From: Abby Wasserman
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2026 10:24 AM
To: Mayor Kate <[email protected]>; Eli Hill <[email protected]>; Rachel Kertz <[email protected]>; Maribeth Bushey <[email protected]>; Maika Llorens Gulati <[email protected]>
Cc: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]>; Paul Navazio <[email protected]>; April Miller <[email protected]>; Craig Veramay <[email protected]>; Greg Minor <[email protected]>; Grey Melgard <[email protected]>; publicart <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Kristie Hubacker <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Community Development <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Dave Allen <[email protected]>; [email protected]; Adrian Rodriguez <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Cameron Macdonald <[email protected]>; Dick Spotswood <[email protected]>; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: My support for "People of the Canal: A Story of 20,000 Years" Dear Members of the San Rafael City Council,
As editor from 2013 to 2025 of the Mill Valley Historical Society Review magazine, I published many articles about Marin County's muti-ethnic history. Since retirement, I continue to be keenly interested in community efforts to educate and inform our citizens.
We have so much more information today than when I was in school. In the 1940s and 1950s there was little or no effort to educate young people about the contributions of immigrants from the Azores (Marin's many dairies), from Italy (the founder of Mill Valley Refuse), from Germany (Jewish doctors and musicians) and so many others, nothing about redlining to keep people of color out of our communities, and zero information about Marin's indigenous history. I wasn't aware that a Coast Miwok village had existed just blocks away from my home. Today, however, we have the information and can share it.
There is a concerted effort by the present federal administration to deny and even erase the contributions of native peoples, women, and people of color from our collective history. Public education is suffering. Here is an opportunity to bring education to the open air. Strollers on the path who choose to read the signage will come home better informed, with a new understanding about this incredible place we live. I will enjoy walking along the path, stopping to read, learning and reflecting as I walk on.
Please give your support to "Peoples of the Canal: 20,000 Years." Sincerely,
Abby Wasserman
Mill Valley (Homestead Valley)