Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Still "nothing to discuss" at Marinwood CSD? Maybe a $2 million dollar loss in revenue?
OPEN LETTER TO MARINWOOD CSD Staff and Board Members
Schools could reopen in July. This will have huge impact on Marinwood CSD revenue.
How about discussing the potential loss of $2 million dollars in Summer Camp, Rec and Pool Revenue?
How can camp safely open without endangering the health of the community? What is the LEGAL LIABILITY to Marinwood CSD if campers get sick because of negligence of our summer staff?
Will the CSD push ahead with the construction of a custom Maintenance Facility that is currently FIVE TIMES the projected cost in its earliest stages?
The time for action is now before it is too late.
CA Schools Could Reopen In July; Businesses Will Be Staggered
Public schools may reopen as early as July, and some businesses within weeks, according to a coronavirus reopening plan unveiled Tuesday.
By Nick Garber, Patch Staff
|
CALIFORNIA — State officials on Tuesday unveiled a plan to gradually restart public life in California amid the coronavirus crisis, with public schools reopening for the next school year as early as late July and businesses reopening in stages, depending on their level of risk.
The four-stage process for easing the state's stay-home order was unveiled at a news conference by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Dr. Sonia Angell, the state's Public Health Officer. Newsom did not provide a timeline for when restrictions would be eased, but said the state was "weeks, not months, away from making meaningful modifications" to the order, assuming social distancing continues.
According to the state's reopening framework, California is currently in Stage 1: defined by creating a safe environment for essential workers and laying out plans for easing restrictions in the future.
The highly anticipated Stage 2 may include reopening schools in late July or August, Newsom said, citing the need to make up for lost learning as the state's students have faced a rough transition to distance education. Lower-risk businesses would also be allowed to reopen during this stage, including manufacturing, retail that allows for curbside pickup and offices that are able to implement social distancing, Angell said.
"Our kids have lost a lot with this disruption," Newsom said, calling distance learning "inadequate" to meet the needs of the state's six million students.
The state will enter this phase through a statewide modification to its stay-home order, Angell said. For that to happen, the state must reach sufficient testing and contact tracing capacity, hospitalization and ICU trends must stabilize and there must be enough PPE to meet demand.
Next, Stage 3 would allow the reopening of "higher risk" workplaces that require person-to-person contact. That includes personal care businesses like gyms and hair salons; churches, weddings and other religious services; and entertainment venues like theaters and sports without audiences.
Don't miss updates about the coronavirus in California as they are announced. Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.
A fourth and final stage, in which the state lifts its stay-home order and allows high-risk places like concert venues, live sports and convention centers to reopen, will not come until the state has access to therapeutic drugs to treat COVID-19, Angell said. Experts have warned that that development may take months, if not years.
Avoiding a second wave
Tuesday's news conference was billed as an update to the fifth of California's six goals that state officials are studying as they decide when to reopen the state. The fifth goal concerns whether businesses, schools and child care facilities are able to maintain social distancing, including state guidelines that may require health checks for employees and customers.
While the state has seen progress in its efforts to slow COVID-19, officials and public health experts have warned repeatedly that reopening the state too soon could cause a disastrous resurgence in cases.
"I want to caution everybody, if we pull back too quickly … it could start a second wave that could be even more damaging than the first," Newsom said Tuesday.
The state's other indicators included whether California had the means to protect its most vulnerable residents from contracting COVID-19, how well the state's hospital systems can handle surges in patients and whether the state had developed new treatments for COVID-19.
Newsom said Tuesday that the state is now testing an average of 20,000 people per day. The state had hoped to reach 25,000 daily tests by the end of April, with an eventual goal of 80,000.
California's testing rate, which experts have called the most important benchmark for containing the coronavirus, still lags behind those of dozens of other states.
As for contact tracing — a crucial way for officials to understand how the virus is spreading — California hopes to train a team of 10,000 tracers, drawing from an existing pool of state workers. Newsom has not said when they will be ready to deploy.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Time for "Wait and See" is over at the CSD. An Open Letter
Are you convinced yet that we won't have "business as usual" this Summer?
Since I last wrote you
1.) School has been canceled for the remainder of the year
2.) Marin County Fair has been cancelled.
3.) Fourth of July parade in Novato has been cancelled
4.) The Assistant Medical Officer at MHHS has warned us that we will not return to "normal" for the rest of the year or several years in the future.https://www.marinij.
5.) Marin orders mandatory masks for everyone.
All is not lost. There is much positive news too. The curve is flattening, Marin has far fewer cases than expected , new drugs will be coming to market and a vaccine may be ready in 2021. Coronavirus often disappears during the warm weather and returns in the Fall.
Good news but far from normal.
Everywhere cities are revising their budgets but we have still haven't heard a peep from Marinwood CSD. You didn't meet Tuesday, April 14th because you had "nothing to discuss".
