Sustainable Communities Strategy—Regional planning for our future

As the vice president of ABAG 2011, Susan is working with Marin and other Bay Area elected members to address some of the challenging aspects in determining local housing allocations as distributed by the state. The State’s Housing and Community Development Agency (HCD) calculates the future growth in our state and determines the number of housing units in all income categories needed to address the growth.

The Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA, also referred to phonetically as “reena”) is determined using data such as the census count, number of jobs created, population growth through birth and migration, etc. The state allocates these numbers to local regions and in particular to the local councils of governments (COGs) in the state. Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area have COGs. The SF Bay Area’s COG is the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). ABAG takes the numbers distributed by the state and begins to work on the methodology to decide how our 101 cities and towns and 9 counties will meet the state’s RHNA allocation.

The original state legislation was created in part to address the concerns that a full range of housing was not being built to address the growth in our region and in the state. The types and numbers of jobs being created contribute to the calculation of the final housing numbers. Cities derive much of their revenues through sales taxes from retail. Retail sales jobs typically pay lower wages e.g. Big Box retail. Lower paying jobs also create the obligation to build the housing for the workers in those jobs.

People are commuting longer distances to find affordable housing away from their work and contributing to traffic gridlock and greenhouse gas emissions. SB375 adds a new dimension to the housing element by linking air quality and emissions . . . jobs, housing and transportation links . . . to the calculation. The regulators determine what can and can not count as housing and decide how to allocate the housing numbers based on the range of factors for a range of housing at a variety of income levels.

In a county like Marin, which is suburban/rural, where growth has been slow and where land prices are expensive, creative options for creating the full range of housing are currently not allowed to be counted. For example, the Habitat for Humanity conversions of blighted housing into deed restricted affordable housing is not counted. The conversions the county made in Southern Marin from market rate to affordable housing was only given credit for ¼ of the conversions. Senior assisted living units for our rapidly aging population; co-operative housing for those who need wrap around services and some types of farm worker housing are not counted, yet we need to consider the housing needs for all of our community as we plan for how we will or will not grow.

What we now have is a state imposed one size fits all dysfunctional approach to creating sustainable communities. ABAG is trying to address this through the Sustainable Communities Strategy where growth is being directed toward the more urbanized areas where transit and jobs are located. Preserving the open spaces and agricultural areas as a region is also important so we don’t end up with the sprawl of southern California. But if we are growing jobs and our population in Marin, we will also share a small part of the regional obligation to create the housing for the people who will be living and working in our communities. San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland have taken on tens of thousands of units in the past cycle and will likely bear much of the burden for the regional development going forward.

Our board sent a letter to our state legislators and is working with our lobbyist to change Marin’s designation from urban to suburban which would change the requirement of 30 units per acre to 20 units per acre. Our board also set a legislative agenda and gave direction to our lobbyist to address the way we are able to count our housing in our community to be more reflective of local needs. Our state legislators need to take up the cause with us. There are many powerful forces in the state that will continue to argue against what we are asking and it will take political courage from Assemblymember Huffman and Senator Leno to push forward with us. We remain committed to pushing for this in my role at ABAG.

There will also be opportunities for the public to become more engaged in the “Sustainable Communities” process in the coming months, which started with a kick off presentation that the Transportation Authority of Marin meeting 2/24 at 7 PM at the Civic Center. To view this, you can go to the G Channel: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/g-channel/Default.aspx or http://www.tam.ca.gov/index.aspx?page=185

February 24, 2011 at 7 p.m.
TAM to Discuss Land Use and Housing via SB 375 Sustainable
Communities Strategy

As part of the next TAM Board of Commissioners meeting agenda, representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments will discuss the SB375 Sustainable Communities Strategy which endeavors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, align planning for transportation and housing, and create specified incentives for the implementation of the strategies.

Please visit the TAM website (http://www.tam.ca.gov) on Monday, February 21 to view the agenda and available supporting documentation for this and all agenda items and then plan to attend this meeting and join in the discussion on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers at the Marin County Civic Center.

