RE: Use of Community Center

From: "Les Lizama"
Date: August 9, 2010 11:38:21 AM PDT
To: Charles Sands
Cc: undisclosed Evergreen residents
Subject: RE: Use of Community Center

Hi, Charles,

With such limited information as to what your needs, as well as time and date, are, it’s hard to respond thoroughly. However, Evergreen Ave. resident Keith Garriott did come into the office on Friday with a flyer which seems to question the proposed project as an “improvement.”

Your group is welcome to rent the facility for a private meeting. Just call me for available times and dates.

However, the Evergreen Ave. Sidewalk Project is a County of Marin effort, and any public meeting for the purpose of discussing the planned improvements that would included complimentary use of the community center should be initiated by, and include, representative(s) of the County of Marin, the Evergreen Ave./Traffic Calming joint Marin Horizon School/Homestead Valley committee, and made public for the entire interested community to have the opportunity to attend and weigh in.

As I understand it, the meeting that the county held at MHS was to share conceptual plans and gather feedback. The next step would be to go to each property owner and work with them to address their concerns. It seems that while some folks have expressed frustration with the county for coming to the community after they had drafted their conceptual plan, their response was that they needed to fully understand the route and what barriers and challenges might be entailed in the project before they would be in a position to answer questions that would surely arise. This is their approach to all such projects and in their experience it is the best way to proceed.

The next step the county plans to take, I’m told, is going to each property owner along the route, unless they are persuaded that this is not a project the neighborhood wants. It seems it would be wise for concerned residents to share their views and ideas directly with Ernest Klock, the project engineer at Marin County Department of Public Works. Inviting him to schedule and attend another public meeting might be a way to present those ideas.

Hope this response clarifies your options.

Thanks for your inquiry,
Les

Les Lizama, Executive Director
Homestead Valley Community Association
415.388.0137
les@homesteadvalley.org