Page 9 – Pacific Sun | Marin County, California

Fairfax under fire for passing renter protection ordinances

Nikki Silverstein

Apr 11, 2023

Fairfax under fire for passing renter protection ordinances

Marin’s chronic housing shortage combined with rising inflation has pushed the rental market to a breaking point. Nowhere is that more evident than in the showdown taking place in Fairfax between renters, landlords and the town council.

The conflict began in November, when the progressive Fairfax Town Council passed two ordinances to protect renters, who account for 37% of the town’s households. Since then, verbal battles have played out during prolonged public comment periods at council meetings. It’s gotten downright disagreeable at times.

Although the council discussed, debated and negotiated the renter protections for eight months at public meetings prior to approving the ordinances, landlords are now demanding that both be repealed. One caps annual rent increases and the other provides strong measures to prevent arbitrary evictions, commonly known as a “just cause” eviction ordinance.

Landlords have leveled a variety of claims against the council members for voting in the ordinances. Elected officials failed to notify property owners that they were considering renter protections, they overreached their authority as a council and they have caused economic and unintended consequences, according to statements made by landlords at council meetings.

“There’s nothing in those ordinances that I would accept,” Philip Salaverry, owner of a Fairfax duplex, told the Pacific Sun. “The two ordinances combined are 36 pages long, and all of it is terrible for the housing provider.”

The town’s rent stabilization policy limits annual rent increases to an amount equal to 60% of the local CPI or 5%, whichever is lower. The cap is substantially lower than the maximum 10% annual rent increase allowed on units covered by current state law.

Salaverry, a retiree who lives on one side of his duplex, said he had leased the other half to long-term tenants for the past 15 years, never raising the rent more than 2% annually. But the financial risks are too great due to the ordinances, he said, which forced him to remove the unit from the residential market. It will soon be converted into a vacation rental that he will list on Airbnb.

In February, Salaverry co-founded Marin Residents, a political action committee (PAC), to fight the ordinances and educate property owners about rent control and housing issues. The group, which he said is grassroots, was responsible for gathering the 25 signatures necessary to place the issue of repealing the two ordinances on the town council agenda for April 5.

A robust crowd attended the council meeting, with dozens of people commenting during the almost three and a half hours of discussion about the renter protections. In the end, council members declined to bring the requested repeal to a vote. Instead, they voted unanimously to form a subcommittee with the mayor and vice mayor to review the ordinances.

Fairfax’s just cause eviction ordinance appears to be more controversial. Aimed at preventing landlords from evicting renters arbitrarily to benefit from increased rents for future tenants, the ordinance requires property owners to pay punitive damages for violations. It also applies to a broader range of rental dwellings than state law.

The town has scheduled a just cause eviction ordinance workshop, led by an independent facilitator, for May 6. The goal is to involve key stakeholders in a productive conversation about revising the ordinance to make it acceptable to both renters and landlords.

Renters support the workshop, according to Curt Ries, co-chair of the Marin Democratic Socialists of America, the group behind the push for renter protections. However, Ries doesn’t believe that the opposition is willing to come to the table in good faith.

“Most of them are not serious about revising the current ordinances,” Ries said. “The ordinances are very good, very strong. There are minor, but substantive revisions that can be made to address the more reasonable concerns stated by landlords.”

The landlords are crying foul. Michael Sexton, a Fairfax landlord and the other founder of Marin Residents, remains dissatisfied with the council’s actions, or lack thereof. He finds the workshop especially frustrating because it won’t address the rent control ordinance.

“It’s only dealing with half of the ordinances,” said Sexton. “The workshop would have been great eight months ago, but it’s way too little, way too late.”

The town received far more correspondence about the just cause eviction ordinance than rent stabilization, and the concerns were more substantive, Fairfax Mayor Chance Cutrano told the Pacific Sun. The workshop is the most expedient way to reconsider the elements of the just cause ordinance and determine what needs to be mitigated, he explained.

“At this time, the council is only holding a workshop on the just cause eviction ordinance,” Cutrano said.

However, opponents to the ordinances have a Plan B. Keep Fairfax Fair, a PAC established by Marin realtor Michael Burke, is circulating a petition to repeal the rent control and just cause eviction ordinances through a ballot measure.

A total of 588 signatures from registered Fairfax voters must be gathered to place the issue on the ballot, likely in 2024. About 300 signatures were gathered in the first week, Burke told the Pacific Sun.

Burke, whose website states he “specializes in apartment building investments” said his organization wants to rescind the ordinances because property owners had no input.

While renters have speculated that big money is behind Keep Fairfax Fair, Burke denied it. Current donors are mostly medium-sized apartment complexes in Fairfax, he said. To date, no large organizations, such as the Marin Association of Realtors and the California Apartment Association, have made monetary donations, according to Burke.

Sexton and Salaverry of Marin Residents also said they haven’t received donations from these associations. Still, the group has raised enough money for an ongoing cable television advertising campaign opposing rent control.

Marin Residents and Keep Fairfax Fair don’t rule out that large groups with deep pockets may become involved, especially if the groups are successful in getting their issue on the ballot. In accordance with state campaign finance laws, the PACs will need to disclose their donors in the future.

If the groups gather the requisite number of petition signatures, voters will decide whether to rescind the ordinances. Cutrano is concerned about the possibility of a ballot measure.

“We can continually amend ordinances,” Cutrano said. “That’s the great part about working with an ordinance. You can tweak them as they unfold, and you see how they work in the real world.”

Conversely, ballot measures cannot be revised. The only method to make changes would be another ballot measure in a future election.

Cutrano maintains that the rent control and just cause eviction ordinances are necessary, allowing people with lower incomes, such as artists, musicians, seniors and young families, to remain in Fairfax. The workshop is the most expedient way to reconsider the elements of the just cause ordinance and determine what needs to be mitigated, he explained.

“Fairfax is charming, and we want to protect it,” Cutrano said. “Given the crises that we’re facing—the legacy of fighting against building housing, the lack of funds to create affordable housing, the increasing costs of construction and the rent burdens—the council wants to support our community members.”

‘Shit show’ hearing ends with county letting down Marin City residents again

Nikki Silverstein

Mar 28, 2023

‘Shit show’ hearing ends with county letting down Marin City residents again

A Southern California real estate developer with approval to build a controversial, five-story apartment complex in Marin City heard strong condemnations of the project at a county hearing last week.

“It was a shit show,” developer Alexis Gevorgian, of AMG & Associates in Encino, told the Pacific Sun in an interview.

Indeed, it was. The three-and-a-half hour hearing marked the first opportunity for Marin City residents to publicly share their perspectives with the county board of supervisors about the 74-unit affordable housing development to be built on one acre.

