Proposed Alarm Ordinance

Posted on November 4, 2019

The San Rafael Police Department spends a considerable amount of staff time and resources responding to false alarms at residences and businesses throughout the City of San Rafael. To date this year, the Police Department has received 2,216 alarm calls; of those, 2,198 were false alarms. Currently, there is no comprehensive database of active alarm...

Falkirk Bees Get a Garden of Their Own

Posted on October 4, 2019

The Falkirk Cultural Center (and its grounds) is one of my favorite places in San Rafael. But did you know bees also love it? Volunteers from the Marin Master Gardeners are busy making the grounds at the Falkirk Cultural Center a beautiful and educational attraction. One small change so far is the transition of the...

Costco: PRE-Application and Conceptual Design Review – October 15, 22

Posted on October 4, 2019

As you may know, Costco is proposing to build a new, approximately 147,000 square-foot warehouse center, including a warehouse, tire center, and fueling station to replace the Sears building at Northgate Mall. Costco is at a “Pre-Application” stage. The purpose of the Pre-Application is for an applicant to receive: 1) preliminary feedback from the City,...

Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority

Posted on October 4, 2019

Currently, 19 local fire agencies provide fire protection and emergency response services to communities in Marin County, but there is no single coordinating agency for wildfire prevention. The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA) initiative, which was conceived by a collaborative countywide effort among jurisdictions across Marin County, would allow local fire agencies and emergency service providers,...

Information Technology Services

Posted on October 4, 2019

We’re continuously on the move to modernize City services, and at Monday’s meeting, the City Council will consider approving an agreement with Xantrion, Inc. for information technology services. Our existing model for providing municipal information technology services (such as helpdesk and network support) relies on five separate vendors which has led to structural problems, inefficient...

New Library Facilities Study

Posted on October 4, 2019

Did you know that the original Downtown Library opened at its current location in January 1909? In the late 1950s, local architect Gordon A. Phillips was hired to design a 6,000 square-foot addition that would more than double the Library’s size. San Rafael quickly outgrew the first library expansion and the next step was to...

Barrier Installation Begins this week for the New Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Bicycle/Pedestrian Path

Posted on October 4, 2019

Crews will begin work this week to install a moveable concrete barrier (similar to the barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge) that will separate the two westbound traffic lanes on the upper deck of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge from a new bicycle/pedestrian path that is expected to open later this fall. Installation work began earlier...