Good morning MAR members!
Happy Summer (yes, I know it’s not until Saturday, but I try to extend summer however I can!). I love planning summer; the most pressing decision for me is: Which day will I be attending the Marin County Fair? Huey Lewis on Wednesday 7/2? The Wailers on Thursday 7/3? Night Ranger on Saturday 7/5? Or Joan Jett on Sunday 7/6? It’s a spirited discussion in our household, with Heather voting for Joan Jett, and I’m pulling for Night Ranger. I pointed out that we saw Joan Jett at the Marin fair only a couple of years ago…to which Heather says, “So?” Maybe we’ll just go every day, but I have a feeling I know who will win this little argument…
New this week: Gumballs. Personal property gumballs. More on that later…
Also: Sewer lateral point of sale SASM board meeting this Thursday, to vote on draft legislation. More on that later too.
At the MAR Installation last December, I devoted much of my speech to the subject of service. Service to each other, to ourselves and to our community. Both the Marin community at large and to the real estate community as well. I encouraged each of us to give of ourselves in service.
To that end, this year we created the MAR Community Service Committee, one that I hope will continue long after my term as MAR President is finished. Judy LeMarr and Jennifer Boesel graciously offered to be the co-chairs and launch this committee, and the group has been meeting for much of the year working to get this off the ground.
Thank you to everyone who participated in Image for Success last month. MAR supported the Women’s Council of Realtors and a number of brokerages, and the response was terrific. By collecting clothes and accessories, our real estate community supported Image for Success, a non-profit organization, who provides wardrobes for disenfranchised men, women, and children transitioning towards self-reliance and/ or success in their careers.
Our next venture is Sunny Hills Services and their Guardian Scholars program for former foster children. It’s a travesty with the county foster children program, which pretty much dries up support for these kids when they turn 18. Really, how many 18-year-olds are prepared to support themselves while they work on their education and position themselves for a successful future? A travesty.
Sunny Hills Services provides support to these kids. Here is a link to their website: http://www.sunnyhillsservices.org/ Sunny Hills and College of Marin have created a program to help emancipated foster kids, 18-21, make an easier transition into adulthood by providing housing and education. The young adults will live at the San Anselmo site and go to school at COM.
This is a 3 year program with the initial launch of 8 newly renovated units this summer- July/August-working up to 24 units in the 3 years. Each young adult will have their own bedroom and will share a communal kitchen area and living room. These young adults have never had anything of their own and it will be very special to have this fresh start. The items should be new or furniture gently worn. Bedding, mattresses- twin long, kitchen items for starting a new household.
You can review the “wish list” here. If you’d like to participate, please call Anastasia at Sunny Hills Services at 415-457-3200 or contactus@sunnyhillsservices.org. You can drop off, or they can arrange for pickup. And they’re hoping to have this in place by July 1, so time is of the essence.
Thank you, MAR members, for supporting your community!
Now, on to the weekly sewer lateral update! Super exciting stuff, I know! Thanks to all of you who participated in MAR’s Red Alert to the leadership of the Sewerage Agency of Southern Marin (SASM) last week. Over 150 of you participated, which resulted in over 800 letters going out to the SASM Board and leadership.
SASM will be meeting on Thursday night to vote on adopting draft legislation mandating point of sale sewer lateral inspections for Mill Valley and the surrounding area. MAR had invited SASM to meet with our Government Affairs committee prior to the vote. They had not responded to that invitation until the Red Alert went out this week. Late on Wednesday night, SASM contacted MAR CEO Andy Fegley and asked if they could come to last Friday’s committee meeting. Of course, we cleared the agenda and had them in.
Attending the meeting were SASM President Lew Kious and Mill Valley City Manager Jim McCann. As you might imagine, it was a super spirited meeting… Mr. Kious and Mr. McCann were gracious enough to give MAR 90 minutes of their time, and they certainly got an earful.
They sure do sound intent on pushing this through. MAR’s position is that if this is such an emergency and a public health matter, then the agency should come up with a 20-year plan that addresses the problem throughout the community, and not relying on the real estate community to do their implementation. Frankly, by singling out property owners who are selling, they are discriminating against these very citizens. If it’s a problem, it’s everyone’s problem, not just those who are selling their house.
We agree, it’s a big problem. A public health crisis. So why is it only getting addressed by those who are selling their house? SASM needs a real plan, a holistic plan for the entire community. I asked if the reason that there wasn’t a more comprehensive plan was because raising the rates to deal with it was not politically viable? They didn’t really answer the question, but I got the strong impression that was the exact problem.
Doing point of sale inspections will take 47 years in Mill Valley for all the housing to turn over and to solve the problem. I also pointed out that as a best practice most of the real estate community is already doing sewer lateral inspections. Mandating it via point of sale is going to insert a bureaucracy into a process that’s already happening.
SASM claims it’s not a big deal, because the real estate transaction will be able to close, and the repair just needs to occur within 6 months. We asked how long it would take for SASM to review the reports and lateral video to determine whether it’s a mandatory fix or not, and they did not know. This means that there will be (1) a mandatory inspection and report; (2) a possible mandatory fix; and (3) a currently undefined turnaround on when SASM decides whether the repair needs to take place or not.
We explained to them that this loose end about SASM deciding whether the repair needs to take place will grind escrows to a halt while we all wait for the results of the bureaucratic review. It’s a $5k, $10k, even $20k swing in the transaction that needs to be accounted for, and they were not sure how long it would take to get back to everyone on whether a fix is needed.
This is unacceptable. SASM needs a real plan to fix this problem across the community. MAR is strongly against point-of -sale as the solution. I intend to attend the SASM board meeting this Thursday, and I encourage MAR members to do the same.
Enough on that.
Now, about those gumballs… I was fortunate to put a lovely piece of property into escrow for a San Francisco family this past week. They were overjoyed, it’s the perfect place for the couple and their 5-year-old son Oscar. Oscar’s mom told him on Tuesday night that they had finally won out, and that they were going to be moving soon. Oscar asked which house it was, and his mom told him. “Is that the house with the gumball machine?” Oscar asked??? Yes, it’s the house with the gumball machine. This house had an antique gumball machine in the garage with the much of the owner’s personal property.
Upon hearing of Oscar’s affection for the gumballs, the owner graciously offered to leave the gumball machine for Oscar. As you might imagine, Oscar and his parents are thrilled, each for their own reasons.
Once again, that’s what it’s all about.
And that’s it for now!
I wish you a safe and prosperous week.
Blaine
