Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Aug. 5, 2023

Consultants less valuable than polling residents

For the last few years, Marin County has continually spent large sums of money hiring housing consultants.

These consultants usually come to Marin from other parts of the country. I suspect most really know nothing about our unique lifestyle. Thus, we ultimately end up with a lot of housing element babble and no real solutions. I find some of their information to be so far-fetched, it’s laughable.

My suggestion would be to ask Marin’s residents directly as to what they are facing as homeowners and renters in regard to their income, expenses, mortgages, leases, rents and their rights. That invaluable information would be a lot cheaper to collect than hiring another consultant.

— Sandra Macleod White, San Rafael

Novato’s empty buildings can become more useful

The recent article on Novato’s vacant buildings (“Novato to weigh ideas for abating vacant, blighted buildings,” July 19) is a timely summary of the problem.

This is a worldwide issue. It is especially troubling in San Francisco. What is needed is a combination of relaxed building code and occupancy permitting so live/work and multiple uses can form congregate situations.

This is not new. While “cohousing” is succeeding in a number of California locations, some European cities are producing environments where families and individuals, including elderly, can create a community that is economical, stable, friendly and supportive.

Using organizations like Habitat for Humanity, “sweat equity” projects can save older structures, reducing the cost of rehab. This reduces the amount of construction waste that goes into landfill.

In San Francisco during the 1970s, artists swamped commercial building vacancies. They reshaped these buildings as live/work opportunities. San Francisco’s city planning and inspection offices became aware of the dangers to health and safety at the same time they realized it was a solution to the mass vacancies.

Art groups worked to create new guidelines to address dangerous potential conditions. This avoided disasters like the terrible 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, where officials appeared to simply ignore the developing situation.

The new guidelines allowed owners to rent buildings to artists and craftspeople that would otherwise be unused spaces, allowing each artist to create the space and utility (electrical/plumbing) infrastructure.

Costs were low and inspections maintained safety. Unfortunately, this created a “loft” living movement where architects, lawyers and other professions competed for the spaces, driving up prices by the 1990s.

— Niccolo Caldararo, Fairfax

Novato City Council is only standing in the way

I am writing in regard to the article published July 19 with the headline, “Novato to weigh ideas for abating vacant, blighted buildings.”

From my perspective, it appears these properties are vacant because the Novato City Council is in the way of a buyer and seller getting together. This has been the case for a long time.

In the history of our country, there is no reason why the owner of private property needs the OK of the government, local or otherwise, to do a transaction. Otherwise, property rights have no meaning.

The IJ’s recent editorial (“It’s time Novato addressed issue of long building vacancies,” July 30) implies that the City Council should take its time to make long-overdue decisions about matters the council is inept to deal with. I totally disagree. Doing so will only ensure that transactions do not occur in the natural flow of buyers and sellers operating in their own best interest.

The council should have no say in all this. I believe in the foundational axiom that the more government gets involved in a matter the more it gets the matter fouled up. I dare anyone to challenge that assertion.

Simple capitalism has been solving situations like this for over 233 years. If it didn’t, we would be like a lot of other countries — eternally stuck in a morass.

While time is being frittered away by the Novato City Council, other communities are outgrowing Novato readily. The City Council’s range of authority should be substantially reduced.

— Roland Underhill, Novato

Schools should look into Linux computers

I am writing in regard to the article published July 25 with the headline, “Marin schools face expirations of COVID-era Chromebooks.”

It’s a pity schools in the state, or perhaps even across the country, can’t get together and each contribute a small amount to the Linux operating system community to provide money to encourage the development of open-source software meeting their students’ needs.

Computers can last many years with a Linux OS — there are still perfectly good Linux systems that run on older, less powerful machines that have been around for many years.

— Edward Clapp, Corte Madera

San Quentin should be closed immediately

After closely reading the Marin IJ recently, I feel prepared to critique Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to turn San Quentin State Prison into a Scandinavian model favoring rehabilitation over punishment.

First, on July 27 the IJ picked up an article by the Los Angeles Times headlined “Newsom’s signature move: Jam the Legislature.” It pointed out his disputed strategy of ramming his major policy programs through. The author stated that Newsom “has a penchant for publicly manufacturing a sense of urgency and giving lawmakers as little time as possible to act.”

The next day, the headline on another LA Times article in the IJ read, “Newsom’s San Quentin plan advances despite questions.” This $380 million plan is a perfect example of the above strategy. His lack of information is particularly alarming to most, as is the rushed timeline and high cost.

Doubling down on rehabilitation-based incarceration might have merits, but why do this at San Quentin? According to the article, the program is mostly focused on inmates with shorter sentences because they will be released sooner. But San Quentin, a male-only prison, has a high percentage of “lifers.” Why not try this experiment with female inmates too?

The state wants to close several prisons. Why not close the oldest, most expensive one to operate in the highest cost of living area for its staff? Prisons should be in small markets where an influx of revenue is needed, and housing costs are moderate.

This property should be turned into a state-of-the-art transportation hub with retail, commercial, and residential buildings, plus parks. The ferry terminal should move there.

This would shorten the commute to San Francisco and would eliminate the agonizingly slow boat speeds between Larkspur Landing and San Quentin (mandated to minimize wave action in the shallow bay).

— John Neuenburg, San Rafael

Ballot transparency measure must go further

It is good to read about the discussion the state has created by requiring the naming of top supporters of ballot measures (“Marin County opts out of law aimed at ballot transparency,” July 23). However, I believe that all tax ballot measures should at least also include the total local, state and federal tax burdens for taxpayers, in addition to the additions each measure adds to that burden.

Ballot measures for raising or continuing taxes should also include a comprehensive list of future anticipated tax measures and their anticipated tax burdens, so that the public has a complete context upon which to base a more fully informed vote.

Local authorities could require these ballot enhancements, but the state needs to step up and get the process begun, the sooner the better.

— Randall Knox, San Rafael