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UPDATED: Sausalito Police Arrest Freelance Journalist Covering Homelessness

News

Dec 3, 2021

UPDATED: Sausalito Police Arrest Freelance Journalist Covering Homelessness

Editor’s Note: This article was updated with additional information at 2:45pm on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

Sausalito police officers arrested a Marin photojournalist while he worked at a homeless encampment in Marinship Park on Nov. 30, according to interviews with camp volunteers and residents, and a video of the arrest.

Jeremy Portje, 43, was filming at the encampment, which is located on public property, when arrested. An experienced photojournalist, Portje is working on a documentary about homelessness in Marin County. Police confiscated Portje’s camera and gear at the time of the arrest and have yet to return it.

Though the circumstances leading up to the arrest remain somewhat unclear, an attorney with the First Amendment Coalition, a press freedom advocacy group, said that any arrest of a journalist doing their job is cause for concern.

Luis, a volunteer at the encampment who requested his last name not be used, said he saw the arrest and the incidents preceding it. As Luis stood on the sidewalk near the parking area at Marinship Park, he noticed an officer following Portje. When the journalist set up his camera and began filming, the officer stood directly in front of the camera.

An encampment resident, Jeff Jacob, who also witnessed the altercation, believes Officer Nick White blocked the camera; however, Luis said it was Sgt. Thomas Georges. Both Jacob and Luis said that Georges, without provocation, grabbed Portje’s camera. In doing so, Georges appeared to accidentally hit himself in the chin or chest with the piece of equipment, according to Luis.

“The officer reacted to the camera hitting him,” Luis said. “He started punching Jeremy.”

Portje attempted to block the blows by placing his arms over his head. Georges then grabbed Portje’s arms and forced the journalist to his knees on the pavement, according to Luis. Another officer, Sean Smagalski, assisted in cuffing Portje, while White stood by, a video of the arrest shows.

Luis and Jacob agree that at some point during the clash, Georges threw the journalist’s camera to the ground.

Georges was injured, Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman said in a brief email. Hoffman and Sausalito Police Chief John Rohrbacher did not answer numerous other questions about Portje’s arrest.

Jacob said Rohrbacher pointed out a small scrape above Georges’ eye just after Portje’s arrest.

The three charges against Portje include two felonies and a misdemeanor: obstructing an executive officer, battery on a police officer with injury and battery on a police officer, according to the Marin County jail booking log on Nov. 30.

Portje spent the night of Nov. 30 in jail and was released early the following morning on $15,000 bail, according to Charles Dresow, a criminal defense attorney representing Portje. Marin County District Attorney Lori E. Frugoli has not yet determined whether to press charges. The journalist’s arraignment is scheduled for Dec. 20.

The arrest comes at a time of rising tensions between encampment residents and the police, leading some to speculate that Portje’s arrest was a form of retribution.

Georges, White and Smagalski are the same three officers who arrested two homeless people for camping in a downtown public park two weeks ago. Portje recently made a public-records request for the three officers’ body-camera footage from that arrest.

Portje is currently self-employed and previously worked as a photographer for the Marin Independent Journal and a daily newspaper in Iowa. A Novato resident, Portje serves as the vice chair of the city’s Police Advisory & Review Board, which reviews citizen complaints about police officers.

While Dresow declined to comment on the motive behind Portje’s arrest, he said he is disturbed about the implications of arresting a journalist while he was doing his job. Dresow said the seizure of Portje’s equipment, which contains the video of the police actions on the day of the altercation, is an issue of equal importance.

“My journalist client ended up on the ground,” Dresow said. “It’s clear the Sausalito police used force to arrest a journalist. To say this is an outrage of constitutional proportions is an understatement.”

Glen Smith, litigation director of the First Amendment Coalition, a San Rafael-based nonprofit which seeks to protect journalists and win access to public records, agrees.

“Anytime a journalist is arrested and has their equipment seized, it’s a matter of grave concern to the First Amendment Coalition and other journalist organizations and civil rights organizations,” Smith said.

So far this year, 56 journalists have been detained or arrested by law enforcement across the country, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a nonpartisan organization that tracks violations of freedom of the press. This number is down from 142 detainments or arrests in 2020, the year of the George Floyd protests, when journalists were arrested in record numbers.

Under the First Amendment, journalists are permitted to gather news in public spaces. The California Shield Law offers additional protections by prohibiting the government from seizing unpublished materials, even during an arrest or with a search warrant.

Portje’s equipment is subject to the state shield law since it contains unpublished material gathered for the documentary he is producing, according to David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition.

On Dec. 7, Snyder sent a letter to Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli and the Sausalito mayor and police chief detailing the applicable federal and state laws protecting Portje’s right to gather news in a public space and safeguarding his equipment from unlawful seizure. Snyder urged the police department to return Portje’s equipment and asked Frugoli not to press charges against the journalist.

