Keeping San Rafael Active and Well! Are you home with your pooch and looking for a fun way to keep active? Join local dog trainer Kirsten of KW Happy Dogs Personalized Dog Training and Walking to learn a new trick for you and your pup. Check out her YouTube video on how to teach your...
Help spread words of encouragement and brighten up each other's days in your neighborhood by sharing rainbows in your windows. Children are creating colorful rainbows and placing them in their windows to stay connected and bring joy during these difficult times. Inspired by the children of Spain and Italy posting artwork in their windows and hanging...
Our next City Council meeting will be held virtually and we have been testing, testing, and testing some more! Here’s what you need to know: 🎥 YouTube Live: To have your comments read aloud, write PUBLIC COMMENT before your message in the live chat section on YouTube. Also, if you want your name included make sure...
The City has made the decision to close all non-essential services to the public in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, also known as the Coronavirus. As part of our effort to make some of these services available digitally, you can temporarily apply for ALL building permits online. Anyone can apply for a...
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., the City Council will consider approving a redevelopment project in Downtown at 999 Third Street. BioMarin is proposing to redevelop a former PG&E site by building two new 70 ft tall office buildings totaling 207,000 square feet, which will be incorporated into their existing...
The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a federal program that provides funding for housing, community facilities, and human services. In San Rafael, examples of CDBG-funded projects have included the development of affordable housing, sidewalk accessibility improvements, and a wide range of public services. For October 2020 through September 2021, Marin County is expected to...
On Monday, the City Council will consider approving side letters extending the current Memorandums of Understanding by one year with our SEIU Local 1021 bargaining unit. The side letters keep all terms the same but increase compensation equivalent to a 2.5% increase (calculated over the next fiscal year), which is consistent with the Bay Area...
Be a part of San Rafael’s largest single-day tree planting event! Join us to plant 100 beautiful, carbon-capturing trees in San Rafael on March 28 Here’s how to help: Volunteer to plant, mulch and water, March 28, 8:30 am, McInnis Parkway. NOTE: we need tree leaders! Let us know if you can arrive 30 minutes...
Gerstle Park The 2018 Sidewalk Repair Program completed work in Gerstle Park this last week. The City completed 11,000 square feet of new sidewalk and 1,200 feet of new curb and gutter at 88 properties in Gerstle Park. That’s the equivalent of over a ½ mile of new sidewalk in the area or enough sidewalk...
In 2017, the City applied for a grant to the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Measure AA grant for the restoration of Spinnaker Marsh and Shoreline Flood Protection measures. The project would restore tidal marsh, wetland-upland transition habitat, and adjacent upland habitats – while simultaneously reinforcing natural protections against future shoreline erosion and sea level...
Are you Street Smart? San Rafael is participating Street Smarts - an educational campaign to promote safe driving, biking, and walking here in San Rafael and Marin County. Look for the Street Smarts banners around San Rafael in the near future. Please visit http://www.streetsmartsmarin.org for more information and educational materials. Street Smarts is funded by...
With all the development and movement in and around the Bettini Transit Center, we realized we were missing one thing: the bike connection! Public Works is applying for a Housing Incentive Pool (HIP) grant that provides $300,000 to transportation projects within a Priority Development Area (PDA) and adjacent to high frequency transit and/or affordable housing....
Development activity has skyrocketed in recent years in San Rafael and, as a result, we’ve had a backlog of encroachment permits still awaiting inspection. We recently re-organized to lend support to our amazing permits team and we are beginning to chip away at the backlog. We are using a systematic approach by taking small sections...
The Solar panel installation is well underway in the lower parking lot at City Hall. SolarCraft Services will be starting the roof mounted system at City Hall on Monday, March 9 and should be done with the roof mounted system by the end of March. The system is set to start augmenting PG&E power by...
In February, the City Council appointed five members to the Cannabis Industry Tax Oversight Committee: Abi Rivas, Drew Erik Revai, Stephen Roth, Drew Bulfer and Jen Dye; and two new members to the Pickleweed Advisory Committee: Janet Tanchez and Jairo Ceballos. Here is a little information about our newly appointed members: Abi Rivas is a resident...