Speaker after speaker cited the dangers of adding another large complex to an already densely populated area. Not only is 825 Drake Ave., the location of the development, in a state-designated high fire hazard zone, but the area is also prone to flooding, and is served by only one road in and out.

Even the five supervisors were critical of the project, which the county approved in November 2020. Supervisor Mary Sackett said that 24 parking spots for 74 units is “ridiculous.” Each supervisor expressed a variety of concerns, with most mentioning the developer’s failure to engage with the community.

No one except Gevorgian, the developer, espoused anything positive about the project. Of course, Gevorgian should be thrilled. The for-profit developer took advantage of state laws that provide incentives for building affordable housing. The project benefited from a streamlined approval process, and it received an 80% density bonus, which added 33 units to the 41 units allowed under the county code.

The supervisors repeatedly stated their hands were tied—no local decisions could be made about the project—due to Senate Bill 35, a 2018 state law which restricts local governments from rejecting multi-family residential developments that satisfy specific criteria. Unincorporated Marin County is subject to SB 35 because it has not built enough new housing to meet the state-mandated Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA), which aims to resolve the housing shortage.

Marin City residents and their supporters had hoped last week’s hearing, held to determine whether to approve the issuance of $40 million in tax exempt bonds for the project, would give the supervisors the control they needed to derail the developer.

“Marin County Board of Supervisors, you all have the power,” Marin City resident Felecia Gaston said. “You can vote no.”

During deliberations, Supervisors Dennis Rodoni, Katie Rice and Sackett basically parroted the advice given at the hearing by Marin County counsel Brian Washington. Although Washington acknowledged the board had discretion not to approve the issuance of the bond, he seemed to discourage a “no” vote.

“You know that decision would be judged on an abusive discretion standard,” Washington said. “You know the case law demonstrates that you have to have a bona fide, legitimate rationale for not doing an approval in a case like this. And you know, SB 35 and some other previous actions the board has taken do narrow the range of discretion in this instance.”

The board dismissed the residents’ impassioned pleas, voting 3-2 to approve the bond issuance from the California Municipal Finance Authority, a state-wide joint powers authority, of which the county is a member. Although Marin County is not issuing the tax-exempt bonds, local elected representatives from the area must provide approval, according to the Internal Revenue Service regulations.

Supervisors Moulton-Peters and Eric Lucan dissented, but for different reasons. Frustration with SB 35 propelled Moulton-Peters into making a fiery statement about voting “nay.”

“This is Marin City,” Moulton-Peters said. “They have the most multi-family housing in any area in the county. This was not where we were supposed to make up our RHNA numbers. It was to happen in other parts of Marin County that have not produced the housing they should have. And I’m angry about this, and the community is angry about this, and they have told us this today.”

Another bone of contention was that the developer couldn’t answer some questions because he didn’t have a current financial statement. Lucan expressed concern that the available financial information on the project is almost nine months old.

“I wanted to see the financials, updated and accurate, to see whether the county, a public entity, should authorize the issuance of tax-exempt bonds that will benefit a for-profit corporation,” Lucan said in an interview.

For Marin City, which by far has the largest Black population in the county, allowing the behemoth development to move ahead is another step towards gentrifying the community. While the apartments are considered affordable housing based on Marin County’s area median income (AMI), most Marin City residents can’t afford to live there.

In the county, the AMI for an individual is $116,000. However, Marin City’s AMI is just 28% of the county’s figure—$32,847 for an individual—based on the most recent Census Bureau data.

Housing is considered affordable when a person pays no more than 30% of their gross income on the rent or mortgage, including utilities, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The monthly rent at the Drake Avenue development will start at $999 for a studio, which exceeds 30% of the Marin City AMI. This 561 square foot apartment is not “affordable” for the average Marin City resident.

The director of the Marin Housing Authority, Kimberly Carroll, said during the hearing that 25 project-based Section 8 housing vouchers were allocated to the development and preference could be given to Marin City residents. A person with a Section 8 voucher pays only 30% of their income for the apartment and utilities.

Still, there is a waiting list for vouchers, and only families, seniors or disabled individuals with extremely low or very low incomes qualify. Those qualifications exclude many working-class people unable to afford the rent at 825 Drake Ave.

The typically soft-spoken reverend of Marin City’s First Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Rondall Leggett, expressed his contempt for the project’s approval during the hearing.

“Truth be told, it’s a rape job,” Leggett said. “And I call it a rape job because any time you force something on somebody without their permission, that’s rape.”

But the harshest words came a day later from Gevorgian. The real estate developer, in an interview with the Pacific Sun, said that he wasn’t happy with the 30 or so Marin City residents who spoke out against the project.

“They’re communists, right?” Gevorgian said. “They just want free handouts. You have 30 people who want to change [the project] and screw it up for 150 to 200 people who will have a life-altering experience, wherein they are leaving overcrowded housing in areas far inferior to this area and [will] be very appreciative.”

“Those 30 people, they don’t care. It’s all about them. Give me more. Give me more vouchers. Lower our rent. They bring up George Floyd and Jim Crow. I’m just a builder coming into a hornet’s nest. All I want to do is build. You don’t like it, don’t live there,” Gevorgian continued.

With SB 35 and the bond funding lined up, it seems like the large development that Marin City residents don’t want is a fait accompli. State Assemblymember Damon Connolly and Sen. Mike McGuire are making a last ditch effort to bring the developer and the community together. This week, the two state representatives will be meeting with the developer to “insist they work with the community in a sincere and meaningful way,” McGuire said in a statement.

“Resident concerns need to be addressed,” Connolly told the Pacific Sun. “If the developer doesn’t step up, that would be a mistake on his part.”

So far, AMG & Associates, the developer, hasn’t made much effort to engage with the community, except for an email that was sent to eight organizations last year. While the company said they offered to meet with the groups, no meetings took place because of a lack of response.

The Pacific Sun reviewed the list of organizations, which an AMG & Associates representative said was provided by the county. Only two were based in Marin City, with one of those serving the entire county area.

Paul Austin, who runs a Marin City nonprofit for children, said that the way the developer has treated the community has been “hurtful.”

“They could have Googled ‘Marin City’ and gotten a better list of community organizations,” Austin said.

The chances of making changes to the Drake Avenue project are slim, since the developer has until May 30 to meet a state deadline requiring that he obtain building permits and issue a “notice to proceed” to the contractor.

In addition, Gevorgian, the developer, indicated to the Pacific Sun that he doesn’t believe the issues raised by the community are legitimate. With regard to flooding, he said, “take another road,” apparently unaware that Marin City has just one ingress and egress.

The fire hazard zone designation and the population density in the small area also caused little concern to Gevorgian. He said that millions of other California homes are similarly situated.

“We are zoned and have the right to build,” Gevorgian concluded.