“We strongly urge District Attorney Frugoli to take the serious constitutional issues into consideration when deciding whether prosecution of Mr. Portje is justified,” Snyder wrote. “Based on information made public to date, we believe Ms. Frugoli should decline to pursue these charges.”

New School—Students Deserve a Choice

Sarah Nagle

Dec 1, 2021

By any metric, our public education system is failing too many kids.

Back in 2019, the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that only 32% of California’s public-school fourth graders were “proficient” readers. Overall, according to the California Reading Coalition, currently more than half the children enrolled in schools in over 300 public school districts can’t read at grade level. Parents have a legitimate fear that their children aren’t being adequately educated by the public K-12 system.

The Educational Freedom Act is designed to give parents and kids the freedom to choose a better alternative without costing Californians more money. The state is spending an average of $21,152 per year for every child enrolled in the public K-12 school system.

Currently California public schools are funded through a combination of bonds, parcel taxes, donations, Federal Funds and Prop. 98 funding. The Educational Freedom Act is designed to permit a portion of the Prop. 98 funding to follow the child to any accredited school in the state of California.

The Act treats all K-12 California students equally. An Educational Savings Account (“ESA”) will be established for each K-12 child in California on request. Each ESA will receive $14,000.00 per year. ESA funds can be used to pay for tuition at any accredited public, private or parochial school. Any unspent funds will accrue in a low-risk portfolio. Parents would never have direct access to the money. However, homeschool students can also enroll in an ESA and use ESA funds to pay for qualified educational expenses if they enroll in an accredited private school independent study program. Because funds can accrue, families would be able to save the extra money in their accounts for students to use at an accredited college or vocational school up until the student turns 30.

The Educational Freedom Act has the potential to offer practical, workable educational options to millions of California kids. We have some money, we’ve had a few generous donations, but inherently this is a grassroots effort. We’re in this for the kids. We believe California kids and families deserve school choice.

Sarah Nagle is the senior advisor for Californians for School Choice and lives in Marin County.

Remarkable Chronicle—Students Write Unparalleled Account of Nicasio’s Community

Jane Vick

Dec 1, 2021

Remarkable Chronicle—Students Write Unparalleled Account of Nicasio’s Community

Over the ringing of bells on a WhatsApp call from Panama last Sunday—which is, it turns out, their Independence Day—I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Elaine Doss on the release of her first book: Nicasio’s Oldtimers, Newcomers & Remarkable Guests.

Going in relatively cold, knowing only that Elaine sits on the Nicasio School Board and is the president of the Nicasio Historical Society, I expected—not unenthusiastically—to hear about a historical account of the area told through the lens of intriguing characters who lived there, perhaps with an overall educational bent.

This book is so much more than that.

Elaine Doss was, for almost two decades, a teacher at the Nicasio School, teaching a variety of subjects—everything from soup to nuts, as she puts it—to third, fourth and fifth graders. In an endeavor to make California social studies more engaging to her students, Ms. Doss developed an idea that resulted in a truly magnificent piece of curriculum.

Noticing, when she came in and took over the class, that her students weren’t familiar or comfortable with writing and revision, and that teaching directly out of a U.S. history textbook didn’t hold their attention, she decided to have her class hold interviews with the local townspeople and write up the stories subsequently, to teach her students about the various nuances, rules and creative choices available in writing. “I thought, if I could give them an audience that made it matter to them, it would help,” Doss said.

All three grades worked on these interviews, and no one ever wrote alone. A partner was always picked, and the partner couldn’t be from the same class; so third and fifth, or fourth and third, would end up collaborating on an interview together. Not only did the students learn about their town’s history while at the same time honing their writing and editing skills, they also learned to collaborate outside of their age group.

The endeavor became a newspaper, which published six to eight copies a year. Eventually a subscription service was offered, and editions went out to grandparents, aunts and uncles, and sold at the Bovine Bakery and the Rancho Store. The proceeds zeroed out the cost of production, and sometimes paid for a field trip or classroom supplies. The paper included a sports section, an arts section and a food-critic column, but the shining stars were always the interviews. The paper ran for 18 years, resulting in an unparalleled and inimitable perspective of Nicasio’s community.

During the years in which the paper was published, students interviewed the older members of the community and then moved on to more recent arrivals, including NFL players, horse trainers, artists, puppeteers, pet psychics, courtroom artists and more.

“We just started asking people around the town,” Elaine said. “We ran out of old-timers, so we had to get creative, but then you realize, too, that history is in the making every moment, and this is the way to chronicle it.”

She explained a bit of the process to me, and it’s nothing short of adorable.

