Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for May 26, 2024

Toll could deter East Bay commuters using Marin

Marin is an idyllic place to live. However, there is one issue that nags at me. I’m talking about traffic on Highway 101.

There used to be northbound traffic every afternoon north of Novato due to the narrowing of the freeway. Thankfully, the widening of the corridor has resulted in much better traffic flow.

Unfortunately, it appears to me that commuters utilizing Marin as a traffic corridor to the East Bay have negated the benefit of that work for some of us. Every day, the backup for the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge slows northbound traffic around Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and in San Rafael.

I feel strongly that the backup is caused by people who don’t live in Marin. Yet it is residents traveling locally who are paying the price and being forced to sit in traffic.

I think the solution is to charge a toll for drivers traveling east on the Richmond Bridge. I suspect doing so would discourage some who are using Marin as an alternative to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

— Jeff Greenberg, Larkspur

Frustration of bike path next to traffic jam mounts

As I read your front page report on the new multi-modal path (“Larkspur path segment opens for cycling, walking,” May 21), I looked at the single bike rider in the photo. It summed up my feelings: This project represents another lost opportunity to actually make a difference in the life of the average Bay Area citizen.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a lovely path for the few that will use it. But, as a society, we simply must stop building these fantastical, “build them and they may come” projects and think of the greater good.

Most afternoons, the northbound Highway 101 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard exit traffic backs up as far south as Mill Valley. I’m no Caltrans engineer, but it seems to me that placing a second eastbound exit lane where that shiny new path got built could have solved a lot of that backup at a fraction of the cost and timeline of what has been proposed over the hill in San Rafael for the proposed connector with Interstate 580.

What’s more, with a portion of the money left over, we could have built a new multi-modal path over the existing right of way of the old train trestle in Larkspur as well.

I admit, it might not be that simple. Either way, it’s time for us to get out of our special-interest corners and work together to find a better way forward. Clearly, the path we are on right now is not working for the majority of people, nor is it truly helping our fragile environment.

— Erik Selvig, San Anselmo

In support of protections for the renters of Fairfax

As a homeowner in Fairfax, I am a longtime supporter of renter protections against building owners who exploit and financially destabilize their tenants. I also enthusiastically support more affordable housing, more housing density near transit and aggressive community efforts to protect a livable climate in the face of the climate crisis.

I’m disturbed by the reactionary effort to recall two members of the Fairfax Town Council (“Fairfax councilmembers targeted by recall effort,” April 26). They were elected by the community and are doing an excellent job under very trying circumstances.

I do not believe a majority of Fairfax residents support this effort by a small, belligerent group of naysayers. Many suspect they are aligned with members of the real estate industry. They seem happy to perpetuate the old status quo, where landlords have all the power, accrue all the equity in the property they own and are able to intimidate and traumatize renters with unreasonable rent increases and evictions whenever they choose.

American society is as economically unequal as ever. Much of the wealth disparity is due to issues around housing, as Councilmember Stephanie Hellman explained when interviewed for a recent IJ article.

“The real estate industry are the folks that brought us redlining, segregation in housing and fought the Fair Housing Act of 1969,” Hellman said. “It only follows that they would fight these policies.”

Even now, the Marin County Recorder’s Office continues to search for and remove racial covenants from property documents forbidding home ownership by people of color. Building owners already benefit significantly from favorable tax laws the Real Estate lobby has paid politicians to implement. Communities need to provide tenants with some degree of stability as they anticipate how future housing costs may increase, as well as reasonable protection against exploitative landlords.

— Patrick Costello, Fairfax