We would also like to acknowledge all of the people who helped make the Live Local Awards so great: our emcee Assembly member Michael Allen; all of the award presenters – Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke, David Escobar, Kathleen Harris, Mary Kay Sweeney, David Kunhardt, Mayor Gary Philips, and Dee Boyd; and our wonderful caterers Homeward Bound’s Fresh Starts.

Thank you everyone! It would not have been possible without you.

This is what parking looks like

Most people know that Marin is one of the most expensive places to live in the country. Yet most people do not realize that a renter’s monthly payment covers the cost of building parking spaces, which run between $10,000 and $30,000 per spot. Marin’s cities and towns could do considerably more to refine their parking standards so that new homes near transit and amenities, including those with seniors and low-income families who own fewer cars, have reduced parking requirements. While some parking will always be needed for new residents, reduced parking encourages biking and walking while bringing down monthly rent prices.  

One simple solution is shared parking. More and more cities recognize that developing mixed-use buildings, with retail on the ground floor and apartments above, creates lively, walkable downtowns. Currently, these buildings must provide separate parking spaces for retail and residents. Businesses need parking during business hours, whereas residents need parking overnight. Instead of separate parking, spaces filled by retail customers during the day could easily be shared with residents who only need parking after hours.

For new homes within a quarter mile of major transit lines, unbundled parking is an even more promising strategy. In this scenario, tenants rent parking spaces separately from their home, allowing car-free residents to reap savings on rent. Complexes that practice unbundled parking usually self-select tenants who drive infrequently or not at all. This allows a developer more flexibility to build only the needed amount of parking. Unbundled parking can also be paired with car shares that are available only to residents.

Some cities and towns in Marin have recognized the value of these progressive parking strategies. However, local officials prefer to implement parking policies on a case-by-case basis rather than apply them to an entire area. This creates too much uncertainty for a developer, who will not know how much a property will cost to build until the land has been purchased. Instead, Marin should follow the lead of other Bay Area cities, which acknowledge the importance of modern parking strategies for improving walkability and reducing housing costs. Developers can even sweeten the deal by providing free transit passes to residents. These strategies reflect the growing desire of young people and seniors to live in an active, tightly knit community where driving is a choice rather than a necessity.

For more information, visit parkingreform.org.

Drake's Way

Join us this Saturday, June 16, for a tour of affordable homes in Marin County. After enjoying a complimentary breakfast, we will visit beautifully designed, well-managed properties developed by EAH Housing and BRIDGE Housing. On the itinerary for the tour are Drake’s Way in Larkspur, Edgewater Place also in Larkspur, and Alto Station in Mill Valley. Meet the residents and management staff of these exemplary properties and learn how local leaders overcame opposition to these developments.

Building more affordable can alleviate the housing crisis in Marin while enhancing our neighborhoods. This tour is an opportunity to see how these model properties can be replicated in your community. We hope to see you Saturday!

What: Live Local Marin Affordable Housing Tour
When: 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Saturday, June 16
Where: Drake’s Way Community Room, 20 Drake’s Way, Larkspur (map)

Breakfast will be served. Limited parking spaces on the property; additional parking available at the Bed, Bath, and Beyond parking lot directly across the street from Drake’s Way. Transportation for the tour will be provided.

To RSVP, please call Melody Lopez at (415) 491-4731 or email her at melody@nonprofithousing.org.

Organization of the Year
Stand Up for Neighborly Novato

Outstanding Local Developer
Community Land Trust of West Marin

Dream Maker Award
Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco

Volunteer of the Year
Tabitha Hurt
Read more about Tabitha >>

Good Neighbor Award
EAH Housing for San Clemente Place
Read more about San Clemente Place >>

Visionary Leadership Award
Mayor Al Boro of San Rafael

Lifetime Achievement Award
League of Women Voters
(Transportation, Land Use & Housing Committee)

Congratulations to the winners, and we hope to see you all on Tuesday! We are currently at capacity for the event, but if you really, really want to come, please email Whitney Merchant.

What: Live Local Awards Banquet
When: Tuesday, May 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Where: Jackson Café at Whistlestop, 930 Tamalpais Ave., San Rafael
Full event details

Tabitha with her son

Tabitha Hurt is Volunteer of the Year for her work as an active Live Local Marin Leader. She has written many letters and testified at a number of public hearings about her own experience with homelessness and the lack of affordable housing in Marin.

She also generously donates her time to support Homeward Bound programs at The Fireside, an affordable complex that Tabitha calls home. Had she not made it into The Fireside, Tabitha, who works locally as a dog groomer, was considering moving outside of Marin — becoming yet another in-commuter contributing to local traffic.

“When we got into The Fireside, I was so happy to stay in Marin. I grew up here with family and friends. I was relieved to not be worrying about where we were going to sleep the next night. My son is too young to see for himself now, but when I look in his eyes, I can see a future for all of us.”  – Tabitha Hurt

Read more about Tabitha in With an Affordable Place to Live: Stories from Marin >>

In response, a group of women gathered in a friend’s living room on a Saturday morning in January 2011 to discuss how to change the conversation. From that meeting, Stand Up for Neighborly Novato was born.