We welcome and encourage your participation in this discussion.

Excerpted from The Bay Citizen
By Annette Fuentes, February 9, 2011

Charges were dropped today against two West Marin County women who were arrested for protesting the installation of PG&E’s SmartMeters in Inverness late last year. But controversy over the wireless meters shows no signs of abating . . .

Katharina Sandizell, of Pt. Reyes Station, and June DiMorente of Inverness, were among residents who blocked utility trucks as they were deployed in the town on Dec. 30 to install the meters in homes. The two were arrested on charges of obstructing traffic and failure to obey an officer.

But at a hearing this morning, county District Attorney Edward Berberian decided not to file criminal charges . . . the DA said that the SmartMeter controversy had nothing to do with the decision not to prosecute her.

Sandizell, who practices homeopathy, is also the co-founder with her husband, Barry Smith, of the Environmental Health Coalition of West Marin, a nonprofit advocacy and policy group. The SmartMeter has galvanized activists in Marin who oppose the use of the devices for health and privacy reasons. The meters, which transmit data on energy use back to PG&E in frequent pulses, emit low-levels of radiation, much like cell phones. While the utility has argued that there is no health risk from the meters, opponents like Sandizell and her husband say there is no definitive research on safe exposures.

“PG&E has conducted a campaign of partial and misleading information,” said Barry Smith. “They say, ‘You use a cell phone.’ Can anyone tell me if you put a SmartMeter on a wall outside a bedroom with a new-born infant what the impact is? There is no study.”

On Jan. 4, Marin County’s Board of Supervisors, reacting to resident concerns, passed a moratorium on installation of SmartMeters. Their action followed a similar ordinance passed in the town of Fairfax in August. The county ordinance applies to all unincorporated areas of Marin. But neither Sheriff Robert Doyle or the DA will enforce the new ordinance by stopping utility workers as they attempt to install the meters and issuing citations.

“It’s not an enforceable ordinance,” said Doyle. “PG&E derives its authority to install the meters from the CPUC [California Public Utilities Commission]. I conferred with a number of attorneys, and the DA has publicly stated that if any law enforcement issued citations, he would not prosecute them.”

Doyle said he feared the legal liability his office and the county would face if his deputies detained utility workers for installing the meters. “I have suggested to all the people who send me e-mails opposing the SmartMeters that they should get a lawyer and sue PG&E,” Doyle said. “I don’t know why they want the government to make this a criminal matter.”

Susan Adams, president of the Board of Supervisors, acknowledged that the moratorium may have more symbolic than legal clout. “While we did go into this understanding it would be difficult to enforce, because the CPUC has ultimate authority, the hope was if enough jurisdictions made enough of these public statements, the government would pay attention and put people on the CPUC who represent the public’s concerns,” Adams said. “It doesn’t mean our options are exhausted. I have a meeting coming up soon with PG&E and I’m hoping we can have some constructive conversations about what alternatives there are for people who don’t want the meters installed” . . .

Excerpted from PublicCEO.com by Dan Oney, February 9, 2011

. . . The overly meticulous nature of California’s regulatory structure is designed to ensure the safety of both its natural resources and its residents . . .

Over the protests of individuals, cities, counties, and soon-to-be-unemployed workers, PG&E and its supporters have ignored requests for diligence and responsibility in the process to place wireless SmartMeters across the state.

Some of the latest, and most formal, requests have come from the Marin County Board of Supervisors. On behalf of the County, Board President Susan Adams sent letters to various officials in January.

Supervisor Adams wrote California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey. She implored his Commission to “consider adopting policies that would allow those with personal health concerns to have alternative metering options without wireless frequency components available to them . . . ”

She wrote to Governor Brown and urged him to “appoint new PUC commissioners that will be more responsive.”

An additional letter from the Board of Supervisors went to the Federal Communications Commission, Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and Congresswoman Woolsey, asking them to re-evaluate the effects of the meters, and offer information about any current or planned studies into the matter.

The concern that Supervisor Adams mentions in her letters is the yet-to-be-determined impact of constant, and direct, exposure to the SmartMeters’ wireless frequencies and electromagnetic fields (EMF).

