Detailed Statement of Positions on Important Issues

By Maureen Parton

This is a detailed statement of my positions on important issues and the ideas I have and actions I suggest to address them.

Affordable housing is a way of describing or quantifying a ratio that expresses how much of a person's income should be devoted to housing. By and large, it is assumed that people can afford to pay about a third of their income on housing. The relationship of household income to housing costs is key to understanding whether in fact housing is affordable. We need to ask ourselves who needs housing in our community and why is it important to provide this housing at affordable levels?

The Overview of Housing Needs In Marin County, published in February of 2002, set out a few examples of very low income jobs: cashier, cook, recreation worker, retail salesperson, childcare worker, emergency medical technician. Low income jobs included: open space ranger, children's librarian, street maintenance worker, custodian, elementary school teacher and emergency dispatcher. Moderate income jobs included: fire inspector, entry level firefighter and police officer, pharmacist and nurse practitioner.

Providing affordable workforce housing is a social good and helps address one of Mill Valley's chief environmental problems + our lack of affordable housing. People with service jobs make our community a safe and pleasant place to live. Service workers in Mill Valley should be able to live here, if they desire. Furthermore, to the extent that service workers live in Mill Valley, their lives and ours are healthier and more sustainable: We all enjoy cleaner air and less traffic congestion from the influx of a commuting workforce. Our local workforce should be part of the community it serves and should not have to commute long distances to work here. It calls us to reawaken to the village concept that brought us Mill Valley in the first place. Mill Valley has always prided itself on the inclusiveness and diversity of its residents with workers and the wealthy living together in harmony and goodwill.

Actions: On the Mill Valley Planning Commission and as Aide to Supervisor McGlashan, I have met with affordable housing developers and advocates to learn about the challenge we face and to support their initiatives. I have attended affordable housing seminars and education sessions. I see the mixed use development on Miller as providing some units of affordable housing as a result of the city's inclusionary housing ordinance. On the Commission, I have advocated for going beyond the 20% inclusionary housing requirement in larger projects (4 units +) that have come before us. I consistently urge applicants to stretch to provide housing for very low and low income residents, as these categories are not well served by our current housing choices.

Ideas: My vision for Mill Valley includes a commitment to provide affordable housing ~ an essential community resource that ensures diversity. This will not be easy. Land prices are high and development costs are climbing with resources and materials costs escalating. But, there are many roads to the top of this mountain. The creation of affordable housing deserves a comprehensive approach that looks at many methods, only one of which is building.

A comprehensive approach considers a range of ideas, including creative re-use of current structures, units along streets served by transit, sponsorship/incentives for deed restricted second-units, second unit amnesty programs, commercial inclusionary units for workforce housing and single family homes for families. Depending on the specific site, additional housing units on a single parcel next to transit can be a good part of an overall plan. Thus far, second units have served to meet a large portion of our current housing allocation. However, second units on hillsides and remote areas (away from existing transit and services) add to parking and traffic impacts to the neighborhoods and our City. They are not the complete solution.

I will work to explore ways to bring more affordable housing into existence by inviting community partners to the table for a plan we can put in place in Mill Valley. I will invite residents to meet with the Marin Community Foundation, the Marin Builders Association, the Marin Association of Realtors, the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative, and nonprofit housing developers, like the Ecumenical Association for Housing, to pursue local housing trust fund monies, state and federal funds, and our own city funding strategy to strengthen and diversify Mill Valley's housing portfolio to include more affordable housing.

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL SERVING BUSINESS

I am concerned about the recent loss of many locally- based businesses. Businesses are going through a period of unsettling change, and we are all feeling it with a growing sense of unease. I wish I had a crystal ball to help solve this troubling issue. I suspect businesses have left for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which might have been our own tendency not to shop locally if bargains were to be had elsewhere.

Actions I suspect that change is happening for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is high land values. I make decisions based on solid information. I would work to find out why businesses are closing, including talk to recently departed ones to find out what happened and look to see what, if anything, the city could do going forward.

Ideas There are things a city can do through its power to write policies in the commercial section of our city's constitution, known as the General Plan. We can create a robust set of business-sustaining policies and programs, including:

• flexible planning and building advice and approvals to help sustain businesses,
• a small business emergency loan program (to help tide over sudden and extraordinary expenses),
• a business improvement district created by and for merchants to address their needs,
• streetscape amenities, and
• closer ongoing city council communication with the Chamber and non-Chamber merchants.

We all benefit from a strong commercial and business sector. We don't want a mono crop of businesses when variety and a healthy mix is vital. I believe that a plan for Miller Avenue that gets more people out walking around will help give current merchants more sales to help make them more profitable. Over time, increasing the supply of small retail space available on Miller will help increase the overall stock of rental properties thereby easing rents. The goal of a sustainable village of the 21st century , like Mill Valley, will be shopping right in town or close by ~ from a hammer to a pair of girls soccer cleats, at a good price.