“Now, of course, the kids didn’t know how to interview, so I worked it out so that the day before the interviewee came, we would brainstorm the questions and write them on the board. And I told them, in order to take notes we had to keep our questions in chronological order, starting with their childhood and moving up from there. Then, when the interviewee came, he or she would stand up at the front of the room. The kids would ask the questions, and I’d be at the back frantically taking notes—we had the backup of a cassette recording, also. And to make sure the kids were keeping on track, I’d enlist the help of a student, usually a third grader because it made them feel helpful, to cross out each question after it had been answered. The kids got really good at it. And each writer’s workshop started with a mini lesson—a five- or 10-minute lesson on some point of good writing that they could incorporate into their pieces. And really, they did.”

During the years that the paper was published, the curriculum was awarded a Golden Bell Award by the California School Board. I asked Doss if the program was still in operation, but she said, “No.”

“Each teacher has their own preferred methods,” she said. “And when we won the award, one thing the judges said was, ‘This is magnificent, but can anyone else do it without your high energy?’ And I had written it up, and I assumed they could, but no, it wasn’t carried on.”

I expressed my sadness at hearing this, not only because of the evident benefit to every student who participated over the almost two decades the paper ran, but because of what the paper did for the community at large. American culture is in a connectivity drought—our relationships with our community are minimal, and our skill at crossing age barriers is often un-fostered. Elaine’s newspaper wove a network of connection between young and old, antiquated and contemporary, in such a way that each interviewed member of Nicasio felt a renewed sense of their value, and each child was able to deepen their understanding of the different dimensions of life in their community.

“We’d have farmers come in,” Doss said, “who at first hemmed and hawed, insisting they were nobody and had nothing to stay. Two questions in, they’re reliving their childhood and their eyes are sparkling.”

Though it took tremendous energy—Doss’s car was often the last in the parking lot—and while perhaps the newspaper may not return to Nicaso’s school, I hope this method of teaching through community connection is revitalized somewhere. Something Doss mentioned in the course of our call really struck me: As we were coming to a close, she mentioned that teaching and being with children for so many years was what had kept her young—she’s a bright-eyed, wide-smiling person with clear, strong energy. I realized it was true, and that when we separate our youth from our adults and elders, every generation suffers for it. Being around children, as demanding as it can be, keeps the child within us alive, and keeps our imagination and sense of wonder alive and healthy. We live longer and better lives when we live with wonder, and as Doss and I agreed, children possess wonder in spades.

Doss never had any intention of publishing the interviews, she told me. But upon retiring, she began re-reading the files for pleasure and found herself unable to put them down.

“I start to look back at my files, and I start reading them, and of course I’m totally amused and engrossed, and then suddenly I think, oh my God, this is such a chronicle of life in Nicasio over 18 years—starting with people born in 1903 all the way to techies at Lucas Film,” she said. “And I thought, I have to do something with it.”

And so, Nicasio’s Oldtimers, Newcomers & Remarkable Guests was born, and I for one can’t wait to read it.

Nicasio Historical Society celebrates the release of “Nicasio’s Oldtimers, Newcomers & Remarkable Guests” with a reception on Saturday Dec. 4 at 3pm, at Nicasio Druids Hall, 4499 Nicasio Valley Rd., Nicasio. nicasio.net

Free Will Astrology

Rob Brezsny

Dec 1, 2021

Week of December 1

ARIES (March 21-April 19): It’s a favorable time to get excited about your long-range future—and to entertain possibilities that have previously been on the edges of your awareness. I’d love to see you open your heart to the sweet, dark feelings you’ve been sensing, and open your mind to the disruptive but nourishing ideas you need, and open your gut to the rumbling hunches that are available. Be brave, Aries! Strike up conversations with the unexpected, the unknown and the undiscovered.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A Tumblr blogger named Evan (lotad.tumblr.com) addressed a potential love interest. “Do you like sleeping, because so do I,” he wrote. “We should do it together sometime.” You might want to extend a similar invitation, Taurus. Now is a ripe time for you to interweave your subconscious mind with the subconscious mind of an ally you trust. The two of you could generate extraordinary healing energy for each other as you lie together, dozing in the darkness. Other recommended activities: meditating together; fantasizing together; singing together; making spiritual love together. (PS: If you have no such human ally, sleep and meditate with a beloved animal or imaginary friend.)

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Gemini author Chuck Klosterman writes, “It’s far easier to write why something is terrible than why it’s good.” That seems to be true for many writers. However, my life’s work is in part a rebellion against doing what’s easy. I don’t want to chronically focus on what’s bad and sick and desolate. Instead, I aspire to devote more of my energy to doing what Klosterman implies is hard, which is to write sincerely—but not naively—about the many things that are good and redemptive and uplifting. In light of your current astrological omens, Gemini, I urge you to adopt my perspective for your own use in the next three weeks. Keep in mind what philosopher Robert Anton Wilson said: “An optimistic mindset finds dozens of possible solutions for every problem that the pessimist regards as incurable.”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): An organization in Turkey decided to construct a new building to house its workers. The Saruhanbey Knowledge, Culture, and Education Foundation chose a plot in the city of Manisa. But there was a problem. A three-centuries-old pine tree stood on the land. Local authorities would not permit it to be cut down. So architects designed a building with spaces and holes that fully accommodated the tree. I recommend you regard this marvel as a source of personal inspiration in the coming weeks and months. How could you work gracefully with nature as you craft your future masterpiece or labor of love? How might you work around limitations to create useful, unusual beauty?