It seems like there is much to discuss and fast.
Will the Marinwood CSD 1.) postpone the pool season 2.) mothball summer programs and 3) postpone the Maintenance Facility project ?
All will be necessary to weather the storm of a $2 million dollar loss. At some point, we will return to normal but it is obviously time to "trim the sails". A hurricane is upon us. Let's do the right things now to protect "the ship" and know that better days are ahead.
I look forward to hearing from you. I expect you must meet soon. Please let the public know what the CSD is doing to preserve our future.
Hope all is well with you and your family during this shut down.
All the best,
Stephen Nestel
P.S. Keep in mind that any sacrifices made by the CSD at this time are just a fraction of the catastrophic losses suffered by workers and owners of small businesses. Many of the decisions will be tough for the CSD but nothing to compare to the totality of the losses experienced by some.
Monday, April 13, 2020
FABLE: The Monkeys and the Bell
Once upon a time, there lived a robber in a village. One day, he stole a temple bell and ran towards the forest. A Tiger heard the jingle of the bell and became curious to locate the sound. As soon as, he saw the robber, he jumped upon him and killed him at once. The bell fell on the ground. After a few days, a group of monkeys passed through that way. They spotted the bell and carried it to their home.
They found the jingle of the bell very interesting. Subsequently every one of them became very fond of the bell and started playing with it. After every tiring day, in the night monkeys would sit on the top of the hill in the forest and enjoy the melodious sound of the bell. The people of the village were afraid of the noise. Soon afterwards, the people from the village found the body of the robber and proclaimed, “Certainly there is an evil spirit around here that kills human beings and then rings the bell to celebrate”.
When the people heard this, they thought that some demon was haunting their village. Without giving any second thought, People started leaving the city in terror. There was an intelligent and bold woman in that village. She thought to herself, “I don’t believe that some demon is haunting this village. I will find out that who is ringing the bell”. At late night, she went into the forest bravely and found that a group of monkeys were playing about and ringing the bell.
Now as the woman knew the secret about the bell, she went to the King and said, “Your Majesty! I'm sure this evil spirit can be conquered by worshipping the Gods. But this will cost money. If you can grant me some money, I will kill the demon and bring happiness to the village”. The King, who was too afraid to get rid of the demon, granted the request of the woman.
On receiving the money, the woman bought some peas, groundnuts and fruits. She arranged a worship of the Gods. She made a circle on the ground, placed all the eatables and started worshipping the Gods. After the ritual, she picked up all the eatables and went into the forest. She placed the fruits and other things under a tree near the hill. She kept a watch of the monkeys from a distance.
As and when the monkeys saw the eatables, they dropped the bell just as the old woman had expected out of them. They ran to pick the eatables. The woman picked up the bell quickly and rushed towards the village. She gave the bell in the court of the King. The King was happy with the brave woman and everyone in the village admired her bravery. The pleased King rewarded the woman for her bravery. Since that day, there was no noise and people lived happily ever after.
Moral: One must not be afraid of trifles. Intelligence and courage succeed against all odds.
Friday, April 10, 2020
“No Essential Items to Consider” for Marinwood CSD?
Did we hear this right? The Marinwood CSD has “no essential items to consider” during a financial crisis? Maybe they have no PUBLIC items they wish to discuss but there are plenty of items to discuss like the 2020 budget. Sorry, problems don’t simply disappear.
Sent to us at 5:15 pm April 10th, 2020:
Sent to us at 5:15 pm April 10th, 2020:
Hello,
On behalf of Marinwood CSD, we all hope this finds you and your loved ones managing through these challenging times as well as possible.
As there are currently no immediate and essential action items for the Board of Directors consideration, it has been decided that the board meeting originally scheduled for April 14, 2020 will be cancelled. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for May 12, 2020.
In the meantime, we continue to work diligently while remaining committed to the District and the community.
Thank you,
Eric Dreikosen
District Manager
Mass layoffs at Yelp, Eventbrite show coronavirus’ damage to SF tech
Mass layoffs at Yelp, Eventbrite show coronavirus’ damage to SF tech
Roland Li April 9, 2020 Updated: April 9, 2020 5:15 p.m.
1of3Employees work at various spaces around the building at the Yelp headquarters in San Francisco in 2018.Photo: Amy Osborne / Special To The Chronicle 2018
2of3Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman poses at his company’s headquarters in San Francisco in 2014.Photo: Eric Risberg / Associated Press 2014
3of3Eventbrite Chairman Kevin Hartz, center, is welcomed by Specialist Peter Giacchi, left, as he and company CEO Julia Hartz, start Eventbrite's IPO process on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018.Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press 2018The coronavirus is bruising San Francisco’s tech industry.
