Capdiamont’s Weblog

Seems although some thought I should watch for a NCRA connection with the Novato Theater, Neary had nothing to do with the Theater demise. Their city council killed it.

Staff Report
Article Launched: 06/20/2008 12:02:43 AM PDT

THE FATE of the Novato Theater has been hanging in the balance for months.

The long-shuttered theater has been part of Novato officials’ long-held plans for attracting more shoppers, restaurant-goers and night life to Old Town.

There has been progress toward that goal even with the theater’s doors locked shut.

For months, the city has been involved in closed-door negotiations with a potential buyer. On a 3-2 vote, the council recently rejected the latest offer, once again making the city the owner of a darkened theater with no certain future that it will be re-lighted as a local venue for films and performing arts.

Mayor Pat Eklund said the council voted to break off talks with developer Tallen and Keshen Holdings LLC because there was no assurance that the theater would be used for a movie house or performing arts.

At least three council members remembered the city’s goal for the theater when it bought the property in 1996 for $400,000. At that time, a local group had hopes of refurbishing the theater into a community-run performing arts center and movie house. The group’s ambition wasn’t matched with local fund-raising support. Today, the city still holds a $184,000 loan balance from that effort.

The City Council was even prepared to take a financial loss on the property to sell it to someone who would revive and reopen it as a theater.

Without a commitment to its future use, why should taxpayers incur the loss?

The cash the city already has invested
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in the property is painful as Novato looks at the prospect of tightening budgets.

Mayor Jeanne MacLeamy is right to wonder how much longer can Novato afford to pour money into maintaining a shuttered theater?

Also, as the owner of a number of ghost-like empty buildings downtown, the city is not exactly enhancing Old Town’s prosperity.

Should the theater, at this point, be considered a real asset that can be cashed out to relieve some of the city’s budget problems? Should the City Council give up hope of fulfilling its goal of reopening the theater?

At this stage, the council should reconnoiter, bringing in some local help and expertise from local residents who are involved in the entertainment industry. It would also be wise to touch base with the San Rafael-based California Film Institute that helped save the Rafael theater or Larkspur’s non-profit that runs the Lark.

The city needs to take a quick, but realistic and fair look at the goal it had in 1996 and one, obviously, it still holds.

Novato taxpayers invested their money into the theater with a hope and dream that it would be re-opened and become a vibrant entertainment venue and a successful draw for Old Town.

The fate of the property has been the topic of numerous closed-door meetings of the City Council, but it is time the council take stock, with ample public attention, of its 1996 goal and whether it is realistic in 2008 and beyond.

We hope it is.

Sierra Filucci
Article Launched: 06/17/2008 11:59:22 PM PDT

Novato residents will feel a slow drain on bank accounts come July 1 as North Marin Water District officials voted unanimously Tuesday to hike rates 11 percent.

“No one likes a rate increase, that’s for certain, but that’s where we are,” said Chris DeGabriele, general manager of the water district.

Most users will pay an additional $41 per year.

The average water bill will rise from $382 annually to $423, the lowest rate in the 17 neighboring water districts, according to district officials. The rate hike will affect all residential and commercial Novato customers, or 95 percent of the water district’s business.

A board meeting July 1 in Point Reyes Station will determine whether the district’s West Marin customers will face a similar rate hike from the district. The district, which serves more than 60,000 people, also provides water for residents in the Point Reyes Station, Olema and Inverness Park areas.

One Novato resident, George Allen, objected to the rate hike, saying he was conserving as much water as he could to save money. After the meeting he said, “I don’t want to lose my landscaping. I enjoy my yard.”

The Novato rate increase will draw $850,000 in additional funds, which will go primarily toward repair and replacement of existing facilities, DeGabriele said.

The most expensive improvement project - a 4 million gallon water tank on Palmer Drive in Novato - is already under way and will cost $2.85 million to complete, according to the district
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budget. The new tank will “improve pressure and reliability of the system in that area,” said David Bentley, auditor-controller for the district.

New water lines, more expensive water treatment chemicals, and a 6 percent hike in the cost of water from Sonoma County, where the district gets 80 percent of its water, are some other reasons for the increase.

The water district’s 58 full-time employees will receive a 4 percent cost-of-living pay raise, bringing total salary expenses to $3 million. The district expects a 10 percent, or $62,000, increase in group health insurance rates.

Even with the rate increase, the district’s $18 million budget includes a projected $5.2 million deficit in the 2008-09 fiscal year because of the improvement projects.

“Some years you plan to spend more,” DeGabriele said. “We hope to ultimately recover that deficit.”

The last across-the-board increase was in 2006, when rates were increased 2 percent.