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Author Melissa Broder wrote a preposterous essay in which she ruminated, “Is fake love better than real love? Real love is responsibility, compromise, selflessness, being present and all that shit. Fake love is magic, excitement, false hope, infatuation and getting high off the potential that another person is going to save you from yourself.” I will propose, Leo, that you bypass such ridiculous thinking about love in the coming weeks and months. Here’s why: There’s a strong chance that the real love at play in your life will feature magic and excitement, even as it requires responsibility, compromise, selflessness and being present.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Andre Dubus III describes times when “I feel stupid, insensitive, mediocre, talentless and vulnerable—like I’m about to cry any second—and wrong.” That sounds dreadful, right? But it’s not dreadful for him. Just the opposite. “I’ve found that when that happens,” he concludes, “it usually means I’m writing pretty well, pretty deeply, pretty rawly.” I trust you will entertain a comparable state sometime soon, Virgo. Even if you’re not a writer, the bounty and fertility that emerge from this immersion in vulnerability will invigorate you beyond what you can imagine.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get 22.” Author Dashiell Hammett said that, and now I’m passing it on to you—just in time for a phase of your cycle when putting two and two together will probably not bring four, but rather 22 or some other irregularity. I’m hoping that since I’ve given you a heads-up, it won’t be a problem. On the contrary. You will be prepared and will adjust faster than anyone else—thereby generating a dose of exotic good fortune.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In her poem “Is/Not,” Scorpio poet Margaret Atwood tells a lover, “You are not my doctor, you are not my cure, nobody has that power, you are merely a fellow traveler.” I applaud her for stating an axiom I’m fond of, which is that no one, not even the person who loves you best, can ever be totally responsible for fixing everything wrong in your life. However, I do think Atwood goes too far. On some occasions, certain people can indeed provide us with a measure of healing. And we must be receptive to that possibility. We shouldn’t be so pathologically self-sufficient that we close ourselves off from tender help. One more thing: Just because that help may be imperfect doesn’t mean it’s useless and should be rejected.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “All my days I have longed equally to travel the right road and to take my own errant path,” wrote Norwegian-Danish novelist Sigrid Undset. I think she succeeded in doing both. She won a Nobel Prize for Literature. Her trilogy about a 14th-century Norwegian woman was translated into 80 languages. I conclude that for her—as well as for you in the coming weeks and months—traveling the right road and taking your own errant path will be the same thing.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author Susan Sontag unleashed a bizarre boast, writing, “One of the healthiest things about me—my capacity to survive, to bounce back, to prosper—is intimately connected with my biggest neurotic liability: my facility in disconnecting from my feelings.” Everything about her statement makes me scream NO! I mean, I believe this coping mechanism worked for her; I don’t begrudge her that. But as a student of psychology and spirituality, I know that disconnecting from feelings is, for most of us, the worst possible strategy if we want to be healthy and sane. And I will advise you to do the opposite of Sontag in the coming weeks. December is Stay Intimately Connected with Your Feelings Month.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In some small towns in the Philippines, people can be punished and fined for gossiping. Some locals have become reluctant to exchange tales about the sneaky, sexy, highly entertaining things their neighbors are doing. They complain that their freedom of speech has been curtailed. If you lived in one of those towns, I’d advise you to break the law in the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, dynamic gossip should be one of your assets. Staying well-informed about the human comedy will be key for your ability to thrive.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “Originality consists in thinking for yourself, and not in thinking unlike other people,” wrote Piscean author James Fitzjames Stephen (1829–1894). Another way to say it: Being rebellious is not inherently creative. If you primarily define yourself by rejecting and reacting against someone’s ideas, you are being controlled by those ideas. Please keep this in mind, dear Pisces. I want you to take full advantage of your astrological potential during the next 12 months, which is to be absolutely original. Your perceptions and insights will be unusually lucid if you protect yourself from both groupthink and a compulsive repudiation of groupthink.

Residents of Flood-Prone Marin City Push for Infrastructure Improvements

Nikki Silverstein

Nov 30, 2021

Residents of Flood-Prone Marin City Push for Infrastructure Improvements

The “bomb cyclone” storm in late October walloped Marin County. Mt. Tamalpais received 21.7 inches of rain. Power outages, flooding and road closures affected thousands of residents.

In Southern Marin, the combination of heavy rain and high tides overwhelmed drainage systems and caused localized flooding. Low-lying Marin City may have been impacted more than any other community. When the only route in and out of the community of approximately 3,100 people became flooded, it left residents stranded for hours.

The flooding issue in Marin City isn’t new. Residents have complained about the inadequate drainage for years.

