If I ran the zoo
A book that really impressed me as a child was Dr. Seuss’s If I Ran the Zoo.
If I were a Marin County Supervisor, I would work to:
- Institute TERM LIMITS;
- Institute and adhere to COIN;
- Block Pensions for Politicians;
- Eliminate the SLUSH FUND;
- Establish a ‘Son of 13’: Since we are such a rich county, we take in too much money from residential property taxes without refraining from spending every last cent. I want to give back the annual 2 percent tax hike on Assessed Property Evaluations each year to the taxpayers;
- Cut Supervisors’ aides from 10 to 5 and promote the use of INTERNS to do that work;
- Cut back the use of CONSULTANTS in favor of using county staff;
- Institute a ‘Fire Department Measured Response’: Don’t automatically send out fire engines and fire crews on Paramedic Calls.
I feel that Marin is already ‘built out.’ The carrying capacity of our roads has been exceeded, the same with our bridges. The housing market defines who gets to live here. It may not be fair, but it is the system we went along with and agreed to live by. Race is a red herring. Additional ‘affordable housing’ should come from 2nd units, not Win Cup type hives whose placement along the 101 corridor would be dictated by developers and regional agencies.
Our limited water supply should stop new development dead. One look at 580 should kill any notion of an ‘urban hub’ being developed at San Quentin. We need to fight for a legislative dismantling of the regional agencies and a beneficial disposal of their assets. The French king Philip’s seizure of the Knights Templar treasures and properties when that group became too powerful and threatened the throne comes to mind. Though we probably don’t have to resort to burning them alive at the stake.
—Alex Easton-Brown
