Gregory Andrew
April 6, 2026
Mayor Kate Colin and San Rafael City Councilmember, and Ms. Lindsay Lara, City Clerk
City of San Rafael
1400 Fifth Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
Via email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Re: Comment on Item 3c of the 4/6/2026 City Council Agenda; re: Appointment of Interim City Manager Dear Mayor Colin, Councilmembers Bushey, Hill, Llorens Gulati, and Kertz, and Ms. Lara I am writing to provide a public comment on the appointment of Mr. Paul Navazio as Interim City Manager.
Since his appointment as Acting City manager, I have had the opportunity to have a few interactions with Mr. Navazio, including a meeting with him last week about on 350 Merrydale Road. I am impressed with his experience and have found him to be knowledgeable, sincere, interested in listening, calm, and thoughtful. Congratulations to Mr. Navazio and I welcome him and wish him well in this role.
The reasons and circumstances that have led to Mr. Navazio being appointed as Interim City Manager, have, of course, been due to the separation of Ms. Cristine Allilovich from the City and her position as City Manager. While the reasons for her separation have not been made public, I view it as having everything to do with a complete failure of Mayor Colin and the City Council and much less to with any inadequate performance by Ms. Alilovich. The Marin IJ article of 2/24/2206 appears to speculate on three issues that led to Ms. Alilovich’s separation. In my view, the Marin IJ article correctly identifies those issues as: 1) the disastrous and secret decision by the Mayor and City Council to move forward on the Interim Shelter and Long-Term Affordable Housing projects at 350 Merrydale Road; 2) the out-of-control development of high rise housing in San Rafael; and 3) the multi-million dollar City budget shortfall for this and future years. The 4/1/2026 San Francisco Standard article appears to zero in on 350 Merrydale Road as being the main reason for Ms. Alilovich’s separation.
These three issues have happened because of your failures as Mayor and City Councilmembers, not solely because of any actions of the former City Manager. They all happened during you watch and as a result of your secretive planning, horrendous public engagement, facilitating developers and their housing deluge (instead of negotiating with Sacramento to reign in the onslaught of extreme housing laws), and reckless spending (spending that has very often been approved through Consent Calendar without accountability or adequate public input). All of these failures rest on your shoulders and you pointing a finger at others does not undo what you are responsible for.
Thank you,
Gregory Andrew
GMA:gma