TRAFFIC CONGESTION AND SAFETY

Actions: I am a transit advocate and have raised my children to use transit and their feet as their primary means of transportation. My 17 year old daughter takes transit to high school in San Francisco and has not yet learned to drive. My 14 year old son walks home from Tamalpais High School and back up the Dipsea Stairs to our home every day ~ a 2 mile walk. I initiated and negotiated a private transit arrangement with the U.C.S.F. Marin Commute Club buses to bring Marin high school students to the Urban School of S.F. This program has served over 100 families with students commuting to S.F. The program was so successful that the Urban School of S.F. now runs the program in-house as the UCSF club bus system, due to fuel and labor costs, became uneconomic for our families. Ultimately, I created a private transit service that has a life of its own.

My work at the County of Marin has given me the chance to initiate programs that have reduced neighborhood traffic in unincorporated Mill Valley including street design, traffic calming devices, safe bike lanes and paths, pedestrian and school walking paths, and better transit, including the Muir Woods Shuttle, a successful 3 year pilot program that took well over 25,000 passenger trips off our roads this year. I have been an active member of the Safe Routes to School Committee helping to increase the numbers of school children walking, riding bikes or carpooling to schools.

On the Mill Valley Planning Commission, I have pressed for better pedestrian safety and bicycle infrastructure on both residential applications and larger developments. I have consistently advocated for the inclusion of international best practices for paths and bike lanes, including colored paving, raised lanes at intersections, and protected cycle tracks along Miller Avenue.

Ideas:

My strong commitment is to integrate our city's land use decisions, most notably with the plan for Miller Avenue, with a bold and forward-thinking plan for local transit alternatives. This is the most significant and effective way we can address greenhouse gas emissions on a local level. Our goal should be to get people out of their cars and onto shuttles on the flats and jitneys on the hills, and on feet and bikes. I will work to bring a pilot shuttle to the triangle and a jitney to the hills. I will advocate for better transit for our city and for the entire county.

I will help Mill Valley restore and improve the priority paths in our historic legacy of steps, lanes and paths. Mill Valley started out as village nestled next to the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais. People used to get around and downtown on this network of paths to the train that brought them where they needed to go. I will work to bring forward protected bike lanes and cycle tracks (wide bike lanes inboard of parked cars near the sidewalk), bike storage and lockers, wide sidewalks with resting places and water fountains. I will invest in infrastructure built for people not vehicles. We can make transit choices of all types more inviting while serving practical needs and addressing urgent environmental imperatives.

To assure that Mill Valley has a presence in regional transit planning, I would assure that the Mill Valley's representive to the Transportation Agency of Marin and Marin Transit attends meetings and provides vigorous advocacy for Mill Valley's transit needs. Transit throughout the County and the region is woefully under funded. We must work at the local, state and national level with our elected representatives to press for more funding for transit. This is an imperative if we hope to beat the climate clock.

WATER SUPPLY AND CONSERVATION

Individual residents and the City of Mill Valley have a significant role to play in the use of water resources. We need to make a strong individual and collective commitment to the goal of conservation of water, a precious resource.

Actions The City should lead the way in the conservation of water by adopting policies and programs for water and energy conservation that encourage, incentivize and communicate this urgent need to reduce water consumption by residents, businesses and by the city departments themselves. I'd like to see the city lead by example. The City can do that by assessing its internal water and energy use by its own departments and services. With a baseline reading of current use, we can map out and target reductions and then monitor progress toward meeting goals. In addition, through its land use planning memorialized in the City's General Plan, we can adopt land use policies, like those in a proposed plan for Miller Avenue, that promote water conservation by fostering smaller units of housing, resulting in much less water use.

At the Redwoods, for example, the individual resident uses only 40 gallons of water per person per day while individuals throughout the County of Marin on average use 160 gallons of water per person per day. This is an example of smaller footprint living that yields greater resource conservation and protection.

Ideas One example for leadership in water conservation would be for the City to establish a demonstration garden on City property, featuring native, low-water plants and vegetation showcasing best practices in mulching, soil amendment, plant choice and irrigation. .Of all cities in the county, the city of Mill Valley posts the largest percentage increase in water demand over the summer. Primarily, this is due to cultivated gardens that use large amounts of water during the dry summer months. We must find ways to encourage the use of more appropriate, native vegetation that thrives under low water conditions. A demonstration garden can educate and inspire homeowners to save water and plant appropriately.