Residents vow to continue opposing the development. A petition against the project started by a community group, Save Our City, has gathered more than 1,370 signatures.

“We’ll protest arm in arm and block the construction,” said Terrie Green, executive director of Marin City Climate Resilience and Health Justice, a nonprofit. “We have been fighting with the county about infrastructure issues, and this project is only going to make it worse. All we’re asking is they cut the building height in half, cut the number of units in half and build some parking. Let’s move on.”

Freshman assemblymember pushing hard for constituents’ concerns

Nikki Silverstein

Mar 21, 2023

Freshman assemblymember pushing hard for constituents’ concerns

Assemblymember Damon Connolly listened carefully to voters while on the campaign trail last year for a seat in the California State Assembly. Now, 100 days into office, those conversations with constituents have already inspired his decisions on policymaking.

After narrowly winning the November election, squeaking by opponent Sara Aminzadeh with a 3.6% lead, the freshman legislator says he hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped. On Dec. 5, Connolly was sworn in as the representative for Assembly District 12, which covers Marin and southern Sonoma County.

By mid-February, he had introduced 21 bills to the legislative session. It’s a robust number for a new assembly member, according to Connolly.

“A number of my bill ideas have come from local folks and the issues that they identified,” Connolly said during an interview with this publication.

Connolly also launched a new Select Committee on Wildfire Prevention, which he will chair, a rarity for a freshman. Surprisingly, with catastrophic, out of control wildfires causing unprecedented death and destruction in California, no similar committee existed before Connolly suggested it.

During his term, Connolly will preside over hearings on wildfire prevention, and the committee will provide oversight on fund allocation.

The assemblymember is also serving on several high-profile committees, including the Utilities and Energy Committee. Currently, he is participating in hearings on the soaring costs of utility bills.

“’Hold utilities accountable,’” Connolly said. “I hear that all the time from constituents. And particularly now when we’re seeing energy prices rise two to three times higher than usual.”

As a member of the almighty Budget Committee, Connolly has a role in controlling the state’s purse strings. The assemblymember requested an appointment to the Budget Subcommittee 3, which allows him to focus on the climate crisis, resources, energy and transportation.

Other assignments include serving on the Judiciary Committee and the Environmental Safety & Toxic Materials Committee. Connolly seems particularly proud of his appointment as the vice chair of a joint committee.

“I’m one of four freshmen who received a committee chairmanship, so I’m the Assembly leader of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policy,” Connolly said.

That committee is currently “digging deep” into the California Air Resources Board scoping plan, which was criticized in a January report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. It’s imperative that the state meet ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals by 2030 to 2045 and provide transparency on the path to achieving those lofty targets, according to Connolly.

Agriculture also tops Connolly’s concerns. With the North Bay’s unique contributions to California’s 54-billion-dollar ag industry—from the ranches and dairies in West Marin to Sonoma County’s wineries, livestock and crop production—serving on the Agriculture Committee is a natural fit for the assemblymember.

Although Connolly admits that agriculture is a relatively new area for him, he is particularly excited about how some aspects of farming dovetail with his interest in reducing climate change.

“Part of the solution on mitigating climate change, and I have been leading in that regard, is carbon farming, carbon sequestration, the healthy soils program,” the assemblymember said. “One of my bills relates to that.”

Indeed, AB 406, introduced by Connolly, if passed, will provide millions in grant funding for sustainable farmers by including organic farming in the Healthy Soils and California Farmland Conservancy programs.

The assemblymember also authored AB 404 and AB 405. Both ag bills streamline the process of obtaining organic farming certification by removing some of the red tape that puts small and mid-size farming operations at a disadvantage.

Other bills introduced by Connolly run the gamut, demonstrating the demands of running the most populous and wealthiest state in the country. From a bold bill that protects youth from nicotine and tobacco addiction to legislation that places a cap on fire insurance premium increases for seniors, the assemblymember is covering the bases for his constituents.

Connolly’s AB 935 phases in a ban on tobacco use for people born on or after Jan. 1, 2007, similar to the statewide ban on flavored tobacco that was approved by voters.

The needs of seniors are a priority for Connolly. In addition to the cap on fire insurance premiums, AB 582 provides seniors living in a high-risk fire zone with a tax credit to shore up their property against wildfires.

The idea for restricting pesticide spraying by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) came from district constituents, according to Connolly. Too often, Caltrans has sprayed pesticides such as glyphosate, a key ingredient in Roundup, around public highways, even in counties like Marin and Sonoma, which have passed resolutions against the use of such toxic chemicals. Connolly’s AB 99 will ban Caltrans from deploying the pesticides along highways in counties with restrictions against using the poisons.

Saving the whales made it into the assemblymember’s bill package with AB 953. A vessel speed reduction program provides a two-fold benefit by lessening the risk of whale strikes off California’s coast and diminishing pollution from oceangoing vessels.

Marin and Sonoma commuters may soon breathe a sigh of relief if AB 1464 is passed. The bill creates a pilot program to find a fix for the traffic congestion on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Relieving the headache-inducing gridlock will help decrease pollution, too.

Some of Connolly’s other bills include protections for mobile homeowners and the wetlands; extending healthcare coverage for children with metabolic disorders; restricting the sale of sodium nitrite in high concentrations to prevent teen suicide; and phasing out older, polluting combustion biomass facilities.

The tightening economic conditions will certainly play a role in what the state legislature is able to accomplish in the upcoming sessions. Connolly acknowledges the unpredictability of the state finance system is a problem.

“We rely a lot on the highest income earners, and quite often their income derives from capital gains and investments—as opposed to salary—and that fluctuates,” Connolly said. “It’s been an issue over the years, and we’re seeing it again this year. Tremendously volatile swings make it challenging, and that could very well be an issue we need to take up through the budget.”

In the meantime, the assemblymember plans on continuing his dialogue with constituents. Connolly recently had productive “community get togethers” at coffee shops in Petaluma and San Rafael, and he’s been meeting with environmental groups.

“People who live here have subject matter expertise and they’re engaged,” Connolly said. “It’s been helpful for me, in representing this area, that people are willing to speak and provide ideas on bills. We’re blessed to have an active district.”

Dog Crisis: Local shelters overwhelmed by pooches needing homes

Nikki Silverstein

Mar 15, 2023

Dog Crisis: Local shelters overwhelmed by pooches needing homes

Overflowing with dogs, local animal shelters and rescues have put out an urgent call for people to adopt or foster. Purebreds, designer breeds and mutts of all ages and sizes await new homes.

The situation is dire, not just in the Bay Area, but also across the country. As dogs languish for many months at shelters, some face euthanasia to create space for the seemingly never-ending influx of strays and pets being surrendered by their owners. It’s an unsettling trend, especially since the practice of putting down adoptable dogs has declined in recent years.