The state’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates has seen inconclusive studies into the effects of the SmartMeters. In a memo issued by their Acting Director, Joseph Como, the DRA has not taken a position on whether or not the SmartMeters have any health impacts, but notes that additional factors that can impact [Radio Frequency] exposure from SmartMeters [are] not addressed… and should be examined more closely.”

One of the issues that hasn’t fully been investigated is the effect that multiple, co-located units could have. Citing a Sage Associates report, a bank of eight SmartMeters could exceed FCC Guidelines for EMF. Additionally, some of the tested meters operate at power levels four times lower than the ones installed by PG&E.

Understandably, PG&E does not immediately gain the trust of a public who has had its systematically disregarded in the past. Those breaches of public confidence have cost Californians their lives.

While the effect of the RF and EMF technologies in the SmartMeters may only be questionable, people now instinctively react with caution, rather than haste.

Marin County is part of a growing coalition that has objected to PG&E’s SmartMeters. They passed a one-year moratorium on the installation of the devices. The towns of Fairfax and Watsonville, along with the County of Santa Cruz all have laws prohibiting PG&E from installing SmartMeters.

But PG&E claims only the California Public Utility Commission has the authority to stop them, and has not only continued retrofitting their connections with the devices, it appears they’ve accelerated the process.

San Louis Obispo, which according to one PG&E employee, wasn’t supposed to receive the SmartMeters for up to two years, had more than 113,000 meters scheduled for installation at the end of last year.

As the process moves forward, meter readers are finding themselves facing termination. For one employee whose territory was encroached upon by the new meters, the transfer to San Louis Obispo was supposed to help him keep his job for two more years. But PG&E’s accelerated installation schedule has him facing the end of his career.

During the worst recession in generations, PG&E’s hurry to install the SmartMeters is hurrying job losses in an already hurting California . . .

It’s time that PG&E works with Californians, and reassures us all that they don’t disregard our safety. Especially in the wake of the San Bruno tradgedy.

Answer Marin County’s questions about how environmental or collocation factors can impact the EMF levels of SmartMeters. Answer questions about what long-term effects exposure may have. Offer a choice of meters to residents.

Hal Brown at Creekside Park
by Steve Petterle

The renovation of Creekside Park, recently renamed Hal Brown Park at Creekside, in honor of Marin County Supervisor Hal Brown, is nearly complete! Although reopening of the park was set for October, the project hit a couple of bumps that are delaying completion until February. But the revitalized park will be worth the wait. If you’ve walked by lately, you’ve noticed the playground is beginning to take shape—the climbing wall, the kid-sized Clapper Rail and Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse nests, a 17-foot tall climbing net, and the sand play area are all there.

• The Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris), also known as the Red-bellied Harvest Mouse and some times called by Saltmarsh Harvest Mouse, is an endangered rodent endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area salt marshes in California. There are two distinct subspecies, both endangered and listed together on federal and state endangered species lists. The northern subspecies (Reithrodontomys raviventris halicoetes) is lighter in color and inhabits the northern marshes of the bay, and the southern subspecies (Reithrodontomys raviventris raviventris) lives in the East and South Bay marshes. They are both quite similar in appearance to their parent species, the Western harvest mouse. Its endangered designation is due to its limited range, historic decline in population and continuing threat of habitat loss due to development encroachment at the perimeter of San Francisco Bay.

This park isn’t just about play. Its unique relationship to Creekside Marsh along Corte Madera Creek offers learning opportunities for the five schools within walking distance. The amphitheater is designed specifically to provide a forum for education. When combined with the Marsh and Mt. Tamalpais Overlook, the park’s relationship with the mountain, the creek, the marsh, and the community will be strengthened.

For more information, visit marinparks.org, click “Our Work” and “Parks Projects” for the link to Creekside Park Renovation. If you have questions, contact Principal Park Planner Steve Petterle at spetterle@co.marin.ca.us or (415) 499-6394.