The City does have design review guidelines for new homes and significant remodels that require water conservation for landscape irrigation meet Marin Municipal Water District specifications and that landscape plantings be native species that use less water. It would be instructive to have a low-water use garden in the city for planning staff and commissioners to refer applicants looking for inspiration in meeting these guidelines. Documentation of water savings at a demonstration garden would also help spur homeowners to adopt bay-friendly gardening practices that conserve water and save money.

The most powerful method for spurring behavior change comes when we have a personal relationship with our use of a resource that makes manifest our own responsibility to it. The County of Marin, fairly quickly, achieved record setting waste diversion goals after we started sorting our own trash to extract the recyclable materials. Water meters on the outside of homes seem to be giving meaningful metrics only to the meter reader. Bills for water use on a periodic basis allow comparisons only after the fact.

We should employ real-time ambient metrics to document both water usage, shortages and reminders to use less. The energy orb is a globe that sits on a desktop and flashes red when peak hours signal when power costs more. As a friend and energy expert opined recently, it could be as simple as a fountain in the City running high (see the reward here) when conservation goals are met and low (spurring us onto greater conservation) when we are missing the mark.

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

We all share the responsibility to reduce our unsustainable ecological footprint. My fervent belief is that local government has within its repertoire some of the most powerful tools to reduce our ecological footprint, by reducing our resource use. I will step up to this responsibility and sponsor this change.

Ideas I support the following measures:

• integrated land use and transportation planning to build compact, mixed use and beautifully designed and appropriately scaled neighborhoods at locations that provide transit and get people out of their cars

• a bold vision for transit that puts the person and not the car at the center of our city's decision-making framework. o I will put a pilot shuttle on our streets and work with the School District to examine a comprehensive "94941" solution by bringing back school buses o I will secure better local transit o I will champion safe, protected wide bike lanes, bike storage, cycle tracks (wide, separated bicycle tracks, near the sidewalk and inboard of parked cars) and pedestrian walkways, o I will bring back our historic legacy with a commitment to restoring priority steps, lanes and paths.

• Watershed sustaining, green building approaches that are written into our development code. I am passionate about green building and watershed design, assuring that building anywhere ~ from the top of the watershed to the lower flood plain ~ is done integrating the highest level of green building possible and best management watershed sustaining practices that provide flood protection.

• Promotion of local, organic food production and consumption. We need to help Marin (and those of the local region) farmers, growers and producers sell and market their products. We need to consciously buy local, organic products and remember that the premium we pay comes back in saved fuel, embedded energy in production, promotion of local family farms, better nutrition and vitamin content and less packaging and waste.

• An energy policy for the city that is systematic in that it looks at both internal energy use for city services and functions and external energy use by our community of households and businesses.

CITIES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE PROTECTION

I will support setting climate protection targets for the City. At the national level, our leadership has simply refused to address climate change and is not stepping up to the challenge. As a result, addressing climate change on a local level is imperative. The Cities for Climate Protection Campaign is a well-documented step-by-step approach that sets up an elegant framework for undertaking this vital work.

Actions After analysis, we need to move onto the other steps including:

• Setting reduction targets
• Developing a local action plan
• Implementing a local action plan and
• Monitoring progress and reporting results.

I applaud the current council for doing this work and I will support taking the next step. I will ask the council to work with staff to get this issue on the city's front burner and made a part of the city's official work plan. Then, I will ask the council to convene a citizen task force to work collaboratively to set the stage for arriving at a successful community-supported action plan for greenhouse gas reduction. The goal is to develop a local action plan that sets forth the policies and programs that the city will take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve the targets. As with all strategic plans, this one must include a timeline, financing, and the party responsible for taking action. A broad public education and awareness outreach would include a process for dynamic public input and involvement with the goal of building the kind of commitment that brings success.

COMMUNITY CHOICE AGGREGATION (CCA)

CCA is the state law that allows municipalities to competitively procure power on behalf of ratepayers. Initial studies for Marin have shown that we may be able to substantially increase the use of renewable power (e.g., wind, geothermal and solar) while remaining at or below PG & E rates, promote local renewable generation and provider greater price certainty and stability to ratepayers. Under a CCA, homes and businesses would have a choice to buy power from the CCA or PG&E and PG& E would still maintain the power lines and billing. Mill Valley along with the other cities and the County of Marin is in the process off investigating the creation of a CCA. What is your commitment to promoting the increased use of renewable energy and to continuing Mill Valley's participation in this investigation?

As you are aware, Supervisor Charles McGlashan in conjunction with Supervisor Hal Brown is pursuing the possibility of a CCA for the County of Marin and the eleven cities. This is an exciting venture. I enthusiastically support Mill Valley's continuing participation in this investigation.

