Looking to the Future of Fairfax

By Mary Ann Maggiore

Affordable Housing, Traffic, Preserving Nature, Disaster Preparedness

So, now the task is to look ahead with foresight that will help us sustain the comfortable, community oriented place we have always been. How shall we do this? Let us look at some of the areas of challenge:

Affordable Housing -- One of the simplest ways to maintain the character of a town is to provide ways for people committed to the Town to stay in the Town. Many of Fairfax's renters are young people who have grown up here and are strongly devoted to this place. They are a tremendous social resource. Artists too and Town workers are social resources. And so are the retired elderly. Many towns ignore these groups and end up with a homogenized populace of the very rich. Within our Town limits, Fairfax has areas that can be converted to housing that will keep our varied population with us. School Lane Plaza would make an excellent live-work space for artists. One of Albertson's parking lots might be available for an apartment building and a garden. Building on these spaces would not seriously alter the shape of the Town.

At the same time, Fairfax is full of cottages and cabins that need refurbishing or remodeling. We need to groom the permit process so that residents are not burdened with protracted waits or hefty permit fees.

Traffic-- Few things are so detrimental to the life of a town than the tyranny of traffic. By making the town more walkable and bikable we could significantly reduce car use. New sidewalks, the repair of old sidewalks, extended bike lanes, traffic signals that help pedestrians and bicyclists get from here to there are all simple, thrifty ways to save our roads and improve the quality of our air and water. Currently a number of us are meeting weekly to look at ways to make cycling and walking more attractive alternatives to car use.

Preserving Nature -- Everything from fighting against pesticide use, to saying no to genetically modified organisms in our food, to expanding our organic produce businesses, is essential for keeping the vital nature of the Town. Solar power on our rooftops could take us off the energy grid and put our money where our values are -- in clean energy.

In preserving the land we rest on, we must seek ways to fun our purchase of the last of our open space by looking at other town models. By building alliances with money sources in the larger community, we may be able to keep the Wall property behind St. Rita's church, the golden hillside it is today. On a technical level, we need to clarify our Land Use ordinances so that we can keep the town as green tomorrow as it is today. On a more prosaic level, we can all help by planting more indigenous trees in our neighborhoods and encouraging low-impact gardens. All of these are methods for increasing our interconnectedness with nature.

Disaster Preparedness -- This year marks the 10th year anniversary of the Inverness Ridge Fire in West Marin. With the images of hurricane Katrina on our minds and memories of September 11, we must, as sensible people, face the facts of our emergency unpreparedness. This is not a time of panic but of deliberate action. Key tinderboxes such as Cascade Canyon, Scenic Road and Willow Avenue environs need to be cleared of brush. As painful as it might be, we also need to reclaim the easements that mark emergency exit paths so that people may move to safety. We can create neighborhood preparedness groups in each area and help each other to make plans that will gain us greater self-reliance.

Each of these programs can be done with the combined labor of volunteers, community leadership and basic community resources. I believe the majority of us agree on the essentials. What we need now is to leave aside fractious disagreement and center on bringing people together to do what we of Fairfax have always done best -- preserve the spirited democratic nature of the Town, while putting bold vision into spirited action.