Unions spent record $135,000 to re-elect Susan Adams

Marin IJ
Nels Johnson, 09/02/2010 

Employee unions spent $135,000 to re-elect Supervisor Susan Adams, setting a new milestone for special-interest spending in a Marin County supervisorial race.

Included in that total is $125,000 from the Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West independent expenditure committee, which financed everything from polling to a barrage of political mailers and automatic “robo” telephone calls. The bulk of the union money paid for nine mailers, including a controversial “hole in the head” hit piece and five other broadsides that cast a negative light on Adams’ opponent, former Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni.

Contributions by the independent expenditure committee to the effort to re-elect Adams, as reported to Secretary of State Debra Bowen, totaled $124,720. Other county employee unions also rallied around Adams, chipping in another $10,000.

In all, including $85,325 spent by the separate Adams for Supervisor campaign, more than $210,000 was spent on her behalf, and she ended the campaign with no debt. Mazzoni spent a total $138,900, did not benefit from an independent expenditure committee and ended the campaign with a $40,853 debt. Adams won by 986 votes.

Adams, who questioned the propriety of the “hole in the head” mailer during the campaign but did not condemn the union spending spree on her behalf, said she tried to contact the committee without success to alert it that “I don’t need that kind of help.” Adams said she had no control over the   independent committee, asserted that any notion “that I orchestrated it is absolutely wrong,” and added she is “not in the union’s pocket.”

The union, which bills itself as the “largest and most powerful healthcare union in the western United States,” has more than 150,000 members . . .   The big spending benefiting Adams was part of the union’s statewide effort backing progressive, liberal candidates at all levels of government . . .

Union spokesman Steve Trossman, calling Adams a “terrific public official who understands the great job our members do in health care,” acknowledged that “the pay cut is an important issue for us.” Cutting pay for low-paid health workers will force many to quit for other work, hurting the quality of health care available in the community, he added . . .

Mazzoni called the union’s spending on Adams’ behalf a record for political excess in Marin.

Supervisor Adams, noting business interests including the San Rafael Rock Quarry backed Mazzoni, said critics simply “don’t give voters enough credit for making a decision based on the facts.”

Adams two years ago served on a county board committee that advocated campaign finance reform aimed at preventing special-interest groups from “buying” an election by having a disproportionate influence on it. The county board later shelved proposals for a $75,000 spending limit for county supervisor races, a $1,500 limit on contributions from organizations and a limit on donations from out-of-county sources, but approved an ordinance to assure disclosure of independent expenditures and big donors. Although the union’s committee spending was disclosed in a timely manner, contributors gave less than $100 each and remained confidential . . .    Trossman said the union committee was funded by small contributions from workers and noted there’s no question about how the money was spent.

What a year we had in 2010! The economy remained sluggish. The unemployment rate in Marin was the highest in recent memory exceeding the 8% mark. Homeowners in Marin were facing foreclosures and the ranks of homeless including families with children broadened.

At the same time, the County achieved an AAA bond rating and continued to have a healthy capital reserve to complete road projects, to work on identifying the final location for the emergency operations facility, to complete the highway 101 HOV lane expansion with a Class 1 bike/pedestrian pathway from the top of Lincoln Hill to Central San Rafael, to open the much anticipated Cal Park Tunnel and to build new children’s parks.

A new community Farmer’s Market was opened in Marinwood. Money for a new Housing First Program was allocated and 35 new Section 8 vouchers specifically for homeless vets were accessed.

After 8 years in office working on issues relating to the San Rafael Rock Quarry, they now have a new operating permit and reclamation plan and the Peacock Gap Peninsula will have a newly paved Point San Pedro Road by 2012. The Marin Clean Energy Program was successfully started.

Marin General Hospital made the transition back to the public with a loan from the county (which was paid back with interest).

A 25 million dollar structural deficit was eliminated through employee attrition, department restructuring and working more efficiently with 180 positions being eliminated. Employees worked with management to extend the age before retirement from 55 to 61+, COLAs were put on hold and health benefits including retiree health benefits were adjusted to provide more cost savings. Our County remains in the best condition of most of the other 57 counties in the State.