To explain why Marin City floods, Roger Leventhal, senior engineer for the Marin County Department of Public Works, points to the geography and development of the eastern shoreline in Marin County. The slopes of Mt. Tamalpais give way to narrow, flat land along the shoreline, which was once historical tidal wetlands. Wetlands are areas where water covers the terrain, either seasonally or year-round. The saturated soil promotes the growth of specially adapted plants, and provides a habitat for fish and wildlife. In addition, wetlands absorb storm- and flood-waters.

In the 1900s, development began on Marin’s eastern shoreline, with accelerated growth from the 1950s through the 1990s. Regrettably, we filled in the wetlands. The eastern shoreline of Marin, consequently, is one of the most flood-prone areas along the San Francisco Bay, according to Leventhal.

“Much of the development in Marin County, including Marin City, occurred along that relatively narrow eastern edge of historic tidal wetlands, resulting in the paving over, or ‘urbanization,’ of the drainage areas or watershed,” Leventhal said.

Watersheds typically hold stormwater and release it slowly, preventing flooding. By covering the watersheds with streets and buildings, we’ve created a water-resistant, flood-prone area. Paving over creeks and burying them into pipe systems intensifies the problem, as the conduits carry water very rapidly to the Bay.

In addition, the soft soil underneath Marin’s wetlands is now sinking under the weight of the paved roads and buildings. Double trouble.

“We have seen several feet of sinking at almost all the major utilities and roads of Southern Marin, such as the CalTrans Manzanita parking area down to Gate 6 at Marin City,” Leventhal said. “This results in areas that are too low to gravity-drain during higher tides and therefore flood.”

In 1953, after the development of much of the eastern shoreline, the Marin County Flood District was established to coordinate flood-reduction efforts. The District, divided into eight zones, is funded by a combination of property taxes and special assessments. Each flood zone manages its own financial resources.

Zone 3, which includes Marin City, covers 13 square miles and deals with flooding in areas adjacent to Richardson Bay. Unfortunately, the funding allocated to the zone doesn’t cover all the needed flood controls, with most of it going toward the maintenance of aging drainage and flood facilities.

No one needs to tell Marin City resident Terrie Green that the area has insufficient flood controls. Green, executive director of Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice, has worked tirelessly to get the county to address flooding in the community.

According to Leventhal, the problem is that Marin City is shaped like a large bowl, tilted on its side, that drains into a small, privately-owned pond located between Highway 101 and the Marin Gateway Shopping Center. The one small pipe connecting the pond to the Bay simply can’t drain the water fast enough during higher tides and major storms. The Bay tide level controls the drainage from the low-lying area of Marin City. During higher tides, the drainage system from the pond to the Bay backs up.

To make matters worse, the Marin City watershed has no upstream ponds or wetlands. Without storage areas, there is nothing to slow down the stormwater flow from the steep hillsides.

“That means floodwaters reach the bottom of the watershed quickly and can cause flooding, because there are limited outlets to send the water to the Bay,” Leventhal said. “There is also high groundwater in Marin City, due to its proximity to the Bay and underlying geology that also impacts drainage and the storage capacity of the pond.”

In addition, a small area dips down at the intersection of Drake Avenue and Donahue Street, retaining water. When the junction floods, the only entrance and exit to Marin City is inaccessible.

The Highway 101 off-ramp at the Sausalito/Marin City exit also drains stormwater into the overburdened pond. That, too, can trigger flooding. It also creates another problem, according to Green.

“We have 12 acres of runoff coming off Highway 101 into Marin City,” Green said. “The water is contaminated. Just google ‘highway runoff.’ We don’t want toxic waters coming into Marin City or going out to our wetlands and Richardson Bay.”

Marin City has been flooding for 80 years, and the County has failed to make necessary improvements, while other flood-prone areas in Marin have been upgraded, according to Green.

In early 2018, the Marin County Flood Control District released the “Marin City Drainage Study.” The 317-page report evaluated the current flood protection, identified the inadequate drainage-system structures and defined structure improvements. The study recommended a second culvert from the pond to Richardson Bay.

The District is currently in the design and permitting phase for the improvement project, which includes plans to bore a second culvert under Highway 101 and construct a new flood wall around the pond, Leventhal said. Yet, this is only an interim solution. As sea levels rise, this upgrade won’t be sufficient to prevent flooding. Longer-term solutions are needed.

Sea level rise and increased rainfall intensity due to climate change will form a “perfect storm for flooding,” according to Leventhal.

Still, the District is moving forward with the second culvert. To defray the costs of the project, the District applied for a FEMA grant, which was approved last year. The total grant amount is approximately $2 million. Flood Zone 3 has allocated approximately $1 million of its own money for the project, with an additional million dollars in reserve.

The installation cost for the second culvert and new flood wall was originally estimated at $3.2 million; however, the design phase has already hit a couple of significant bumps. In fact, the District is applying to FEMA for a one-year extension to finish the design. The anticipated design completion date is now March 23, 2023.