“Shelters are desperate to get perfectly healthy, behaviorally sound animals out the door because there are more coming in than are exiting right now,” said Anna Harrison, admissions manager at the Humane Society of Sonoma County.

While shelters in Sonoma and Marin counties say they’re not forced to make the difficult decision of euthanizing dogs due to overcrowding, most are at capacity. When kennel space opens up, some of the North Bay facilities take in dogs from struggling shelters in Oakland, Contra Costa County and beyond.

Large adolescent dogs (LADS) make up the majority of canines needing homes. Sadly, they are staying in shelters for extended periods, even up to a year and longer. Siberian huskies and German shepherds are the two most common breeds filling the available kennels, which is a change from the Chihuahuas and pit bulls that inundated shelters prior to the pandemic.

Lisa Bloch, of Marin Humane, greets Nicky, a German shepherd/husky mix up for adoption. The three-year-old stray was found in Nicasio, California.

“Huskies, for instance, are super cute as puppies—and then they grow up,” said Brian Whipple, operations manager at Sonoma County Animal Services. “It’s a challenge for folks to keep up with the amount of work the breed requires. These are dogs that need a job or a lot of exercise.”

Proper training can go a long way to help keep LADS with their owners, says Virginia Grainger, Marin Humane’s shelter behavior manager. She spoke with the Pacific Sun while working with Billie, a boisterous two-year-old male husky picked up as a stray.

“When they show up at the shelter, we find that these owner surrenders and strays weren’t trained when they were little,” Grainger said.

As Billie entered the play area, he jumped up on people. However, Grainger quickly had him following commands, using treats as positive reinforcement. Within a few minutes, the beautiful boy calmed down, and then gently approached folks for a back scratch and affection.

Pop culture often plays a role in the proliferation of certain breeds. In the early 2000s, Paris Hilton was frequently seen carrying her Chihuahua in a handbag, starting a fashion wave that eventually landed the breed in shelters at record numbers. Some believe Game of Thrones, the hit HBO series featuring dogs that look like huskies, is responsible for the current husky craze.

The pandemic also contributed to the population explosion at shelters right now, says Nancy King, executive director of Pets Lifeline, a Sonoma Valley animal shelter.

“There was a phenomenon in dog adoptions during the pandemic,” King said. “Shelters and rescues couldn’t satisfy the number of people that wanted to adopt. We saw a lot more breeding at that time, including the large dog breeds.”

Now, those untrained LADS are helping to drive an unprecedented increase in abandoned and surrendered dogs. That issue, combined with lower adoption rates, has caused what animal welfare experts deem as a national crisis.

They point to a number of other factors, with the economic downturn and housing topping the list. More than 14% of dogs are surrendered due to housing issues, according to Best Friends Society, a national animal welfare agency.

“In our area, it really comes down to affordable housing and the rental market,” said Whipple, of Sonoma County Animal Services. “This is a tough place to find affordable housing that does allow pets.”

Inflation is also wreaking havoc for pet owners. Pet food prices jumped more than 15% year-over-year, while the cost of veterinarian services went up 10.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data for February 2023.

A nationwide shortage of veterinarians and technicians is another obstacle for dog owners. Some vets aren’t taking new patients. Spay and neuter procedures are booked out months in advance. Even for people who have long-term relationships with their vet, it’s often difficult to get routine appointments for their dogs.

The best way to curb the shelter overpopulation is to ensure that dogs and their people stay together. In Marin and Sonoma counties, many local shelters have programs to help defray costs for pet owners, including free pet food and supplies; low or no cost spay/neuter services; vouchers for vet care; and vaccination clinics.

The laundry list of pet ownership concerns certainly gives pause to anyone considering adopting a pooch. This leads to fewer adoptions, resulting in dogs staying in shelters longer. For some canines, living in a noisy, fast-paced shelter is extremely stressful.

That’s where dog rescues enter the picture. A rescue is typically a nonprofit that pulls dogs from shelters and places them in foster homes.

Muttville, a Bay Area rescue that rehomes senior dogs, is strained under the current overpopulation crisis. Sherri Franklin, Muttville’s executive director and founder, says the rescue is fortunate to have a physical shelter, its own veterinary staff and a large network of foster homes. Still, they can’t keep up with requests coming in from shelters and individuals who are no longer able to care for their dogs.

Jen Coudron, the mutt manager at Muttville, is on the frontline, making the decisions about which senior dogs they can accept. People are frantic to get their dogs into Muttville.

“I’m staring at my intake box, and I know there are at least 50 requests,” Coudron said. “All of them very, very urgent. When I have to turn away a dog, it’s just heartbreaking because I know these people are out of options. But we’re maxed out, and the resources that I normally send people to are maxed out.”

Experts say more people stepping up to foster dogs will help alleviate the pressure on shelters and rescues. A pooch becomes a member of the family during the foster process, which can last from a few days to a few months. The foster parent gets to know the dog’s personality and works with the animal on socialization and training. Sometimes, the foster nurses the dog back to health as they recover from medical conditions or procedures. Mostly, the foster family provides love and stability.

Keri Fennell, Marin Humane’s vice president of shelter operations, says that in addition to needing fosters, they would love to have more volunteer dog walkers at the shelter. But her biggest wish is for people to provide a permanent home for a dog.

“Anyone who adopts helps the cause,” Fennell said. “Adopt, adopt, adopt.”

Correction, March 15, 2023: An earlier version of this program incorrectly stated that Game of Thrones is a Netflix program. In fact, it is a program from HBO.

Frugoli’s follies: upheaval in the DA’s office

Nikki Silverstein

Mar 7, 2023

Frugoli’s follies: upheaval in the DA’s office

Despite serious concerns voiced by Marin County constituents, District Attorney Lori Frugoli remains mum about a plethora of problems plaguing her office.

As Frugoli enters her second term, the DA’s office is experiencing an exodus of employees, a flood of racial discrimination claims and lawsuits by former and current personnel, unexplained delays of criminal investigations into police officer misconduct and a backlog of cases.

Since taking office in 2019, Frugoli has frequently delayed decisions or refused to take action on important issues, all the while ducking the media and the public when they demand answers.

The Pacific Sun asked Frugoli for an interview to discuss these matters. Although she declined to speak with us, she agreed to answer written questions.

The questions presented were mostly general in nature; however, Frugoli prefaced her responses with a tired caveat in an attempt to justify her continued lack of transparency.

“Considering there are [legal] claims regarding the subject of some of your questions and also ethical considerations about how much I can say about current cases, I am limited in my capacity to elaborate right now,” Frugoli said in an email.

Not surprisingly, Frugoli’s responses failed to reveal any new information.