Since then, the founders of SUNN—Annan Paterson, Katie Crecelius, Lynne Wasley, Marla Fields, and Reverend Pamela Griffith-Pond—have devoted countless hours to engaging their fellow residents in healthy discussion about how Novato can plan for moderately priced housing. The fruits of their labor include over 1,100 endorsements of their mission, among them the support of Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey, three county supervisors, and 14 different organizations.

In addition to SUNN’s ongoing community outreach and advocacy, the group has created a first-of-its-kind training program to elevate the voices of those most affected by the lack of housing choices in Novato. The Live Local Novato Leaders program is a six-month training program for residents of affordable housing and those who need it. Participants learn about local planning processes related to affordable housing and develop their own personal story into moving public testimony. Since its inception, the Live Local Novato Leaders program has graduated 45 people who are now effective housing advocates.

Celebrate Affordable Housing Week with us by honoring the individuals and organizations who are leading the effort to provide more housing options in Marin. There will be great (and free!) food and great company. Unfortunately, RSVPs are full—but if you would still like to attend, please email Whitney Merchant and we will do our best to accommodate you.

What: Live Local Awards Banquet
When: Tuesday, May 15 from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Where: Jackson Café at Whistlestop, 930 Tamalpais Ave., San Rafael
Full event details

Key people’s opinions have been largely absent from the affordable housing debate in Marin. Amid the hostility and rancor that has dominated the public discourse, the voices of our residents of affordable housing have been ignored completely.

Today, we honor their voices and their courage for speaking out in Live Local Marin’s new publication, With an Affordable Place to Live: Stories from Marin.

Download With an Affordable Place to Live: Stories from Marin (pdf).

These stories are first-hand accounts from families and individuals who, despite the odds, have found affordable places to live in Marin. More than just a roof to sleep under, these places have turned around people’s lives. The Fireside provided the stable home that Tabitha Hurt needed to raise her young son. Pilgrim Park allowed Jaswant Bassi to keep his family near relatives. Their stories remind us that, no matter which side of the debate you stand on, we can all agree that we want to be able to make a home of our own.

Live Local Marin would like to invite you to share these heartfelt stories with your friends, family, and colleagues. We can all use a little positive inspiration these days.

If you know of an amazing story to share, please email, Facebook, or tweet it to us.

Not a pretty sight

Parking is not something we think about until we’re circling the block for the third time looking for that elusive space.  Since we only think about parking when we need it, we often assume that more parking is always better. That is not the case. Too much parking reduces the walkability of our neighborhoods, increases the costs of our homes, and adversely impacts how much we exercise.

With the abundance of free parking these days, it’s easy to forget that parking costs money. A single parking space in a garage costs between $20,000 and $35,000 to build. When that garage is part of your apartment building, you pay for that space in your monthly rent or mortgage, regardless of whether or not you own a car. Furthermore, those parking spots take up real estate that could be better used for resident amenities such as a gym, clubhouse, or garden.

While surface lots are cheaper to build at just $10,000 per space, they perpetuate our car-dependent lifestyles. Charming, pedestrian-friendly shopping districts feature connected storefronts that make for great window shopping and allow people to pick up groceries, drop off dry cleaning, grab a latte, and try on that cashmere sweater they’ve been eyeing all within an easy walking area. Clustering services, shops, and homes in a neighborhood also creates the population density necessary for frequent and high-quality public transit. Meanwhile, stores that you are forced to drive to and are surrounded by half-empty asphalt lots do nothing to create a sense of place (See: your local desolate strip mall).

Of course, when we do need to drive, we want to find parking right away. But that doesn’t mean cities should add more parking spaces. Instead, cities can adopt flexible pricing strategies that increase turnover and parking availability. Free parking encourages people to drive and to stay in the space longer than they need. A price hike for the most convenient spaces will encourage people who plan to linger  to find parking farther away. Studies show that the longer a person is staying in an area, the farther they are willing to walk from their car to their destination. As a result, the most valuable spaces are freed up for visitors making a quick stop. This strategy of demand-management makes parking easier and saves people a lot of stress, time, and gas money.

Increasing the price of some parking spaces isn’t just a win for drivers, but for cities as well. The revenue collected can be used by cash-strapped cities for enhancements that benefit all residents such as parks, plazas, landscaping, and benches.

By changing how we think about parking, we can reduce traffic congestion, encourage walking and biking, increase public transit use, ensure available parking for those who need it, and improve the vitality and charm of our hometowns.

For more information, visit parkingreform.org.

With their votes, they changed County policy in the following ways…

• Affordable housing developments will no longer have to secure a use permit—with extra add-on conditions—to build to the maximum densities allowed by the General Plan.
• Affordable housing will be allowed to build to higher densities (up to 30 units per acre) in four types of mixed-use zones.
• Affordable housing will be exempted from master plan requirements except where local community plans (or Board-endorsed “community visions”) specifically require a master plan for a given parcel.

There was some disappointment that the board didn’t pass everything we were pushing for—we would have liked to have seen a universal exemption to master plan requirements for affordable housing to fully eliminate this barrier. However, the new policy improvements are real steps forward, and worth celebrating. Together, these changes will help make it easier to build affordable housing in Marin.