Unfortunately, the delay is necessary, according to Leventhal. Since the pond is privately owned, the District has lacked access to conduct the design work. In addition, the plan to place the new culvert under Highway 101—by using trenchless technology—must be reassessed due to recent geotechnical studies.

The District and CalTrans are working together to examine other methods of installing the new culvert. One concept involves “open trenching” across 101.

“As you can imagine, this is potentially a major project to a major freeway, so additional time and field investigation is required before CalTrans will entertain such a major construction approach and significant impact to Highway 101 traffic,” Leventhal said.

Whether FEMA grants the extension, and whether the allocated funds will cover the costs of a new design, remain to be seen. If the current FEMA funding is lost, the District will seek other grants.

Green remains skeptical. After years of advocating for flood controls in Marin City with no results, she’s frustrated. Most of all, Green is concerned that when Marin City floods residents will be forced to trudge through toxic floodwaters and emergency vehicles will struggle to traverse inundated streets.

“I want to hear the County make some commitments to us,” Green said. “When are they going to deliver?”

Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters acknowledges that Marin City has a long-standing flooding problem and that the County must act. She also wants to assure residents their needs will be met during an emergency. The County is currently working on an emergency preparedness plan with schools.

“I have spoken with the County fire department and the Department of Emergency Services,” Moulton-Peters said. “I’ve been told they do have equipment to get people out of Marin City during a flood, including trucks, skiffs and boats.”

Moulton-Peters also said there are three Marin City flooding projects on the horizon with the Marin County Department of Public Works and CalTrans. The first is to upgrade the pond drainage. Another involves mitigating flooding from the 101 off-ramp into Marin City. A longer-term project includes improving the stretch of highway from Tam Valley to Sausalito.

“We will get solutions in place,” Moulton-Peters said. “CalTrans will be put in the budget this coming year, and I expect the first improvements will come in the next 12 to 18 months.”

