Friends of Mill Valley

Dear Mill Valley Neighbor:

The City has recently issued a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) concerning the vacant lot on Kite Hill located on the north side of E. Blithedale just west of the corner of Camino Alto.  Plans have been made to put 20 houses on this 1.2 acre lot, about 100 feet from Camino Alto.  There are significant errors, omissions, and questions about the DEIR’s findings that have been identified.  Those have been commented on in depth in this letter. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

There will be a Mill Valley Planning Commission meeting at City Hall at 7:00pm on May 10 to review the DEIR and project with time for comments from the public.  Save that date…it’s just 3 short weeks away!  It is imperative that you be there to voice your concerns about the DEIR.  In the meantime, please read through this rather lengthy evaluation of the DEIR, craft your own response, and mail it to:

Mike Moore

Director of Planning and Building

City of Mill Valley Planning and Building Department

26 Corte Madera Avenue

Mill Valley, CA 94941

and/or email him at: mmoore@cityofmillvalley.org.

Feel free to copy the Planning Commission (planning@cityofmillvalley.org) and the City Council (citycouncil@cityofmillvalley.org), or write to them at the physical address above.

And then forward this post along to your neighbors and friends in Mill Valley!  We need everyone’s support.

Dear Friends,

Please save Saturday, May 15, 2010 for the First Planting in the Meadow at Bayfront Park.

Rick Misuraca, Mill Valley Parks Superintendent, and I hope to rally some volunteer support within our local community for this important symbolic occasion. Rick and his team will be doing the hard part, namely obtaining the plant materials and delivering them to the appropriate mound locations.

Rick has already obtained the support of the Kristin Jacob, a prominent member of the California Native Plant Society, who is helping with the selection of suitable plants. Mary Lou Ibershoff has volunteered her Bloomathon team to join us in the installation effort, and Marin Treemasters, a prominent provider of tree care services, will provide plant materials to supplement the wood chips they have already delivered for soil enrichment.

Posted from Letters to the Editor; Marin IJ 3-26-10

Thank you for your editorial highlighting the waste of money on the county computer system - a cool $20 million down the drain.

You also ran an article on the county pension fund's lavish headquarters, acquired at a time when commercial real estate was headed downhill, at an initial cost of $17.5 million, and remodeled to suit the then director's tastes for an additional $1.5 million.

The bulletproof glass has recently been removed to make it friendlier for the county employees to visit. The pension fund director was on extensive paid administrative leave for reasons not disclosed to us, who had paid her for doing nothing, and who paid for the building and redecorating it.

Posted from the Mill Valley Herald: March 25, 2010

Why is this Blithedale Terrace building project even being considered? (“Blithedale Terrace project raises concerns,” March 10). The only person who stands to gain anything from this project is the developer and his bank account. Hasn’t it crossed the minds of the mayor, the City Council and Planning Commission that we live in a valley? How many more people are we going to cram into this valley?

Is the Planning Commission intentionally trying to cover every empty space with a building surrounded by concrete? Enough is enough! The traffic situation on East Blithedale is ridiculous, thanks to the already bloated population of this town. Please, don’t parrot the favorite mantra of the developers: “Growth is good.” If they and the Planning Commission want growth, they should move to places with plenty of open space: Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska.

Posted from the Mill Valley Herald: March 17, 2010

It is almost impossible to believe the Planning Commission would approve Joel Coopersmith’s plan to do everything he can to spoil Mill Valley (“Coopersmith project clears final hurdles,” March 3).

The outrageous scheme, now approved, to add so many new residential living units on Miller Avenue should motivate citizens to raise their voices any way they can to protest this latest development.

This small town is already overcrowded due to all the development, townhouses, apartments and many, many new private homes, and is so thick with traffic that much of the great joy of living here is fading with each passing year.

The traffic can be so thick one wonders how hundreds of additional vehicles will add to the pleasure of living in this once near-perfect community.

Posted from the public record of letters sent to the City of Mill Valley City Council: 2-23-10

To: Mill Valley City Council
From: Kevin Ferrell
Date: February 22, 2010

I write to add my name to the rapidly growing list of well informed citizens of Mill Valley including eleven of its former mayors calling for you to opt Mill Valley out of the Marin Clean Energy (MCE) project and to withdraw Mill Valley from the Marin Energy Agency (MEA) as soon as possible.

Posted from the Marin IJ

By Michael Smith -Marin County Treasurer 2/21/2010

At the Feb. 4 Marin Energy Authority meeting, Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan, MEA's chairman, publicly stated that I had not carefully read materials relating to MEA.

For the record, I did read MEA's documents, the grand jury's report, interacted with professionals in the municipal investment field and have concluded that MEA's plan to enter the energy business poses a financial risk for Marin County ratepayers and taxpayers.

As your elected county treasurer, I have no agenda, political or for personal gain. My primary responsibility is as an independent fiduciary to protect the fiscal and financial health of this county.

During my tenure, I have seen both exemplary and ill-conceived proposals, but in my opinion, none as concerning as MEA's intent to enter the energy business.

Posted from the Marin IJ Letters to the Editor: 2/22/10
By: Trip Ames, TIBURON

Residents of Marin recently received a mailing from "Marin Clean Energy" notifying most PG&E customers they will now be buying their electricity from a new government agency called Marin Energy Authority (MEA), unless they choose to opt out.

What the notice does not tell you is that as ratepayers and taxpayers there is significant financial risk.

Several Marin cities - Novato, Larkspur, Corte Madera and Ross - have wisely decided not to join the MEA.

Mill Valley is now being urged to opt out as well.

Eleven former Mill Valley mayors have written a very strong and well-researched letter to the mayor and the council outlining the financial risk to their citizens.

I urge every citizen and elected official of Marin to read that letter, which can be found at www.friendsofmillvalley.org.

Here is the link of the PG&E web site to "OPT OUT" of Marin Energy Authority's Marin Clean Energy plan, and keep PG&E as your electrical utility provider.

All you need is a copy of your PG&E bill in hand to give them your electrical "Service ID#" (your account number).

CLICK ON THIS LINK:

https://www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/energychoice/communitychoicea...

If you do not opt out of MCE within the next 60 days, you will be liable for all future business losses incurred by this new quasi government agency. You will also be at risk of unregulated increases in your energy bills in future years (whereas PG&E prices are state regulated), and will be liable for all of debts incurred by MEA (future debt estimated go as high as $375 Million dollars). These are in addition to the liabilities that you already have as a taxpayer even if you do opt out.

Posted by Bob Silvestri

I find disingenuous the behavior of PG&E, a company that failed last decade so that I now must pay off a loan secured by the state to preserve its monopoly business. They should be pleased to have me as a customer but fail to ask me what sort of energy I want--their current mix of nuclear/coal/CO2 producing sources or perhaps clean power from local renewable sources.

Also, PG&E has failed to meet renewable targets and has resisted purchasing power from solar array owners beyond a the cap of .05 of peak load. This threshold is minuscule and given PG&E overpaid ENRON their argument that they cannot afford to buy citizen generated power beyond this limit is ridiculous. We will never achieve fossil fuel independence with PG&E management. http://www.energyrefuge.com/archives/solar_power_systems.htm