New Year’s resolutions for the whole darn town.

 

Our two towns are running well these days, with strong volunteer councils, staffs and supporting commissions who put their collective hearts and souls into making the Twin Cities of Larkspur and Corte Madera one of the finest communities anywhere, let alone in Marin County.  But there’s always room for improvement, and if I were given the task of drafting a few New Year’s Resolutions for how our towns are run, they might go something like this:

 

Corte Madera Resolution #1:

 

More open discussion.  The Town Council is doing a great job. It’s a seasoned, smart crew of good guys and gal.  But now they just need to trust the townsfolk a tad more and let us in on their big plans.  Buying two significant pieces of property in 2006, without public input, was really not okay.  Purchasing the duplex next door to Town Hall (under $1m) and the Park Madera Center (where the Pet Club and Tub Tim reside, for about $12m) may have been great decisions, but when life-long residents who have attended meetings for decades now say they stay home because “everything happens in closed session,” I get worried, no matter how trustworthy the council and staff are.  On the other hand, if you’re one of the wacko conspiracy theorists who challenge every move, please follow Twin Cities Joint Resolution #1.

 

Larkspur Resolution #1:

 

Get a move on, as my mother would say.  While a decade-long filibuster is a decent slow-growth strategy, the time has come, as the Walrus said, to talk of many things.  It is time for a person of vision to step to the forefront. Perhaps, someone like Dan Hillmer, whose long tenure and quiet wisdom could add up to a palatable vision that the community could embrace.  When Dan first spoke at a City Council meeting about the need for housing to accommodate seniors, I wanted to put a crown on his head.  Does either town’s government realize how many older people are perched up on those hillsides, wishing they could come down and live where they could walk to Rulli’s or the Corte Madera Café for coffee?  As a real estate agent, I am working to help several seniors “downsize” to more livable quarters, and it has become obvious that we simply must make our older, long-time residents a top priority.  They shouldn’t have to move to a high rise (such as the Tamalpais) or put to pasture in Petaluma to find a livable life.  We need to keep them as part of our community.  They add so much to our lives.  And they don’t drive much, or fill up our schools with too many kids!  And never forget that, there, but for the current page of the calendar, go all of us!

 

Corte Madera Resolution #2:

 

Smarten up on the Rec Center planning issue.  When the consultant du jour told a group at a public hearing that he had not seen or heard anything about the nine-year-old plans that were developed, agonized over, submitted for a vote, and eventually turned down, I knew they were in trouble.  They seem doomed to repeat history.  And now that the Town has purchased the Park Madera Center, located right next door to the Recreation Center, this land simply must be included in the master plan. “But that’s ten years down the road,” said the consultant. We have all learned how quickly ten years go by.

 

Larkspur Resolution #2:

 

Ask and ye might receive.   For years, I have heard some great ideas coming out of Larkspur.  Let’s build a new library.  How about a recreation center?  Let’s designate some open space in the middle of town to let the deer and the antelope roam.  Yet seldom is heard anything beyond a discouraging word and so, nothing ever happens.  The City of Larkspur, once it finds a voice, needs to turn to its voters, the same people who pay over $100 a year to keep King Mountain free of houses, and ask a simply question:  “Will you put your money where your hearts are?”  Most odds makers would bank on a resounding “YES”.  The new residents in Larkspur are rich, and the old residents of Larkspur are fanatically devoted to their small town.  Come up with the right question, pitch it right, and put it on the ballot, before a Quizno’s or a Burger King buys up your precious downtown land.

 

Twin Cities’ Joint Citizen Resolution #1 & #2:

 

Show up, but please think before you speak.  It’s understandable why Corte Madera’s Town Council prefers private discussion. There are some well intentioned, dedicated, but misguided people (in both towns) who regularly insist on getting their two cents worth in, even if it takes a thousand dollars worth of everybody’s time to listen to it.  If you have expressed yourself on an issue several times and haven’t received any action, it means you are in the minority, and because you live in a democracy, it may be time to move on.  Keep a civil tongue.  Listen more than you speak. Address issues privately, through e-mail, letters or phone calls. (Or just write it up in the local paper!)

 

Get to know your neighbors.  The only way to preserve our community’s “small town character” is for a majority of us not to behave as if we live in a big city.  That means we must get our butts out there and knock on our new neighbors’ doors, and our elderly neighbors’ doors, and introduce ourselves and our families. 

 

Let people know you are a good, concerned neighbor. Those who move into our community and then wall themselves off are sad ironies of modern life.  Keep in mind that you live in Mayberry.  Act accordingly.  Make eye contact with Andy, Aunt Bea, and all the other people you pass on the street. Greet them warmly. Look out for each other’s children.  Call Twin Cities Police if you see something suspicious.

 

Finally, do try to put up as patiently as possible with those know-it-all citizens who feel the need to speak their minds at every turn and even have the nerve to write it up in the weekly newspaper. If it is any consolation, know that they take their fair share of grief for sticking their necks out, but are happy to make the sacrifice.

 

Most importantly, keep on reading.  Have a great 007, which sounds like an exciting year to me.  See you in the New Year, for more tales of the Twin Cities. Drop me an e-mail with your thoughts on any of the above, and I’ll follow up.

 

Best wishes,

Neighbor Pat

 

Write to me @ pravasio@fhallen.com