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

Rob Brezsny

Nov 24, 2021

Week of November 24

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Aries author Chris Brogan says, “Don’t settle. Don’t finish crappy books. If you don’t like the menu, leave the restaurant. If you’re not on the right path, get off it.” That’s the best possible counsel for you to hear, in my astrological opinion. As an Aries, you’re already inclined to live by that philosophy. But now and then, like now, you need a forceful nudge in that direction. So please, Aries, go in pursuit of what you want, not what you partially want. Associate with the very best, most invigorating influences, not the mediocre kind.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Kurt Vonnegut wrote wistfully, “I still catch myself feeling sad about things that don’t matter anymore.” If similar things are running wild in your head, dear Taurus, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to banish them. You will have extra power to purge outdated emotions and reclaim at least some of the wild innocence that is your birthright. PS: There’s nothing wrong with feeling sad. In fact, feeling sad can be healthy. But it’s important to feel sad for the right reasons. Getting clear about that is your second assignment.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I’ll walk forever with stories inside me that the people I love the most can never hear.” So says the main character in Gemini author Michelle Hodkin’s novel The Evolution of Mara Dyer. If that heart-rending statement has resonance with your own personal experience, I have good news: The coming weeks will be a favorable time to transform the situation. I believe you can figure out how to share key stories and feelings that have been hard to reveal before now. Be alert for unexpected opportunities and not-at-all-obvious breakthroughs.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): A study of people in 24 countries concluded that during the pandemic, over 80% of the population have taken action to improve their health. Are you in that group? Whether or not you are, the coming weeks will be a favorable time to go further in establishing robust self-care. The astrological omens suggest you’ll find it easier than usual to commit to good new habits. Rather than trying to do too much, I suggest you take no more than three steps. Even starting with just one might be wise. Top three: eating excellent food, having fun while exercising right and getting all the deep sleep you need.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo-born scholar Edith Hamilton loved to study ancient Greek civilization. She wrote, “To rejoice in life, to find the world beautiful and delightful to live in, was a mark of the Greek spirit which distinguished it from all that had gone before.” One sign of Greece’s devotion to joie de vivre was its love of play. “The Greeks were the first people in the world to play,” Hamilton exulted, “and they played on a great scale. All over Greece, there were games”—for athletes, dancers, musicians and other performers. Spirited competition was an essential element of their celebration of play, as was the pursuit of fun for its own sake. In resonance with your astrological omens, Leo, I propose you regard ancient Greece as your spiritual home for the next five weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo singer-songwriter Florence Welch, of the band Florence and the Machine, told an interviewer why she wrote “Hunger.” She said, “I looked for love in things that were not love.” What were those things? According to her song, they included taking drugs and performing on stage. Earlier in Florence’s life, as a teenager, “love was a kind of emptiness” she experienced through her eating disorder. What about you, Virgo? Have you looked for love in things that weren’t love? Are you doing that right now? The coming weeks will be a good time to get straight with yourself about this issue. I suggest you ask for help from your higher self. Formulate a strong intention that in the future, you will look for love in things that can genuinely offer you love.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): There’s a Grateful Dead song, with lyrics written by John Perry Barlow, that says, “You ain’t gonna learn what you don’t want to know.” I propose you make that your featured advice for the next two weeks. I hope you will be inspired by it to figure out what truths you might be trying hard not to know. In so doing, you will make yourself available to learn those truths. As a result, you’ll be led on a healing journey you didn’t know you needed to take. The process might sound uncomfortable, but I suspect it will ultimately be pleasurable.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio author and philosopher Albert Camus was a good thinker. At age 44, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature—the second-youngest recipient ever. And yet he made this curious statement: “Thoughts are never honest. Emotions are.” He regarded thoughts as “refined and muddy”—the result of people continually tinkering with their inner dialog so as to come up with partially true statements designed to serve their self-image rather than reflect authentic ideas. Emotions, on the other hand, emerge spontaneously and are hard to hide, according to Camus. They come straight from the depths. In accordance with astrological potentials, Scorpio, I urge you to keep these meditations at the forefront of your awareness in the coming weeks. See if you can be more skeptical about your thoughts and more trusting in your emotions.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Poet Renée Ashley describes what she’s attracted to: “I’m drawn to what flutters nebulously at the edges, at the corner of my eye—just outside my certain sight. I want to share in what I am routinely denied or only suspect exists. I long for a glimpse of what is beginning to occur.” Although I don’t think that’s a suitable perspective for you to cultivate all the time, Sagittarius, I suspect it might be appealing and useful for you in the coming weeks. Fresh possibilities will be coalescing. New storylines will be incubating. Be alert for the oncoming delights of the unknown.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What could you do to diminish your suffering? Your next assignment is to take two specific steps to begin that process. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when you’re more likely than usual to see what’s necessary to salve your wounds and fix what’s broken. Take maximum advantage of this opportunity! I proclaim this next chapter of your life to be titled “In Quest of the Maximum Cure.” Have fun with this project, dear Capricorn. Treat it as a mandate to be imaginative and explore interesting possibilities.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “It is a fault to wish to be understood before we have made ourselves clear to ourselves,” wrote my favorite Aquarian philosopher, Simone Weil. I agree. It’s advice I regularly use myself. If you want to be seen and appreciated for who you really are, you should make it your priority to see and appreciate yourself for who you really are. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to make progress in this noble project. Start this way: Write a list of the five qualities about yourself that you love best.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Nigerian author Ben Okri, born under the sign of Pisces, praises our heroic instinct to rise above the forces of chaos. He writes, “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love, and to be greater than our suffering.” You’ve been doing a lot of that excellent work throughout 2021, dear Pisces. And I expect that you’ll be climaxing this chapter of your life story sometime soon. Thanks for being such a resourceful and resilient champion. You have bravely faced—but also risen above—the sometimes-messy challenges of plain old everyday life. You have inspired many of us to stay devoted to our heart’s desires.

[Editor: Here’s this week’s homework:]

Homework. Gratitude is the featured emotion. See how amazing you can make yourself feel by stretching it to its limits. Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

Sausalito Admits Fecal Contamination at Homeless Encampment

Local News

Nikki Silverstein

Nov 19, 2021

Sausalito Admits Fecal Contamination at Homeless Encampment

After weeks of denials, the City of Sausalito finally admitted on Wednesday that the soil at the city-sanctioned homeless encampment in Marinship Park is contaminated with concerning levels of fecal matter.

Fecal matter can spread illnesses, including hepatitis A, Salmonellosis and respiratory infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fecal concerns started late last month. After a powerful atmospheric river storm ended on Oct. 25, residents of the encampment noticed a foul-smelling liquid bubbling up from the soil. They reported the issue to Urban Alchemy, a nonprofit organization hired by Sausalito to monitor the camp, Robbie Powelson, camp resident and president of the Marin Homeless Union, said.

The city inspected the public bathrooms at Marinship Park on Oct. 27 and found no issues, according to Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman.

Powelson confirms that Patrick Guasco, Sausalito’s sewer system coordinator, examined the manhole outside of the camp.

“I let Patrick Guasco know about the stuff bubbling up and he said it was highly unlikely that it’s sewage,” Powelson said. “Drainage out of the bathroom goes straight into the street, not into the field, was what he told me.”

Troubled by potential health consequences, the campers took matters into their own hands. The day after Guasco’s visit, they hired Brelje and Race Laboratories to test a sample of water collected from a puddle inside the homeless encampment. The grim results from the water analysis, which indicated an extremely high fecal count, came back on Nov. 1.

Anthony Prince, attorney for the Sausalito Homeless Union, said he immediately forwarded a copy of the lab report to Sausalito’s outside counsel Arthur Friedman of Sheppard Mullin.

