Downtown Mill Valley
Dick Spotswood & Mill Valley Councilmember Stephen Burke Brainstormed on the Difficulty Building Housing, Unveiling
Tax incremental financing. Use it now to finance workforce housing: A developer selects a site and applies for permits to build multi-unit homes. Half would be market rate to generate profit; the remainder will be affordable for our workforce, including first responders and teachers. That initial development, like all that follows, will need to be subsidized. Those dollars will need to come from an existing public sector source. The incremental difference between the amount of the “before tax,” and “after tax” determined once construction is complete is reserved. Designated local governments then use that sum to fund the next affordable project, and on and on. Applying tax incremental financing to fund workforce housing is another example of thinking outside the box resulting in new, if yet untested, approaches to housing finance.
Read MoreNYT Reporter Conor Dougherty Has Long Educated Marin & Larger Bay Area About How Best to Navigate Housing, Whether its ‘Abundance,’ Affordability, Now He Suggests ‘America Needs New Cities – a Whole City from Scratch. It’s Been Done Before & Might Solve the Housing Crisis
In the United States, where real estate is ultimately about profit and loss, the best way to bend the paradigm is to prove something different can be lucrative. But first you have to build it.
Read MoreOn the Heels of a Community Workshop in 2025, EHS Has Unveiled an Evolving Program to explicitly encourage business success and foster a “One Marin” mindset—balancing safety standards & a commitment to the economic vitality of the local food community
Today, the program is evolving to explicitly encourage business success and foster a “One Marin” mindset—balancing appropriate safety standards with a commitment to the economic vitality of the local food community. This report details how EHS will work within the CalCode to identify solutions that navigate regulatory requirements in a more engagement-centric and expedited manner to foster business growth and sustainability.
Read MoreA Full Circle Mill Valley Moment: Despite Some Recent Delays, Tartine Looks to Return to the 94941, This Time at Edens/Strawberry Village!!
Famed baker Chad Roberston and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt started here in 1999 with the aforementioned Bay Village Bakery, closing it in early 2002, later going on to massive acclaim with their Tartine bakery. But now it’s official: the Tartine sourdough will soon be rising at the Strawberry Village shopping center in Mill Valley, as the famed bakery chain is expanding with a new Marin County spot that will apparently offer some exclusive items not available at other locations.
Read MoreOn January 12, City Council Considers Reapproving Bayfront Terrace Project With a Modified Project Footprint for the Site of 1.60 acres & No Additional Changes to the Design – Hearing is at 5:30pm at City Hall
On January 12, City Council Considers Reapproving Bayfront Terrace Project With a Modified Project Footprint for the Site of 1.60 acres & No Additional Changes to the Design – Hearing is at 5:30pm at City Hall. In a previous post, “We have an opportunity to change the life trajectory of 44 families,” Councilman Urban Carmel added. “Nothing can change your life trajectory more than the place you grew up in. This is really exciting and gratifying – I can’t imagine a better moment.”
Read MoreThe Outdoor Art Club Hosts an Extraordinary Season of Deep Dives into the Arts, Local Politics & the Natural World, From Grammy-Nominated Legends to World-Class Climate Scientists!
The OAC’s public speaker programs for 2025-2026 begin in September. We hope you will join us for an engaging year of speaker programs and public events. Be sure to note the location for each program. Our Clubhouse will be closed from January through May as our kitchen undergoes a major renovation. Programs during that period will be at various locations.
Read MoreSweetwater Music Hall Fall Lineup: From Pink Talking Fish to Zepparella, Reggae, Bluegrass, and Beyond!
Sweetwater Music Hall, the storied Mill Valley nonprofit venue that has been a home to the counterculture and beyond since 1972, keeps the fall calendar packed with music for Deadheads, hippies, and fans of every genre. Jam fans will zero in on Pink Talking Fish, the beloved fusion of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, and Phish, performing November 1 and 2. For those who live in the Allman Brothers’ zone, Freestone Peaches hit the stage October 4, while Zeppelin devotees will be thunderstruck by Zepparella, bringing two nights of classic rock fire October 17–18.
Read MoreMarin IJ: Marin Officials Question Projections in Regional Growth Plan – Draft Plan Bay Area 2050+
While the number of Marin households is projected to grow from 108,000 to 131,000 by 2050, the job growth is projected to be stagnant, with a job base remaining at 126,000 over the same time period, the plan says. Across the region, the plan anticipates a population growth of about 7.7 million to 9.6 million, which is nearly four times the forecast provided by the California Department of Finance. Mill Valley Mayor Max Perrey said city officials agree that MTC and ABAG need to revise their projections and develop better mitigations to address impacts to wildfire risk, water supply, emergency services, air quality and flooding, among other issues. “The regional growth forecast the plan relies on differs from the state’s official projections, and it doesn’t take into account the changing economy, both the impact that AI will have on the workforce as well as vacancy rates for commercial space, which continues to persist,” Perrey said. “It also has a large dependence on major future funding streams that have not been secured for projects, which presents funding risks for infrastructure, for services and hazard mitigation measures.”
Read MoreTransit Agencies Across the Bay Area to Begin Accepting Credit & Debit Cards – The Move Follows a Similar Switch by BART
Paying for bus, train and ferry rides across the Bay Area just became a little easier. Beginning Wednesday, riders on nearly every transit agency in the region will be able to use their credit or debit cards — rather than just pre-paid Clipper cards — to pay for all of their trips. The switch to the Tap and Ride system includes every transit system that had used Clipper cards in the past, including Caltrain, the Valley Transportation Authority, AC Transit, SamTrans, Muni, Petaluma Transit, the San Francisco Bay Ferry, SMART train and Golden Gate Transit.
Read MoreMarin IJ Editorial Board: The Future is Bright for Marin Ferries: Golden Gate Ferries, a Bay Area Public Transit Success, is Charting an even Brighter Future.
The Golden Gate Bridge board, which runs the ferries, is planning to spend more than $118 million to build two new boats that are faster and run cleaner than the older boats they will replace. The contract to start construction on the first of the two – a high-speed, 500-passenger vessel – has already been approved.
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