In 2007, the water district approved a rate increase that affected about 25 percent of its residential customers who are the largest water users. The rate hike targeted 5,800 homes that used more than 37,000 gallons of water every two months.

In April, the Marin Municipal Water District’s board of directors voted to raise water rates for 190,000 customers between Sausalito and San Rafael. The average water bill rose from $36.40 to $39.94 a month, a 9.7 percent increase.

Contact Sierra Filucci via e-mail at sfilucci@marinij.com

Another run for your lives. The d word comes out here, diesel. It must be bad, never mind diesel is widely used in Europe, most buses use it here, and most trucks use it. Ignore that freeway 101 is close by the tracks there. They must be ok.

Marin has a high cancer rate, something needs to change. Relying on the same old highway, and expecting change isn’t going to work. Everywhere there is rail transit, there is a surge in usage as the costs of fuel goes up.

Hamilton SMART station a bad idea

A vocal minority has made it appear that most Hamilton residents are in favor of a Hamilton SMART station.

As Hamilton residents who do not live close to the proposed transit station, we join most of our neighbors in opposition, raising several issues for consideration:

• The character of Hamilton will change significantly.

At least one Novato City Councilmember noted that developments would follow at Hamilton or at any commuter station. The developments will likely include apartment buildings, condos, and office buildings, forever changing the character of the neighborhood. Scholarly reports are mixed regarding changes in values of single-family homes close to transit stations. Some may increase but many others will decrease in value.

• Model for Hamilton. The concept for Hamilton is a place for people to both live and work. A transit station encourages just the opposite. Don’t we want to encourage Hamilton employees to purchase new or resale homes in Hamilton? It is far “greener” to have hangar employees work and live in Hamilton.

• Children and safety. Station supporters say the Hamilton station—with added traffic, a 150-car parking lot, idling trains and a potential bus transfer station—will “benefit children.”

Children will be exposed to serious hazards under these circumstances, with three elementary schools located near the proposed station. One recent example is the train death of a San Bruno boy returning from a nearby skate park (April, 2008). The existing Hamilton skate park is within a few hundred feet from rails.

• Not a modern system. Light, electric rail requires different tracks and SMART is not proposing to lay these tracks. Diesel-driven trains will be needed and diesel fumes are hazardous to our health (especially to children and the elderly). Think of the nearby schools and skate park!

• Bus transfer station. With a train station, it would be difficult to argue against a Hamilton bus depot. Is this what we want at Hamilton?

• Ridership. SMART itself estimates 250 boardings maximum daily at Hamilton in the year 2025, a meaningless number having no impact whatsoever on 101 traffic.

There are no benefits and serious harm for Hamilton were a transit station to be built here.

Elvera and Alan Berson

Passenger and freight a win-win

Kudos to Dominic Grossi, President of the Marin County Farm Bureau, for his excellent analysis on page A5 of last week’s Advance of rail’s benefits and the win/win relationship between passenger and freight trains. Sharing fixed costs will improve SMART’s farebox recovery ratio and reduce its operating subsidy.

This will involve more than SMART and freight trains.

Bob Cleek, on the same page, mentions excursion trains. Our railroad has the potential to host the most successful tourist/excursion train service in the United States. Tourist trains between Healdsburg and Willits were hugely popular in 1996-97.

When the railroad was shut down, NCRA’s passenger contractors were holding 10,000 requests for tickets plus another 10,000 inquiries. But if Novato wants to get in on the action, it will have to stand in line behind Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Intercity passenger trains are also in the picture: Think Santa Rosa to Sacramento in two hours and 10 minutes (estimated running time in a 1993-94 study). Amtrak holds first right of refusal to run intercity on the Northwestern Pacific and will certainly be a player.

It’s surprising that Supervisor Judy Arnold wasn’t aware that our railroad connects into the national rail system. Where else would the freight be coming from and going to? From Black Point the track goes through Port Sonoma, Sears Point, Schellville, Napa Junction, and Cordelia, connecting with Amtrak and Union Pacific at Suisun City. It’s the Redwood Empire’s lifeline. Not only is it more sustainable, it offers the ultimate in mobility. You don’t have to take four thousand pounds of iron, rubber and glass with you everywhere you go.

You just step on board, and that’s a big part of why it’s so much more cost-effective and relaxing than driving.

Lionel Gambill

The Advance’s editorial on solving Novato’s financial woes shows you’re thinking, but not thinking big enough: “Guests at the proposed hotel at Fireman’s Fund could visit North Redwood for shopping and then have dinner in charming Old Town Novato and take in a play or live music at the renovated theater.”