Staff Saga

The loss of experienced prosecutors in the DA’s Office is causing a backlog of cases and questionable practices. More than 36% of the department’s 30 prosecutors have resigned during the last two years. Already, three experienced prosecutors have quit in 2023, following seven departures last year and four in 2021.

Frugoli admits her office is unable to recruit replacements quickly enough to stop the bleeding.

“I can say-yes it is true that some personnel have left our office in recent months,” Frugoli wrote. “I am deeply concerned about the heavy caseloads and I’m doing everything I can to make sure justice is served in Marin.”

Worse yet, in recent months, past and current employees have filed claims and lawsuits against Frugoli and the county for a variety of alleged violations, including racial discrimination.

“There’s a cesspool of discrimination in the district attorney’s office,” said Charles Bonner, a civil rights attorney representing some current and former employees who have filed claims. “That discrimination has resulted in the termination of two stellar deputy district attorneys, Otis Bruce and Cameron Jones.”

Otis Bruce, Jr. worked for the county for more than three decades and is seeking $12 million in damages in his claim filed in January.

In 2020, Frugoli appointed Bruce, the county’s first Black prosecutor, as the Assistant District Attorney, the number two position in the office. However, just two years later, Bruce alleged Frugoli retaliated and discriminated against him for challenging the “unfair and inequitable treatment” of another Black prosecutor, who was fired last June.

Frugoli placed Bruce on administrative leave in September, taking his badge and gun, and barring him from the office, according to the claim. At the end of last year, Bruce retired and now serves as a prosecutor in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

In November, Cameron Jones, the Marin County prosecutor fired last summer, filed a federal lawsuit against Frugoli and the county for $18 million. According to the complaint, Jones was terminated to cover up the racial and gender discrimination grievance he filed with the county’s human resources department.

A victim witness advocate in the DA’s office, Yolanda Johnson, filed a claim in January for $9 million. Johnson, who is Black, states that “Lori Frugoli’s practice and pattern of racial discrimination created a hostile work environment.”

Several offensive incidents are cited in Johnson’s claim, including that Frugoli ignored her complaints about a photograph depicting a person in black face, which was displayed in an office cubicle.

No Action

Since taking office in January 2019, Frugoli has played Whac-A-Mole with high profile incidents.

Critics say Frugoli is soft on hate crimes, noting that she declined to file charges against a teen who terrorized Jewish students at Redwood High School on social media. Frugoli also said a man who plastered downtown Fairfax with Nazi propaganda stickers committed no crime.

When two youths threatened on social media to physically harm a Black shop owner in Tiburon, Frugoli consulted with the local police and determined it did not “meet the merits of a hate crime.”

Over the last year, various parts of Marin County have been periodically littered with antisemitic materials. Although Tiburon police collected videos of the perpetrator’s vehicle and license plate, Frugoli again walked away, even as DAs across the country are issuing litter citations and continuing to investigate similar incidents.

‘Mateo’

Another point of criticism is Frugoli’s handling of the criminal investigation into two San Rafael police officers who were caught on camera assaulting a Latino man in July, after stopping him for drinking beer in public. The man, who is being called “Mateo” because he fears retaliation, suffered a concussion, broken nose and other injuries.

Initially, Mateo was arrested, with the two officers filing reports stating that the 5-foot, 130-pound man assaulted Officer Brandon Nail, who is 6 feet two inches and 250 pounds. A few days later, the DA’s office filed felony charges against Mateo.

The charges were dropped three weeks later, after the deputy DA watched the police body camera videos. However, Frugoli made no move to investigate the officers that landed Mateo in the hospital, even after Mateo’s attorney, Charles Dresow, provided the videos to the media and public outrage grew.

Dresow sent Frugoli a letter in September requesting that she investigate or turn the case over to the California Attorney General. Frugoli responded within a day, both in a letter to Dresow and in a press release on the DA’s website, that her office would investigate.

Still, it remains unclear whether Frugoli, a former law enforcement officer who worked for the San Rafael Police Department, is the best choice to lead a criminal investigation into local police officers.

“It’s a significant conflict of interest for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate the police officers,” said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project.

“A prosecutor relies heavily on information from police departments to do their job and there’s an inherent conflict [when a DA investigates a police officer]. The state attorney general or an independent review board would be a better investigatory body.”

In November, Frugoli held a forum in the Canal area, which is a predominantly Latino community. Person after person asked for an update into the investigation. Frugoli kept repeating that she couldn’t speak to San Rafael’s investigation, never mentioning the criminal investigation that she had agreed to conduct.

During the meeting, this reporter asked Frugoli to provide an update on the DA’s investigation. Shockingly, she stated that there was no investigation. When I pressed by citing her letter to Dresow and her September press release, she responded that it is a “review,” not an “investigation.”

Oddly, Frugoli’s press release does state she is conducting an investigation. Last week, after receiving another letter from Dresow demanding an update, she issued a new press release, stating that her office continues to “thoroughly examine the evidence.”

It has now been more than six months since Frugoli agreed to conduct a criminal investigation into the officers’ conduct, which was documented by video. She has refused to comment on why the process is not yet complete.

As a result of the Mateo incident, the DA has changed one policy. In October, Frugoli informed all Marin law enforcement agencies that when they submit a case to the DA to file charges, if an officer used physical force to detain or arrest a subject, they must submit all video and audio evidence at the same time.

While the change is a step in the right direction, it does raise the question of why reviewing available videos prior to filing criminal charges wasn’t already policy.

Frugoli needs to address the other problems pronto. Clearly, her office is being impacted negatively.

“I think the turmoil and upheaval in the District Attorney’s Office, combined with the COVID related trial backlog, are creating an incredible amount of pressure on the system,” criminal defense attorney Dresow said. “It’s really making it difficult for everyone.”

Belvedere considers hiring sharpshooters to kill coyotes

Nikki Silverstein

Feb 23, 2023

Belvedere considers hiring sharpshooters to kill coyotes

Well-heeled Belvedere residents turned into an angry mob at a special city council meeting last week about coyotes.

With a rallying cry of “kill the coyotes,” locals made it clear they want the animals removed from their tony town by any means necessary—including paying federal snipers to shoot them. Some residents advocated taking up arms themselves to kill coyotes on their property, saying the canids have snatched pets and it’s only a matter of time before an elderly person or child is attacked.

Despite the best efforts of state and county wildlife experts the city called upon to make a presentation at the Feb. 16 meeting, it became apparent residents didn’t want to hear recommendations on how to coexist with the animals. They even booed one of the presenters when she tried to elaborate on hazing, a method used to scare the coyotes away from humans.

About 25 people spoke during the public comment period, the majority wanting the coyotes destroyed. The four who dissented didn’t live in Belvedere.

