Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for May 14, 2023

Don’t let George’s turn into unwanted high-rise

I am writing in response to recently published news about the closure of a nightclub on Fourth Street (“San Rafael revokes downtown George’s Nightclub permit,” May 8).

First, let me be clear. I have never been in George’s Nightclub. I don’t think it is appropriate for people my age. However, I find it ludicrous that the City Council finds George’s to be inappropriate to do business downtown. According to the story, the site has been a nightclub, off and on, for nearly 40 years. What changed?

It seems to me that the San Rafael City Council is hell-bent on changing the face of the city. I am concerned that council members are trying to turn San Rafael into a high-rise city that I don’t even recognize anymore. The links between what has been called a gang shooting a block away from George’s (“San Rafael police call double homicide gang-related,” July 26, 2021) is unfortunate, and those people may have been customers, but gun violence is not a rare problem these days. That can’t be pinned on the owners of George’s.

I know the times are changing, but leave old Fourth Street alone. There’s enough high-rises cutting off the sun from hitting the streets now.

— Joanne Gotelli, San Rafael

Push to stay in touch turns into a world record feat

I live in Larkspur, but I grew up in Alameda. Near the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, I called Bobbie Hoepner, who organizes our high school reunions. That’s when she told me that her partner of 60 years had died in 2019. I made the drive over to Alameda. We had a good hug, did lots of catching up and talked about our next high school reunion.

We talked about getting together with some of our classmates to celebrate our 88th birthdays at our favorite restaurant as kids, Ole’s Waffle Shop, which is still open in Alameda. After I got home, I started putting together a list of names. That’s when Bobbie called me and suggested that we make the gathering an 83rd-year reunion for our 1938 kindergarten class at Sadler Elementary School. She still had the class photo with all the classmates’ names listed. We invited the others that we knew to be alive, plus some of our other school friends who were turning 88 that year.

We had a great time at Ole’s. The owners were honored that we thought of celebrating with them. The restaurant had been established in 1927 and still makes waffles from the original recipe. They melt in your mouth.

When we were done, we sent more than 60 pieces of evidence to the judges at the Guinness World Records. We were turned down twice, but on the third submission, they honored our effort by awarding us the designation of “longest running class reunion.”

— Porter Davis, Larkspur

New MMWD rates won’t even stabilize the backlog

On May 8, the Marin IJ published an article with the headline “Big rate increases to pay for water supply projects.”

At first, I interpreted the headline to mean that the Marin Municipal Water District was getting going on the major water projects needed to shore up our four-year water security. These include a proposed brackish desalination plant in Petaluma, a possible 20,000 acre-feet expansion of the reservoirs and, hopefully, an improved connection with the Sonoma County Water Agency. Any of those projects would probably generate an extra 5,000 acre-feet per year, at least.

Unfortunately, the water supply projects that the MMWD rate increase will address has to do with other projects with a smaller impact on Marin’s water supply. So far, it appears that the only thing MMWD will do regarding the large projects I mentioned, is spend $12.3 million over the next four years to “explore” their feasibility. That’s after spending a year on the Jacobs Engineering study.

MMWD will also spend several months on two studies on the reservoir expansion and the desalination project. By then, MMWD should have enough information to move forward without having to spend another four years at great expense to further “explore” those projects.

The proposed rate increases won’t even cover the infrastructure backlog. Stabilizing the backlog requires $23.9 million a year, according to MMWD’s financial plan released in February. That plan relies on a cumulative four-year rate increase of 94.5%. The proposed rates come in at an estimated 57.8% increase.

This is very close to an earlier rate proposal (known as Scenario 2). As specified, Scenario 2 did not address the backlog stabilization at all.

— Gaetan Lion, Mill Valley