Powelson said he personally showed the fecal report to Sausalito City Manager Chris Zapata on Nov. 3, when Zapata visited Marinship Park.

In addition, Powelson sent the report to Guasco on Nov. 8. Guasco responded to Powelson, advising Powelson to obtain a lab analysis for enterococcus, a bacteria found in the intestines of humans and animals. When the bacteria exists in soil and water, it indicates fecal matter is present. Enterococci are opportunistic pathogens that cause millions of infections annually, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The City of Sausalito and the Sausalito Homeless Union have been embroiled in a lawsuit regarding the city’s treatment of its homeless population since February. The parties, now participating in settlement negotiations, discussed the fecal issue on Nov. 8 at a settlement conference in front of Judge Robert Illman of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Yet, on Nov. 8, Hoffman denied the city was aware of the fecal report.

“The City of Sausalito has no evidence or data indicating any issues concerning fecal matter in the water or the soil and no such evidence or data has been presented to the City,” Hoffman wrote in an email to the Pacific Sun.

The mayor’s denial mystified Powelson and Prince. They insist Friedman and at least two Sausalito staff members, including the city manager and the sewer system coordinator, knew about the lab report showing excessive levels of fecal matter in the water sample.

“I guess the mayor is having some communication issues with Friedman and Zapata,” Powelson said.

The campers had another lab analysis conducted on Nov. 8 by Brelje and Race Laboratories, this time to test for fecal matter and the enterococcus bacteria. The results returned on Nov. 11, indicated an extremely high fecal and enterococcus count. Prince said he immediately forwarded the report to Friedman.

Residents of the homeless camp are experiencing skin infections with open sores and throat infections. One woman has an abscess inside her mouth. Several campers have been treated at the hospital and prescribed antibiotics for bacterial infections. While they can’t directly correlate their maladies to the contamination at Marinship Park, the timing of the illnesses has caused apprehension throughout the camp.

Four campers, worried about the health risks, left Marinship Park for higher ground, and pitched tents on a very visible plot of land next to Dunphy Park in downtown Sausalito. The encampment was previously located there; however, earlier this year a federal judge allowed the city to move the campers to Marinship Park. Ironically, the city said Marinship Park was safer because it has bathrooms on site and mobile showers visit twice a week.

Finally, Sausalito had their own lab analysis done, testing soil samples from areas inside and outside of the camp. Friedman conveyed the results to Prince on Wednesday: fecal coliform levels inside the encampment area are significantly higher than outside the encampment.

On Wednesday, the same day Sausalito’s attorney admitted to the fecal contamination in Marinship Park, the city locked a gate to keep the relocated campers off the land near Dunphy Park and did not allow them to retrieve their tents. City workers told the campers they would be trespassing if they entered the property. The city even hired a security guard.

Apparently, city officials had no qualms about sending the four campers back to sleep in contaminated Marinship Park. Instead, on Wednesday, four campers pitched tents on the grass in front of Sausalito City Hall. They remained at city hall on Thursday.

Prince says forcing people to sleep in feces is par for the course with the way Sausalito has managed its homeless encampment, from moving it to Marinship Park, which is known to be low-lying and flood-prone, to leaving the campers to fend for themselves outdoors during the bomb cyclone storm that leveled the camp in late October.

“The main thing is the city failed to take action for three weeks,” Prince said. “They finally had to admit through their own testing that they recognize the need to get people out of there.”

On Thursday, city staff went to Marinship Park to move the campers from the contaminated field to half of a small parking lot a few yards away from the encampment. With approximately 40 campers, and the camping area they have been given, the city is likely violating the Centers for Disease Control and Protection Covid-19 guidelines recommending that public agencies provide at least 12 feet x 12 feet of space per individual. The city is now preparing the tennis courts to accommodate the campers, which is located next to the contaminated area.

The campers want to return to the site of the former downtown encampment near Dunphy Park. Outspoken Sausalito residents had objected to that location because it was very visible. Marinship Park, located in an area zoned for industrial and maritime businesses, is out of sight from tourists and most residents.

Prince said the city assumed a duty of care by clearing the original encampment and requiring all homeless people to stay in the city-sanctioned camp in Marinship Park.

The City of Sausalito reported it spent more than $675,000 on homelessness, from Jan. 1 through Oct. 14. Legal fees, coming in at $252,000 are the largest expense. Other expenses seem questionable, such as $1,267 for food for the police, including, of course, donuts. The city charging an expense of almost $30,000 to remove a soil stockpile at Dunphy Park seems like creative accounting, as the soil was from the park renovation, which occurred prior to the arrival of the homeless campers.

“I think it’s time for the leaders and the people of Sausalito to decide whether they want to continue spending hundreds of thousands of dollars needlessly to fight a group of homeless people,” Prince said. “Or are they going to actually get down to the business of providing real housing?”

The court saga continues on Dec. 9, when a federal judge will hear a motion to find the city in contempt for failing to keep the campers safe.