The City of San Rafael would like to continue to support residents’ removal of two highly flammable plant species, bamboo and juniper, by providing a chipper and disposal at no cost. We would like to make you aware of an upcoming Juniper/Bamboo chipping and collection opportunity for Lucas Valley and Marinwood. The chipper will be...
Following a nationwide search, the City of San Rafael is pleased to announce Darin White as the new Fire Chief, effective April 15, 2020. White comes to San Rafael after serving as the Fire Chief for the City of Oakland, overseeing 25 fire stations and 60,000 annual emergency calls. “With the threat of wildfire on everyone’s...
The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael have had an unparalleled impact on the community in the areas of education, social justice and health care. For more than 100 years, the Sisters have provided uncompromising leadership in the community through their extensive education mission at Dominican University, The Garden School, San Domenico School, and the Osher...
The San Rafael Fire Department is constantly innovating to find better ways to deliver important services that our community relies on. Our Fire Department recently began a 90-day pilot program aimed to better serve frequent 9-1-1 callers, helping to connect people to needed services. This program targets callers who request emergency services more than four...
Due to active construction at 815 B Street, lane closures and a detour will be required on the night of March 5, 2020. Starting at 7:00 PM lane closures will occur on 2nd Street between B Street and C Street. From 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM, the area will go into a full closure and...
2020 is bringing new changes to Marin Transit programs and fares! In February 2020, Marin Transit’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt a staff proposal on changes to Marin Transit fare policies, Marin Access program eligibility, and the Low-Income Fare Assistance program. The adopted plan includes changes to local bus pass programs, Catch-A-Ride, Dial-A-Ride,...
San Rafael, CA – The San Rafael Police Department is accepting applications for the Citizen’s Police Academy. The Citizen’s Police Academy is an exciting ten-week program hosted by the police department. Offered free of charge, this hands-on, interactive, behind-the-scenes program is taught by experienced police department employees who share their unique perspective on law enforcement....
In the early days of the City's homelessness newsletter, we posted a series of interviews with local stakeholders to help the public meet the various people involved with this important issue. Those interviews included the City of San Rafael's Mental Health Outreach Liaison Lynn Murphy and the County of Marin's Homelessness Policy Analyst Ashley Hart McIntyre....
We are proud to announce that the Fire Station 57 project has received LEED® Gold certification. This is now our second City-owned building to obtain this green building honor. This follows Fire Station 52 which also received LEED® Gold certification last year. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system was developed by...
With the Spring-like weather, Public Works crews have been able to get a jump on some much needed preventive maintenance this month. The Parks Division was able to take care of a few safety concerns such as, a line of sight issue at the Mission and Alice Street crosswalk located behind San Rafael High School....
With the help of interns and maintenance crews, the Traffic Engineering division is making huge headway with improvements at uncontrolled crossings throughout the City. An uncontrolled crossing is any marked crosswalk that is not controlled by a traffic signal or STOP sign. Improvements include painting red curb for visibility, installing signs in advance, and at,...
The City is one step closer in securing battery back-up (BBS) units at signalized intersections along major arterials. After selecting the equipment last year, Public Works recently procured three units and tested them in real conditions. The test at Second Street at Lindaro Street, Third Street at Lindaro Street, and Andersen Drive at Bellam Boulevard...
San Rafael’s new Public Safety Center (PSC) is nearing completion and we plan to open this summer. The contractor, Alten Construction, is working on the sidewalks around the building and a sidewalk “bulb-out” is required to create a safer crosswalk between the City Hall and the new PSC. In order to accomplish that work, the...
Marin County, CA – A new application for mobile devices now available in Marin County is designed to provide the public with real-time fire agency incident information and to locate CPR-trained people near someone in cardiac arrest. The free PulsePoint app, available on the App Store and Google Play, recently expanded its geographic scope so that Marin...
Join us to plant 100 beautiful, carbon-capturing trees in San Rafael on March 28! Here’s how to help: Learn how to plant and maintain trees at a Tree Planting workshop, February 29, 9am, 618 B St. Volunteer to plant, mulch and water, March 28, 8:30 am, McInnis Parkway. Adopt-a-tree. Donate funds to water the trees...