Yelp is laying off 1,000 workers and furloughing 1,100 more, roughly a third of its staff, the company said Thursday. Eventbrite laid off 450 employees, or nearly half of its workforce, on Wednesday.
Airbnb, which planned to go public this year, raised $1 billion this week as bookings have plunged worldwide. The company enacted a hiring freeze for most jobs and paused marketing in an effort to save $800 million this year, tech news website the Information reported last month.
The three companies, which are headquartered in the South of Market, are reliant on industries that have been devastated by the coronavirus: live events, retail, restaurants and travel. In contrast, major companies like Salesforce and Google are still hiring rapidly and donating millions of dollars for aid.
Smaller companies are more vulnerable to an economic downturn and other challenges from coronavirus compared to the tech giants, Colin Yasukochi, executive director of brokerage CBRE’s Tech Insights Center, previously told The Chronicle. More economic pain could widen the gap between the biggest tech companies and startups that are struggling.
Shelter-in-place orders have shuttered most small businesses in the Bay Area and around the world, which has badly hurt Yelp.
“Yelp connects people with these great local businesses, and as their worlds have been turned upside down, these businesses are understandably forced to pause or reduce spending on the products and services that Yelp provides,” Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman wrote in an internal company email Thursday. “To help Yelp get through this period of great uncertainty, we have had to make some incredibly hard decisions to reduce our operating costs.”
The company expects to spend $8 million to $10 million on severance and furloughing costs. Executives are taking a 30% pay cut, and Stoppelman will not receive a salary this year.
Three steps that will save Marinwood CSD in 2020: An Open Letter
Public meetings in times of COVID 19/ Three steps that will save Marinwood CSD in 2020
I understand that the Brown Act public meeting requirements are still in effect excepting the in person requirement. This means that meetings must be noticed and there needs to be a way for public to participate.
I wrote to you recently offering to help with video streaming and setting up web conferencing but received no detail on how you plan to move forward during this time of COVID 19 crisis. The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Undoubtedly, there has been discussion among the staff and the Marinwood CSD board members but the public has been left in the dark. This is a vital moment for our community and the public should be participating during these times.
According to the latest Marinwood CSD budget submitted March 10, 2020 the Marinwood CSD could LOSE $2,000,000 in lost revenue from recreation programs this year. We still are employing a full staff and nothing has been said about cancellations except that Jeff Naylor CSD President "hopes that we have a normal summer" in his April 3, 2020 letter.
As of April 7th we know that Marin schools will not resume for the remainder of this year. How likely is it that suddenly, the aquatic and summer camp will return to "normal levels" with 500 children a day running around our park "maintaining social distancing" after being prohibited from social interaction for months?
Not very likely.
It is imperative that the Marinwood CSD take the following three steps to minimize the financial havoc to our bottom line. If nothing is done, insolvency may be in our future.
1.) Suspend the 2020 Pool Season. Hire no seasonal staff, layoff existing support staff until 2021. Use this time to upgrade the facility, resurface the pool, conduct major maintenance. What better time to do this anticipated maintenance that a year where demand will be light.
2.) Postpone all summer camps. This seems very obvious. There will be no way to protect children and staff from being vectors for COVID19 transmission. The liability is enormous. Craft alternate "coronavirus safe" activities that will not endanger our population. I have no doubt that camps will return once more information and treatment of COVID 19 is available. In the meantime it is an unacceptable risk to host a summer camp.
3.) Postpone the Maintenance Facility project. This also seems obvious in light of a major financial crisis. As you know I have been a critic of the project and most especially the inflated and unnecessary costs. If you move ahead with this project now, you will risk plunging the Marinwood CSD into insolvency. Use this time instead to maintain existing park structures upgrade trails, install safety equipment etc.
Action steps taken today will save Marinwood CSD for the future. Are you up to the task?
Please let me know how you plan to conduct public meetings as required by law.
Stephen Nestel
P.S. If you think these steps are difficult for the Marinwood CSD, consider that approximately 1/3 of our workforce in private business are suffering catastrophic financial losses. Many businesses will simply not return. It may be years before the economy returns to normalcy. The Marinwood CSD can avoid MAJOR LOSSES by acting now to preserve capital and redirect assets. In the long run this will be best for the employees of the district and the public alike.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Marinwood CSD faces a $2 Million dollar LOSS in Revenue in 2020
Jeff Naylor's "happy talk" is too little too late. The Marinwood CSD only increased disinfection routine AFTER a public complaint to the Marin County Health Department. It took them TWO WEEKS to lock up the filthy public restrooms and empty trash bins daily. The Marinwood Fire Department however, was up to task immediately under the leadership of San Rafael Fire Department.