Dream on! The target market for Novato hotels is San Francisco and Wine Country tourism “overflow,” not Grant Avenue’s “charm.”

You want “charming?” Try Sausalito, Mill Valley or, San Anselmo. You want restaurants? Petaluma, 10 minutes up the road with the same population as Novato, is a national “foodie” tourist destination boasting over 150 eateries, some solidly in the “Five Star” category.

Novato really needs to “get real” about solving its fiscal challenges.

How does “Novato - The “Gateway to the Wine Country” sound?

Consider what “Old Town” and the North Redwood redevelopment area might look like restored and recreated as the southern terminus of an excursion steam train running north through the Sonoma and Mendocino vineyards and, perhaps ultimately, running eco-tourism excursions through the Eel River Canyon.

This would bring in a lot more in “new money” sales tax revenue and increased property taxes than another supermarket or three feeding off the income of Novatans alone.

This is all a fantasy, though. The city council would never allow the train to blow its whistle, and a steam train without a whistle is like a city council that can’t see beyond the city limits.

Bob Cleek

So the State AG filed an appeal on behalf of the CTC for the NCRA. In other words the CTC believes the NCRA is in FULL environmental compliance. Try spinning that one NCJ.

Freight-train fans excited; city replies ‘ho hum

By Tim Omarzu
Managing Editor
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 12:06 PM PDT

The California Court of Appeals is going to review the city of Novato lawsuit that’s holding up repair of freight train tracks in the North Bay. A three-judge panel in San Francisco asked for legal briefs be filed in the First District Court of Appeals.

Supporters of freight trains hailed the news, because the court denies most requests for appeals.

“The last thing you want to do is start popping the champagne before it’s over. But the fact of the matter is, we made our (appeal) request, and two days later, they granted our request,” said Mitch Stogner, executive director of the North Coast Railroad Authority, the target of the city’s lawsuit.

The California Attorney General’s Office filed an appeals court brief in support of the railroad authority. It did so on behalf of the California Transportation Commission.

City manager Dan Keen downplayed the developments, saying, “I would interpret what you heard as optimistic spin. I wouldn’t read anything into it.”

The appeals court will reconsider the injunction that Marin Superior Court Judge James Ritchie gave at the city’s request to stop work on bridge and track repairs on tracks between Lombard and Windsor.

The city argues that the railroad authority hasn’t done adequate environmental review; the railroad authority says the city filed its objection six months after the period for complaints had expired.

The appeals court hasn’t yet set a hearing on the matter; it only asked for legal briefs by mid-May.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 12:06 PM PDT

The issues surrounding the Railroad here in Novato continue to come up in our local media.

I certainly understand this is a controversial issue, but the most important thing to me is that the public is armed with all the factual information.

A recent newspaper article regarding milk prices quoted Supervisor Judy Arnold as having said, “But someone has yet to explain to me the economics of bringing grain from the central Valley to Novato on a rail that runs north and south. I don’t understand where the savings comes from.”

For the benefit of Supervisor Arnold and the public here is the explanation: First, the railroad tracks split in the same place that Highway 101 and Highway 37 do and the tracks head due east.

This is where the grain will be coming from, places such as Nebraska and Iowa.

Secondly, the economics are very simple: trains are a much more efficient and economical way to transfer freight. A big truck can only bring about 25 tons per load while a train can bring thousands of tons at a time. Not only is this a cheaper way to bring feed here, it will also take a very large number of trucks off the road which will lessen traffic congestion and lower the amount of exhaust that pollutes our air.

The city of Novato prides itself in becoming more environmentally friendly and green; it makes sense to use the railroad to help achieve this.

Third, the economic benefits go well beyond savings for those of us in agriculture. Many goods will be transported by these trains. Jobs will be created in Novato as businesses recognize the value of the efficiencies rail freight will create. The tax base will increase and the city coffers will expand.

For those who would like more detail, and for Supervisor Arnold’s review, please see the letter I sent to the Board of Supervisors on Dec. 10, 2007. Here is the link www.cfbf.com/counties/pdf/railroad.pdf to that letter for anyone who would like to read it.

I believe that both freight and SMART will benefit from each other and work well together. There is no need for anyone to try to drive a wedge in between two organizations—SMART and NCRA—which can work together to achieve the mutual goal, which is the best use of the tracks. Both NCRA’s 1989 enabling legislation and SMART’s 2002 enabling legislation mandate the restoration of both passenger service and freight service on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad line. Assembly Bill 2224 by Joe Nation states, among other things, “The district (SMART) shall work with the NCRA, the (Federal Railroad Administration), and any of its successor agencies to achieve safe, efficient, and compatible operations of both passenger rail and freight service along the rail line in Sonoma and Marin Counties.”