“I think you guys need to take action before someone gets killed,” resident David Likas said. “It’s going to be on your head. And one thing to make clear—it is legal to shoot at that predator on your property.”

Actually, it is not legal to shoot at coyotes or other animals in the city, Belvedere Police Chief Jason Wu told the Pacific Sun in an email. Discharging firearms, air rifles and other missile-projecting devices is prohibited by municipal code.

Another speaker complained of being awakened in the middle of the night by the coyotes’ “wild cackling.” Some alluded to the inconvenience they experience because of the coyotes.

“I’m the biggest animal fanatic, but they’ve got to be killed,” resident Laura Gillespie said. “They’ve got to be eradicated, because I can’t let my dog out to enjoy our backyard without watching him all the time.”

Even with no evidence that Belvedere is overrun by coyotes presenting a public safety issue—defined by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as scratching or biting a human—the five city council members agreed that action must be taken. Since it is illegal to relocate coyotes in California, that leaves two options: learn to safely coexist with the animals or kill them.

At the conclusion of the contentious three and a half hour meeting, the council instructed the city manager to contact the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services “to see what they can do for us.”

The mention of Wildlife Services alarmed those familiar with the agency, which critics call a “tax funded killing machine.” In 2021, Wildlife Services killed almost 1.8 million animals, including more than 64,000 coyotes, although its stated mission is to “provide expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist.”

Marin County ended its contract with Wildlife Services in 2000, primarily because of public outcry against the agency’s lethal methods, such as neck snares and poison, according to Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of Project Coyote, a national nonprofit based in Larkspur. Other counties have followed Marin’s lead, also terminating agreements with the agency and adopting non-lethal wildlife management programs.

Another concern often cited about Wildlife Services is the accidental killing of non-target animals. Dogs, cats and even bald eagles are among the thousands of unintentional victims killed every year by the agency.

It’s not the first time the City of Belvedere has considered an ill-conceived plan for wildlife management. In 2016, the city council spent months reviewing a deer sterilization program, driven by residents’ complaints about the animals eating landscaping and losing their fear of people. The plan was eventually abandoned.

Belvedere, with a population of less than 2,300, is technically an island, which residents say makes their wildlife situation unique. However, roads connect Belvedere to the Tiburon Peninsula, and coyotes inhabit urban areas throughout the county.

“This situation is not unique to Belvedere,” Fox said. “Coyotes, and wolves for that matter, coexist with humans in other peninsulas and islands across North America.”

While Fox believes that science-based information will quell Belvedere’s fear that coyotes pose a danger to their children, so far residents aren’t listening. The city began an education campaign last year after receiving reports of coyote sightings. Efforts were stepped up in October when a resident posted on social media that her small dog had been killed by a coyote.

Three attacks on pets have been reported in 2023, Belvedere Police Chief Wu said. Last year, one woman filed a complaint which consisted of anecdotal information regarding “on-going attacks on her animals.”

Wu says there have been no reports of physical contact between humans and coyotes. However, resident Mike Rowe, of Dirty Jobs fame, stated in the meeting that he kicked a coyote in the head after it shot out of the bushes and ran toward his 15-pound dog.

Other claims by residents include sightings of 50-pound coyotes pursuing their large dogs and packs of coyotes roaming the streets. Hazing doesn’t work because the animals no longer fear humans, they say.

A vast expanse exists between scientific knowledge of coyotes and the notions espoused by residents. Western coyotes, on average, weigh 20 to 35 pounds. While a coyote family may be seen together, especially when the parents take pups out of the den to prepare them for life on their own, coyotes here don’t typically hunt in packs.

Sending in the federal sharpshooters could actually backfire on the community, Fox said. A coyote pair stays in a territory and keeps out non-family members. When one of the alpha pair is killed, it provokes “social chaos.”

“The younger coyotes can then start to breed at an earlier age—so within a very short period of time, the local coyote population may increase as a result of lethal control practices,” Fox said.

Coyote attacks on humans are rare, with only two recorded deaths in the United States and Canada, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Most problems occur when coyotes become habituated to being fed, intentionally or unintentionally, by humans. Even then, assertive hazing does shape coyote behavior.

“We heard a high level of fear against the coyote and a lack of wanting to change practices,” said Marin Humane CEO Nancy McKenney, who attended the city council meeting via Zoom. “I think they should try hazing now—before going to this extreme lethal removal.”

Long-time Belvedere resident Ellie Phipps Price believes that those who spoke at the meeting represent a vocal minority. While the coyotes in the neighborhood have never been aggressive toward her or her dogs, she’s not discounting the experience of her neighbors.

The community should work together to prevent conflict with the animals by using forceful hazing techniques, removing food sources and keeping unattended pets inside, according to Phipps Price, who also owns a ranch where coyotes are frequent visitors. She is adamantly opposed to hiring Wildlife Services to kill the coyotes.

“I received an email from the city manager that said the city is still in the fact-finding stage,” Phipps Price said. “I hope they take their time because killing the coyotes in Belvedere is not going to be pretty. They’ll die with a lot of pain, trauma and screaming.”

__________________________________

The Marin Coyote Coalition’s webinar, ‘Coexisting with Coyotes,’ can be viewed here.

Listen Up: Michael Krasny behind the mic again

Nikki Silverstein

Feb 22, 2023

Listen Up: Michael Krasny behind the mic again

Public radio talk show host Michael Krasny left behind a legion of loyal listeners when he retired from his 28-year stint at KQED’s Forum in February 2021.

Fortunately, he couldn’t stay away from the microphone for long.

Krasny, 78, who has interviewed VIPs from all walks of life, including Barack Obama, Carl Sagan and Philip Roth, launched a podcast last summer. Grey Matter with Michael Krasny will sound familiar to Forum fans, with each hour-long episode consisting of the host conversing with an “opinion-shaper” and taking questions from the audience. However, there are some differences.

On Forum, the daily call-in radio show, Krasny reached more than 300,000 listeners during the week, the majority in the Bay Area. Grey Matter episodes drop several times a month, with a smaller, but global audience.

“I’ll do a program, a live program, and I’ll have questions from five to six continents,” Krasny said in an interview with the Pacific Sun. “It’s kind of a kick.”

Yet, Krasny doesn’t speak on the phone with his listeners as he did on Forum. The Grey Matter audience members write their questions in real time, and those receiving the most “likes” will make it into the podcast. Krasny calls the process democratic, but admits he misses the call-in aspect of his previous program.

“I loved interacting directly with listeners,” Krasny said. “I’m not hearing their voices like I did on the radio; I’m reading their questions.”

The key aspects of the two programs are the same, according to Krasny, who notes that he works with an excellent team at Grey Matter and conducts in-depth interviews with fascinating guests. Recent podcast episodes have featured documentarian Ken Burns, linguist and New York Times columnist John McWhorter and author Isabelle Allende.

