Saturday-Redwood Blvd. & 4million $ Bus Station

Mark your calendars for this Saturday’s North, North Redwood Blvd. Corridor Workshop – from 9 to Noon at the Margaret Todd Rec. Center.

There needs to be a change in budget priorities, which the staff and council currently refuse to do.  Removing part of the concrete visuals and fixing the crosswalks at the Redwood Bus Station is of the utmost importance for the safety of our bus riders.  Measure F funds are for safety purposes, not consultants and toxic, plastic grass.

Of note is the planning of Redwood Blvd and who will benefit-residents, builders, affordable housing advocates, and businesses and what are the economic, financial costs to the 50% of the population making less than $120,000 a year?

The Redwood Corridor Planning workshop-will be at Margaret Todd, but is not on the calendar-and it should

(http://www.cityofnovato.org/Index.aspx?page=637&recordid=1685&returnURL=%2fIndex.aspx%3fpage%3d1) The possibility of considering  height of buildings, sidewalks, roof tops, parking, setbacks, new storm and  sewer lines, giving frontage streets to developers, removing trees, reducing number of lanes and having asphalt to concrete buildings with minimum 20% affordable housing  similar to  3rd street in San Rafael, Santa Rosa or Hayward  may  be examined by the staff report. 

Furthermore, connected with Redwood  Corridor budget plans the staff and council are also refusing to discuss reasons for misusing Measure F funds for the following two items in the budget: Toxic, unrecyclable plastic grass and consultants for advertising spaces for bio-tech firms.

These objectives are the main budget policies of interest to staff and council currently, not the repair of visual crosswalks at the bus station on Redwood Blvd.  The aforementioned plastic and advertising will cost the taxpayers around $ 1.8 million dollars in the short run.  In the long run-the probability is more costs to the public.  The double-speak will cost more with health issues in ten years due to unsustainable habits of  using known chemicals in plastics and experiments if used in bio-tech firms and in disposing of them at the dump, sewer lines, or storm drains.  Saving money appears to cost more later on.  Caution is needed for both-my preference is to use natural grass for fields and maintain them and also to have policies in place for non-polluting bio-tech firms. My other preference is 2-3 stories or less in buildings on Redwood, save the redwoods and the historic cork trees, have 25 foot setbacks and 20-30 ratio of floor to area space, provide parking and safe crosswalks, remodel not destroy the bus shelters, change the fountain to a natural landscape for our quiet breezes of Novato.  Which way the wind blows  is up to all of us. Please send emails and come to the city on

Saturday. Thanks.