I am honored to have been re-elected for a 3rd term to the Board of Supervisors and will be serving in 2011 as the president of the board and the vice president of the Association of Bay Area Governments.

It appears the economy is recovering, albeit slowly. The county will continue to meet the challenges ahead.Health and Human Services is about to join the Partnership Health managed Medicaid program which will improve access and save dollars in Marin. We are coordinating our efforts with the Partnership to provide health care to our children with funding partners

The passage of the $10 Vehicle License Fee will improve transportation options for our seniors. Watershed projects are in various stages of development and implementation.

The Marin Energy Authority will pay back the loan from the county in the first half of the year and the county will be off the hook for the co-signed initial loan. The revenues will allow a continued investment into clean, renewable energy projects.

State legislation SB375 mandates regional government agencies work with their local government members to create a “Sustainable Communities Strategy” that considers land use, housing, transportation and decreasing green house gasses. 

I believe the best planning comes from the ground up and that there are changes that need to occur through state regulation and legislation in the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) to allow local governments the tools they need to meet the requirements within the context of the needs of the community…for example, senior assisted living residences should be allowed to be  counted and conversions of market rate units to affordable low income units should be allowed to be fully counted . . .

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us…but I know that the people of Marin are engaged in our community issues and we can achieve whatever goals we set for ourselves. I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and working side by side with you in 2011.

Happy New Year from all of us here in District 1!

County of Marin District 1 Newsletter, January 2011

Excerpted from the Marin Independent Journal
Nels Johnson
January 5, 2011

Marin officials trumpeted the new year with high expectations this week as they painted a rosy portrait of the county’s fiscal health, embraced the change in administration of state government in Sacramento, highlighted accomplishments and outlined a variety of challenges . . .

The session was marked by the passing of the baton, as Susan Adams replaced Judy Arnold as board president and presented her with a “Viking warrior goddess crown,” a plastic helmet topped by horns. Arnold was noted for running a tight ship as president, strictly limiting time for public speakers when crowds turned out.

Adams launched into a lengthy reflection, taking particular pride in a 2010 permit regulating activity at the San Rafael Rock Quarry after years of controversy, and saying the county, while facing budget obstacles, is in better fiscal shape than others in the state.

On November 12, the Quarry made an initial deposit
of $100,000 with the County to fund the
County’s staff permit oversight efforts and initial consulting
services. Also in November, the County issued
two Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to 44 mining, reclamation
and air quality consultant experts to peer review
technical, Quarry-submitted information.

Adams, a maternity nurse, also announced a “healthy employees” initiative at Civic Center in which departments will compete in various fitness categories.

As for the year ahead, “we’ll be able to achieve whatever it is we set out to do,” she said. Adams later acknowledged her own political future may include a run for the seat now held by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, who is expected to retire in two years. “I don’t know yet,” Adams said when asked if she will be a congressional candidate. “I’m thinking about it.”

At the same time, Supervisor Charles McGlashan ruled out a run for Congress, but did not rule out a run for state Assembly, where incumbent Jared Huffman is retiring and expected to run for Congress. In the meantime, McGlashan is applying for a seat on the state Public Utilities Commission . . .

As for serving as a county supervisor, an animated McGlashan told a packed audience, “We take this job seriously. We run it as a professional business.”

Supervisor Steve Kinsey talked about the new documentary, “Inside Job,” which he said details the financial meltdown of 2008 as a “collusion of the rich” at the expense of “we, the people,” and urged all to go see it. Kinsey expressed hope that the county would make inroads on the problem of homelessness . . . ” .

Supervisor Arnold lauded the staff but asked officials to make sure future agendas note whether outsiders hired to work on county business are “consultants” or “contractors.” Nonprofit groups perform a variety of health service tasks, for example, for less money than the county would otherwise spend, she said. “This is a contract, not a consultant,” she asserted, apparently irked by a newspaper report of consultant expenses.

Arnold called her time at the helm a joy. “The unique thing about our board is that we have a great respect for each other,” she said . . . .”