Coincidentally, the podcast originates from a threadbare studio in San Rafael, just a stone’s throw from KTIM, the now-defunct free-form radio station where Krasny’s illustrious talk show career began. In the late 1970s, Krasny pitched Beyond the Hot Tub, a weekly talk show, to San Rafael’s KTIM. The program manager liked the idea, and Krasny hasn’t stopped talking since.

One of Krasny’s most memorable interviews took place at KTIM with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Even though it was years before the internet, Deadheads found out Garcia was there, and a crowd gathered outside the station. But it was what happened inside the studio that Krasny remembers well.

“I was enjoying talking to Jerry, but suddenly he started putting something, some substance up his nose, and I immediately went to a public service announcement,” Krasny recalls. “I said to him, ‘You can’t do that in here.’ And he said ‘OK,’ and then he put everything away.”

Another four decades of radio followed Krasny’s time at KTIM, including eight years at KGO. But it seems that Krasny was best suited for KQED, as he always saw his role as that of a public servant. And he has served the public extremely well, delivering thoughtful, intelligent, substantive interviews with a long list of luminaries.

Not surprisingly, Jimmy Carter was “delightful,” Krasny said. Although he was prepared to dislike Pat Buchanan, instead he found the conservative pundit to be “charming with a high Q Score.” David Byrne of the Talking Heads and writer Gore Vidal were difficult to interview, but for different reasons.

“David Byrne was so creative, but so reticent,” Krasny said. “It was like pulling teeth. Gore Vidal was hard and memorable because he was intoxicated and antisemitic.”

Krasny has interviewed presidents, heads of the United Nations and Nobel Prize winners. Still, he says there is a broad spectrum of people that have moved him. There were ordinary people who were doing extraordinary things, the people in the trenches, as he calls them. Among the most notable was an interview with a group of African American women who took care of crack babies in Oakland.

Interviews with novelists and poets stay uppermost in Krasny’s mind. Literature is “my métier, my first love and passion,” he says. Krasny feels fortunate to have sat down with some of the greatest writers in American and world literature, including Saul Bellow, John Updike, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie and Carlos Fuentes.

When Krasny describes his interview with Nora Ephron, he tears up. It was no secret that Ephron had a complex relationship with her sister, and Krasny was having a disagreement with his sister at the time, prompting him to ask a question off-mic.

“I asked Nora, can I get some counsel from you?” Krasny said. “She was very gracious, and we talked about it. However, what stirs me when thinking about this is not only that my sister is now gone, but Nora Ephron was dying of cancer. Her family knew it, but nobody else knew it. And she took the time to talk to me about my sister, and I got some light from her.”

Krasny, too, has provided light to others. Certainly, he is best known as an erudite talk-show host; however, he has influenced people by wearing many important hats over the years. He taught English literature to thousands of San Francisco State University students during his tenure as professor, from 1970 until 2021.

Supposedly retired, Krasny can’t stay away from teaching either. He still teaches a literature course at Stanford University’s continuing education program and hosts an online discussion of five classic novels for the Book Passage in Marin County.

The consummate interviewer is working on a book about a topic he might know better than anyone—interviewing. His previous books include Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life, Spiritual Envy: An Agnostic’s Quest, Sound Ideas and Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor and What It All Means.

Of course, Krasny also stays well-informed about current events, and says there’s much cause for concern in the world. Climate change, the real possibility of a nuclear weaponry accident and a dearth of leadership top his list. However, he’s optimistic as well.

“Where do we find hope is the big question,” Krasny said. “Where do we find what Emily Dickinson called ‘the thing with feathers?’ There’s a human spirit and there’s a resilience of the human spirit that I’d like to think will help us and the planet. That’s a lot of idealism, but there are passionate and dedicated people working on the issues facing us. That’s where I find hope.”

Sausalito boatyard maintains maritime history

Nikki Silverstein

Feb 14, 2023

Sausalito boatyard maintains maritime history

A celebrated Sausalito resident, Freda, turns 138 this year. But one would never know it by looking at her.

Born in Belvedere in 1885, Freda is the oldest sailboat on the West Coast. Saloonkeeper Harry Cookson, who built the beautiful wooden vessel for yachting and racing, named her after his daughter.

Over the years, Freda has passed through the hands of more than 10 owners, and there were times when she fell into serious disrepair. In 2004, it looked like the old gal might not make it after sinking at a San Rafael marina.

Fortunately, Freda was raised and brought to the Spaulding Marine Center in Sausalito, where she underwent an extensive restoration that took more than eight years and over $500,000 in donations. Returned to her former splendor by numerous tradespersons and volunteers, the historic 33-foot sloop went back into the water in 2014.

The Spaulding Marine Center now owns Freda, and she couldn’t have found a more perfect steward. Located on Gate 5 Road at the north end of Sausalito’s working waterfront, the center’s for-profit boatyard helps fund its nonprofit endeavors, which includes Freda’s conservation.

“With proper maintenance, Freda will outlive us,” said Pete Brewster, 36, Spaulding Marine Center’s yard manager. “The center has all of the tools and supplies to work on wooden boats, which makes us pretty unique.”

I met up with Brewster and Sydney Wewerka, 25, the center’s event coordinator, for a tour of the bustling boatyard and boathouse on a rainy morning in early February.

Preserving the heritage of boatbuilding and restoration is at the heart of the center’s mission, Wewerka said. Its maritime museum, library and small fleet of wooden sailboats give a glimpse into nautical yesteryear.

The center also offers a variety of youth and adult educational programs, such as a sailing summer camp and wooden boatbuilding classes where participants leave with their own sailboat, kayak or paddleboard.

The Friends of Freda is a very popular program, according to Wewerka. Volunteers help keep the yacht in tip top shape and get to sail her.

“We want to give experiences to people who have lived in this area their whole lives and have never been out on the water,” Brewster said.

As Brewster spoke, he kept a watchful eye on a flurry of activity at the water’s edge. A crane had lifted a tall mast, and workers were guiding it back into place on a sailboat. Just a couple of hours before, the mast had been laid across the boatyard to allow workers to service some parts of the boat more easily.

“There aren’t a lot of facilities positioned with a crane to pick masts up.” Wewerka said. “It’s a pretty big operation.”

Several vessels were sitting on blocks in the boatyard, waiting to be worked on. Folly, a wooden sailboat only a few years younger than Freda, was among them. Like Freda, Folly is a racing yacht, although her owner sails her recreationally now.

Both Brewster and Wewerka are passionate sailors. Brewster grew up boating on the East Coast and got the bug. After spending two years at a wooden boat school in Newport, RI, he landed in Sausalito.