Actions It is responsible for Mill Valley to look at increasing the amount of renewable energy that it uses in the service of its residents. The goals of a local CCA are truly worth our most serious and immediate investigation:

• putting more green electrons into our 21st century energy portfolio,
• lowering rates over the long term,
• increasing local control of rate setting, and
• spurring responsible renewable energy choices and economic growth nationwide

I see the need for significant ongoing and costly infrastructure improvements so that our aging roads, bridges, pipes, culverts and flood control facilities are up to the task and are in safe working order. Not really exciting, but let's face it, this is the bedrock of local city responsibility. Your elected leaders have to make sure the "house and property" are in good working order.

From what I have seen of the budget, Mill Valley is generally in good shape. With a strong property tax base, with healthy annual growth, we can continue to fund key programs and services, from public safety and vegetation management to recreation, library and youth and senior services. Yet, there are challenges ahead as I have noted. These capital expenditures will not be easy to finance, nor will they be the subject of great fanfare and celebration.

I eagerly await the results of the second part of the Stetson study that was recently jointly funded by the city and the County of Marin's Flood Zone Three Advisory Board. This study will result in a watershed map of the entire Mill Valley watershed. We need the flood protection recommendations from this kind of comprehensive and cooperative work by the city and the County of Marin. Bravo! I look forward to more of this kind of city-county joint venture that benefits the entire watershed that does not stop at our city's boundary.

A full service city like Mill Valley must provide excellent services for the entire range of its programs, from police and fire to senior services, parks and recreation, public works, roads and sewer and sanitation. I recently heard a former Mayor Bob Burton describe what I consider to be a compelling human metric for excellence in city services: He said that every city employee should be "the eyes of our city." When we see things that should be better, we are moved and motivated to follow up. Imagine the ripple effect in our city with a public service goal of such elegant design.

We need a Council that will help guide our community toward more sustainable ways of living with better land use, transportation and energy policies to help us live within our budget and to reduce our local contribution to CO2 production and our unsustainable environmental footprint. We can do this and do it well.

A COMMUNITY SUPPORTED PLAN FOR MILLER AVENUE THAT WORKS.

I support a plan for Miller Avenue. Much of what has been done is a strong foundation for further work. A community supported plan for Miller Avenue that works is essential. We need a plan in case individual property owners come to the City seeking re-development over the next 20 to 30 years. The Plan's basic principles boil down to assuring a neighborhood with scaled, beautiful places to live over small shops with cool places for people to walk, gather and visit, with a safer, more walkable, bikeable street.

The idea is that a plan will be there complete with the community's hoped for vision, if and when those properties come up for future re-development. The plan will give the community what is wants rather than the interest-driven plan of a developer, which would probably be hodge-podge and unconnected to our vision.

As a member of the Mill Valley Planning Commission, I have worked on the plan, mostly on the design, development density and streetscape aspects, as it has come forward. My chief concern is that for the plan to work (with the mix of shops and with housing above) the City must have a commitment to deliver the transit and a shuttle to keep cars from taking away the beauty and safety a plan will bring. Lower Miller Avenue could be a delightful neighborhood: a pedestrian environment where small businesses thrive. It does not work that way now. It is a car throughway, hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists and made for quick-stop, "drive-by" shopping. Ask yourself, when have you ever strolled along Lower Miller Avenue for fun and amusement?

My vision for Miller will bring a beautiful neighborhood with greenery, small shops for local commerce, well-scaled and designed places to live, bike paths and bike storage, safe and comfortable walking along sidewalk cafes and places to eat, all supporting our current neighborhood-serving businesses that need more people walking around and more sales to survive, flourish and endure. I would like to see affordable housing come forward in the life of the plan. Mixed use neighborhoods ~ like this small one envisioned on Miller ~ that are served by transit, shuttles and bikeways can be part of the solution.

Process should be productive and concise, values- based, inclusive and goal-driven. One fundamental problem is that the process got started way back in 1999-2000 and then got shelved, as I understand it, due to lack of budget during the State "take-back" days. Then, in 2004, the Community Advisory Committee's (CAC) original work was dusted off and put back out for consideration. Study sessions and hearings, all open to the public, were held and largely not well attended until various specific projects (505 Miller, La Goma, Coopersmith and Von Der Worth) came up for review.

City staff and consultants did not adequately educate the public about the need for the plan, its policy content, and the inevitability of change. As a result, the public reacted in fear. That could have been avoided.

Now, we find citizens in spirited debates (to say the least) and a great deal of misinformation swirling about claiming that the city has designs on land on Miller, looking to force local serving businesses out. It is unfortunate to have such misinformation feeding growing and unnecessary consternation and fear. What we really have is a creative opportunity for us to build community on a street that can certainly serve us better and add immensely to the fit and fabric of our community life.

Thanks so much for this chance to give you my views on these varied topics. Please feel welcome to visit my campaign website at http://www.maureenparton.com for further information I also welcome your message at mparton@earthlink.net