetrachloroethylene (PERC). ToxFAQs. (Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) 
Tetrachloroethylene. Haz-Map (National Library of Medicine) 
Tetrachloroethylene. Hazardous Substances Data Bank (National Library of Medicine) 
Tetrachloroethylene. Household Products Database (National Library of Medicine) 
What is Perchloroethylene (Tetrachloroethylene or PCE)? (Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center) (PDF — 62 KB)

Bridge Housing to win $2.2 Million Grant for Marinwood Village

Chief Planner Leelee Thomas explains that Bridge Housing is in line for a $2.2 million dollars gift. She explains at appx. 03;56 that they will qualify for $25,000 for each of their 82 units at Marinwood Village.


Ah,  the life of a "non-profit" developer!   They win so much taxpayer money from our "generous" supervisors,  State, Federal and foundation grants- not to mention they don't have to pay property taxes for 55 years and pay a pittance for all other services like schools, infrastructure, police and fire.

You may think that affordable housing is for the "working poor".  It's not.   It is for the "corporate welfare queens" who squeeze the system for every taxpayer giveaway they can get.   They also typically scoop 60% of the rent as management fees.  The "working poor" are merely bit players in this complex corporate welfare scheme.

[Editor's Note]I am republishing this posting from 2013.  Although Bridge Housing has stepped away from Marinwood Plaza, other developers are lining up to take part in the scheme to redevelop.  The county has also promised to give away part of Marinwood Avenue for parking  (illegal transfer of wealth from the county to a private party) and the toxic waste hot spot is far worse than ever imagined creating huge legal liabilities for any potential developers.   A cancer hotspot in Casa Marinwood and the toxic waste has spread ACROSS the freeway .  Any developer taking on the project absorbs a huge risk.  But if the money is FREE from the taxpayers....