As such, one could interpret Supervisor Arnold’s recent request of the SMART Board to take a public stand against the resumption of freight service as contrary to state law.

If freight and SMART work together, general track maintenance would then be shared by two companies instead of just one having to foot the whole bill.

I think this is a great opportunity for Supervisor Arnold to show her leadership and join the agricultural and business communities in supporting freight service.

Both Novato and Marin will reap the economic benefit.

Dominic Grossi is President of the Marin County Farm Bureau.

Staff Report
Article Launched: 05/06/2008 12:23:30 AM PDT

Marla Fields and Annan Paterson

A SONOMA-MARIN Area Rail Transit train and trail station in Hamilton will benefit children in the following important ways:

- A Hamilton SMART station will reduce local car traffic. Many of Hamilton’s 8,000 residents are within walking and biking distance to the proposed rail station. That means fewer cars will pass by the schools on their way out of the neighborhood to enter the freeway.

Additionally, nearly 2,000 employees are located about a half mile from the station site. A survey by Q&A Research Company determined 41 percent of employees would commute to work by SMART three or more times per week. The number of new cars added from outside neighborhoods is a small fraction of the total station user base, so the net effect will be to reduce traffic near the schools.

- Reducing neighborhood car traffic increases safety for children. Statistics from SMART’s environmental impact report reveal the biggest threat facing our children who walk and bike is being hit by cars. In the United States, from 2000 to 2007, roughly 4,000 kids under 15 were killed and 300,000 injured by cars and trucks while walking or riding their bikes. During the same period, there were zero deaths to children under 11 by all U.S. commuter rail. (National Highway and Traffic Safety Analysis Administration and Federal Rail Association Office of Safety Analysis database.)

- Children will have a safe route to school. Hamilton children need never cross railroad
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tracks when going to school. Due to the existing neighborhood design, the Safe Route to School plan will take children over a small bridge.

- SMART will greatly improve cycling conditions. SMART’s 70-mile pedestrian and cyclist pathway will take kids off dangerous shared road paths and encourage more kids to safely participate in a healthy, zero-emission lifestyle.

- SMART rail is clean. The SMART train will lead to net reductions in criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases due primarily to the decrease in car traffic (EIR 3.5.5). The new clean diesel technology that these European railcars will employ is described by Scientific American as “nearly as green as hybrids.” SMART trains will use ultra-low sulfur fuel and highly effective particulate traps, resulting in the same amount of particulate matter as a single car, as described in SMART’s “clean train” white paper No. 6.

- A Hamilton station means trains move slowly through the Hamilton neighborhood. Instead of passing through quickly, trains would slow to 20 mph as they approach the station.

- A Hamilton station will allow teachers and some families to arrive to school safely and reliably. The Novato Charter School in Hamilton draws families from Southern and Central Marin, Sonoma County and Northern Novato. They will be able to use rail or the bicycle pathway to commute. Additionally, many teachers commute daily from Petaluma and points further north. Federal Rail Association Office of Safety Analysis statistics prove that riding in commuter rail in the United States is 67 times safer per passenger mile than riding in a car.

Kalvin Platt, acclaimed green-community architect and former director of Harvard’s Land Development Graduate School of Design, has endorsed the Hamilton SMART station “as a unique opportunity to transform a major portion of Novato into a sustainable community providing benefits of reduced auto trips, less traffic, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.”

The IJ editorial board and the Greenbelt Alliance also have endorsed the Hamilton SMART station as the logical choice.

We encourage Novato families to let their council members and school administrators know that they want a Hamilton SMART station - for the kids’ sake.

Marla Fields is a task force leader for Safe Routes to School, chairwoman of the Curb Your Carbon Global Warming Educational Program and a Hamilton resident. Annan Paterson is a Novato mother, grandmother and educator who has worked at Hamilton area schools as a school psychologist. She is active in local government and nonprofit boards.

ODDS & ENDS: The Marin County Planning Commission soon will consider approving an environmental impact report that keeps North Novato’s Redwood Landfill open until 2024. While no one likes garbage dumps, the reality is that the North Bay generates huge amounts of waste and it must go somewhere. That “somewhere” is just north of Novato along Highway 101 adjacent to the Petaluma River. If Marin doesn’t want a dump, it has two choices: either ship the stuff out of the area by the now-unused Northwestern Pacific Railroad or cut back on waste. The latter goal, while ideal, is unlikely in a still growing region. That leaves either running garbage-loaded freight trains through Novato or keeping the dump.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley shares his views on local politics every Sunday in the IJ. His e-mail address is spotswood@comcast.net