Marinwood CSD faces a $2 Million dollar LOSS in Revenue in 2020
As most people know, all schools in Marin County will be closed for the rest of the school year as a result of COVID 19. As a result it is absurd to think that Marinwood CSD programs will "return to normal" in June as suggested by Jeff Naylor, Marinwood CSD board president on April 3, 2020.At the March 10, 20120 meeting, the public was met with the typical arrogance of the CSD Board when we implored them to take immediate action in preparing contingency plans for our budget in the face of a global pandemic. They told us "wait and see"
In this letter from several days ago, Jeff Naylor Marinwood CSD president and Eric Dreikosen, CSD Manager is still taking a "wait and see" approach as if magically everything will return to normal and suddenly in a few weeks, we will return to normal life.
Despite the sudden prospect of losing all of our recreation revenue for Summer 2020, no actions have been taken to preserve our financial reserves and to take financial precautions immediately. Several weeks ago I suggested that we eliminate our 2020 pool season and mothball the Summer camp programs. This will be difficult but completely a rational business decision in light of the current reality. If circumstances change, we can create a partial camp and swim season.
This has not been done, however, and CSD has a full load of employees who's only
role is to provide support for our summer recreation season. Despite the opportunity to create alternative recreational programs, there is no evidence they are doing anything during the shutdown excepting "waiting and seeing".
On top of all of this Dreikosen and the CSD announced they are continuing to fund Bill Hansell's White Elephant Maintenance Shed which will may be the most expensive project in Marinwood CSD history. Hansell was hired to do the entire project for $13.800 but the project has only gotten to the blueprint stage for FIVE TIMES THE COST. It is very expensive because the architect is insisting on customized features unheard of for a landscaping shed.
The Marinwood CSD is destined to be driven into bankruptcy and dissolution if competent leadership is not found soon. The Marinwood CSD is "waiting and seeing" in the time of extreme financial crisis. Both the Marinwood CSD board and staff are to blame.
How to make a non-medical coronavirus face mask – no sewing required
The CDC now recommends all Americans wear a face mask in public – you can make your own using a T-shirt or handkerchief
The US Centers for Disease Control now recommends that all Americans wear face masks in public to reduce transmission of Covid-19. Because there are widespread shortages of medical-grade face masks, and leaders and experts agree those should be reserved for healthcare providers, individuals are largely making face masks at home.
Jeremy Howard, a University of San Francisco researcher and the co-founder of Masks 4 All, explains how to create your own, with no sewing required.
Version one – the T-shirt facemask:
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- Start with an old T-shirt, preferably 100% cotton – anything will do, as long as it’s not too thin – and outline the pattern of the mask. The bottom line should go just beneath the armpits of the shirt. Make sure the part that goes on your face is large enough to cover your nose and mouth.
- Cut along the lines through both sides of the shirt so that your mask has two layers.
- Place a safety pin along the bottom and insert a piece of paper towel or coffee filter in between the two layers of the T-shirt. This acts as an additional filter, and rests on top of the safety pin.
- Secure the mask around the front of your face, covering your nose and mouth. Tie the top straps under the back of your head and the bottom straps at the top of your head. That will ensure a nice fit underneath your chin. By covering your mouth, you have now protected those around you, and the better the fit, the more you’re going to also protect yourself.
Version two – the handkerchief face mask:
- Start with a handkerchief and two hair ties. Rubber bands are okay as well, although they will be less comfortable.
- Fold the handkerchief in half, along a horizontal axis, and make a nice crease.
- Place piece of paper towel or coffee filter at the center of the handkerchief. Fold the top down and the bottom up, so that the coffee filter or paper towel rests in the fold.
- Place your first elastic about one-third of the way in from the edge of the handkerchief. Place the second elastic one-third of the way in from the other side. The two elastics should be about one hand-width apart.
- Fold the left side in toward the center and then fold the right side in toward the center, tucking the right side into the left-side flap.
Using and taking care of your mask:
- Don’t wear it at home, and don’t wear it in the car, unless you’re with people outside your regular family group. Don’t wear it more than necessary – just wear it when you’re in a public place, like a supermarket, where you might be within 6ft of people. It may not be necessary in a park or on a quiet street with few pedestrians, when you’re moving around.
- Don’t remove the mask until you’re at home or in a place where you can wash your hands and avoid coming within 6ft of other people. When you do remove the mask, avoid touching the front of it in case you breathed in infected droplets that could now be there.
- Remove and dispose of the paper towel insert. Place the rest of the mask in soapy water, soak it for two minutes, then wash and rinse. Any kind of soap – dish soap, laundry detergent, hand soap – will do. Then wash your hands, and disinfect with bleach or alcohol anything you touched after taking off the mask. Never reuse a mask without washing it first.
- Next time you wear the mask, remember to replace the paper-towel insert.
- If you have symptoms – a stuffy nose, a cough, a fever – stay inside.
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