From: Jessica Yarnall Loarie
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2024 1:11 PM
To: Mayor Kate <[email protected]>; Maika Llorens Gulati <[email protected]>; Eli Hill <[email protected]>; Maribeth Bushey <[email protected]>; Rachel Kertz <[email protected]>
Subject: $5 mil sanctioned encampment plan; request to postpone vote
Dear Mayor and City Council--
We are Gerstle Park residents and have children that attend San Rafael City Schools and the City-run Parkside aftercare and camps, as well as camps at the City-run community center.
While I am enthused that the homelessness issue is on the city council agenda for today, I was surprised to see in the staff report that the city appears to be doubling down on the Mahon encampment which is between Parkside Childcare center and Davidson. Yet the city will remove the encampment from the Falkirk Parking lot because it is near the private Marin Academy? The city appears to be spending $5 mil on 47 campsites, which also doesn't pencil out in any way.
This is also not an equitable solution.
I note the US Supreme Court decision from this summer and the Governor's directive to start clearing homeless encampments do not seem to have changed the city's plans. We need a real plan to restore our streets and parks to being clean and usable. This plan is not it.
In the last few weeks alone while my kids were at Parkside summer camp or at camps at the City-run Community Center, there have been numerous unhoused individuals outside of Parkside and the community center (sometimes openly doing drugs), sitting on the lawn self-grooming with unleashed pets, or living in a car half a block down the road between Parkside, the encampment and Davidson. When we grocery shop there are frequent disturbances in our local grocery stores, especially Safeway and Sprouts. There was formerly an encampment on the backside of Parkside (moved for baseball season but for weeks our kids could not go outside, and had bottles and other items thrown over the fence.) This is unacceptable, full stop.
The city needs to clear the Mahon and Anderson encampments immediately under the Governor's directive, not allow them to continue to be used and allow open dumping of trash to proliferate on a small creek and bike path, and disturb our kids on the way to school and aftercare or when we shop at local businesses. The boundary for no encampments around schools and childcare facilities should be 1000-2000+ feet minimum if not a complete ban--camping is generally not allowed in the city outside of formal campgrounds. There is no court precedent holding the city back, there is state money, and the Governor notes that state monies will be withheld from cities that do not act.
It is not an equitable solution to have our public school children bear the burden of an encampment while clearing it near a rather expensive private school, Marin Academy.
There are empty properties near Civic Center if the city wishes to host a sanctioned camp, or share the burden with Ross, Tiburon, Corte Madera, Mill Valley, San Anselmo, etc.
Services could be mobile and deliver food if needed--with $5 mil at play, there are certainly other viable solutions. The city notes there is a county/city partnership on these issues and these are the sort of solutions that need to be explored.
Our Gerstle Park neighborhood, public schools, aftercare and the San Rafael community disproportionately bear the impact of homelessness in Marin and have for far too long. Our neighboring towns do not tolerate this. Even San Francisco has cleared most of its encampments-I drove through clear portions of the tenderloin and civic center just this morning.
Gerstle Park and Bret Harte are full of working class families and Mahon does not serve as an acceptable solution for another 12-18 months and beyond at a price tag of what appears to be $5 million.
The City of San Rafael needs to strengthen its response and restore our natural areas for the intended community use, while providing safe sidewalks, bikepaths and streets for our kids to use. The ordinance should ban all camping or at minimum extend the buffer between schools and childcare facilities (public and private.) This issue should be postponed for vote at tonight's city council meeting while the city consults with the affected neighborhoods and schools about solutions, stronger ordinances, and plans to clear impacted parks and bike paths, not to continue a sanctioned encampment in an unacceptable location at a $5 million price tag for 47 campsites. Permanent housing solutions might be on the table for that amount.
Thanks,
Jessica
From: Thomas Montgomery <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2024 1:00 PM
To: Mayor Kate <[email protected]>; Cristine Alilovich <[email protected]>
Cc: Rob Epstein <[email protected]>
Subject: "Colinville"
Hello Mayor Kate and City Manager Alilovich,
Mayor Kate, thank you for your response to my last email, however, FYI I found it to be extremely patronizing. That said, the homeless encampments appear to be growing rather than shrinking. Not sure what the city is waiting for as you have a US Supreme Court decision supporting you on their removal. CalTrans has already cleaned up their share, so what gives with the City of San Rafael? Anderson Drive is a trainwreck and both of you, as well as the entire city council, should be ashamed of yourselves for essentially condoning the demise (by your inaction) of our once beautiful city.
Just last night while driving down 5th St, I saw not one but two people sleeping of the steps of City Hall. Two questions I have are: when will tents show up; and when will city employees have to start stepping around bodies laying in their path as they go to work each day? Would this be permitted across the street at the new public safety building? Just asking.
Even better though are the tents that have popped up in front of the library. That would be the library down the street from City Hall. I get that it may take time to remove existing encampments, but certainly the city should be able to prevent new ones from taking root. See attached photo. Pardon the blurriness, but the car was moving at the speed limit so as not to impede traffic. Hopefully you get the idea.
If you noticed the subject line in this email, I have named this issue in your honor, Mayor Kate.
Going forward, I will be encouraging other folks to also refer to this unmitigated disaster as “Colinville.” Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Regards,
Tom Montgomery
Vice\Finance Chair MCRCC