Although Wewerka hails from land-locked Colorado, she sailed small boats on lakes and rivers. After earning a degree in oceanography, she moved to Sausalito. Then she shifted gears.

“I wanted to learn how to work with tools and build things,” Wewerka said. “Those are the things they don’t necessarily teach you in a typical college curriculum.”

Last year, Wewerka graduated from the Spaulding Marine Center’s apprenticeship program. During the 12-month marine technician training, the apprentices took courses in electrical, propulsion and yacht systems. They also worked on wooden boats, as well as vessels made from modern materials, such as fiberglass and composites.

Many aspects of the center’s comprehensive apprenticeship program are exceptional. Apprentices are paid throughout the program and receive college credit.

Graduates are in high demand by the multi-billion-dollar marine industry. Wewerka had her choice of offers from Bay Area businesses.

“Unfortunately, with shop classes disappearing, students don’t get an introduction to trades anymore,” Brewster said. “The Spaulding Marine Center is helping produce skilled, trained, certified technicians to keep this industry alive.”

Those words would be music to the ears of Myron Spaulding, the boatyard’s founder.

A true Renaissance man, Spaulding, born in 1905, was an accomplished violinist. During the 1920s, he played the violin in silent movie houses and was part of the vaudeville orchestra at Fox Theatre in San Francisco. He earned a seat with the San Francisco Symphony in 1934 and remained there until 1957.

But Spaulding’s true love was boatbuilding. Long-time friend Tom Miller said Spaulding built his first boat in woodshop class at the now defunct San Francisco Polytechnic High School.

“He was a violinist like other people were plumbers,” Michael Wiener, a former manager of Spaulding’s boatyard, said in the documentary Myron Onward. “It was a trade for him.”

Fiddle playing financed many of Spaulding’s nautical ventures, including sailboat racing. He sailed six times in the prestigious Transpacific Yacht Race, winning in 1936 and 1947. Many regard him as the finest sailor on the San Francisco Bay in the 20th century.

However, his most enduring legacy began 1951, when he bought the plot of waterfront land on Gate 5 Road and opened Spaulding Boatworks. The seasoned sailor designed, built and repaired scores of wooden sailboats. Some of his Spaulding 33 class sailboats and custom yachts are still sailing today.

After Spaulding died in 2000 at the age of 94, his widow, Gladys, established a charitable trust to ensure that his beloved boatyard would benefit new generations of sailors.

Brewster, Wewerka and many other local mariners are committed to carrying on Spaulding’s heritage at the center that bears his name. At the same, they’re keeping pace with progress.

While the marine trade has traditionally been dominated by men, half of the participants in the center’s last apprenticeship program were women. Wewerka is pleased to see the change.

“I know a lot of really amazing women that work in the waterfront industry in Sausalito,” Wewerka said. “It’s important for us to offer women space to work at the center.”

They’re also reaching out to people in vulnerable communities by offering scholarships to the center’s youth summer camp. Volunteering opens doors, too.

“The volunteer aspect to Spaulding is great,” Brewster said. “It gives people an opportunity to learn the marine trade in an active boatyard and work on historic boats. We welcome the public to come in and see what we’re doing here.”

Just one pill: fentanyl deaths on the rise in Marin and Sonoma counties

Nikki Silverstein

Jan 31, 2023

Just one pill: fentanyl deaths on the rise in Marin and Sonoma counties

Trevor Leopold would have turned 22 on Jan. 30. Instead, he’s “forever 18,” his mother says.

When Greenbrae resident Michelle Leopold received the news that her 18-year-old son died in his Sonoma State University dorm room, she didn’t need to wait for the coroner’s report to know what had killed him.

Although it was November 2019, before most parents had heard of the fentanyl crisis, there was no doubt in Michelle Leopold’s mind that this powerful synthetic opioid was the culprit. Sadly, she was well aware of the dangerous drug because her son’s close friend had succumbed to a fentanyl overdose the previous year.

Indeed, toxicology results confirmed that Trevor Leopold died after ingesting a pill laced with fentanyl. One pill.

He thought he was taking the prescription drug oxycodone, Michelle Leopold said. As it turned out, the fentanyl-laced pill contained no oxycodone at all. Similarly, Trevor Leopold’s friend, who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2018, believed he was consuming Xanax, a prescription benzodiazepine.

“One of the scariest things about this is that so many who end up overdosing don’t know they’re taking something with fentanyl in it,” Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health director, said in an interview. “It’s kind of like drinking punch that’s been spiked at a party—hard to call it abuse when it’s unintentional. More like a poisoning.”

Melissa Struzzo, manager of the Sonoma County Substance Use Disorder & Community Recovery Services, has the same concern as Willis.

“There are naive users, who think they’re getting Vicodin or Percocet,” Struzzo said. “They’re not active users and have no tolerance built up for fentanyl. This group has a higher potential for overdose.”

Marin and Sonoma counties, like the rest of the United States, are experiencing a dramatic surge in drug overdoses. Grim statistics reveal the gravity of the crisis, driven by fentanyl.

Overdoses in Marin County have more than doubled since 2018, said Willis. Today, fentanyl is associated with over 50% of OD cases.

The number of fatal ODs in Marin has also increased significantly—more than 100% in the last three years. Every five days, someone dies of an overdose in the county. During 2021 and 2022, 60% of those deaths were linked to fentanyl.

Sonoma County is faring worse, with someone dying every two days from an overdose death, according to the Sonoma County Department of Health. Even more astounding is that deaths involving fentanyl increased by 2,550% from 2016 through 2021.

This increase is responsible for Sonoma County ranking 14thout of 58 in California for the highest drug overdose death rate. Sonoma County is second in the Bay Area for the greatest increase in the OD death rate, while San Francisco has the dubious distinction of landing in the top spot.

Exactly how did fentanyl, a powerful legal synthetic opioid developed in 1959, cause this nationwide crisis? Fentanyl, used as an analgesic during surgery and as a prescription drug to treat severe pain, is easily produced and affordable.

Unfortunately, fentanyl’s characteristics also make it attractive to the illicit drug market. In recent years, the supply of fentanyl has grown swiftly, with most of it manufactured outside of the United States. The drug’s effect is similar to heroin, and it’s extremely addictive.

“Fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine,” Struzzo said.

Drug dealers bank on fentanyl’s addictive quality to keep their customers coming back for more. But just two milligrams of fentanyl—a few grains—can kill a person, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, which prompted the agency to issue a health alert: “One pill can kill.”

Without access to the sophisticated and expensive scientific weights and measures used by a pharmaceutical company, it’s almost impossible for dealers to calculate how much fentanyl they’re putting into a pill or powder.

And the guy or gal next door may be making those pills, with pill presses for all budgets just a few keystrokes away on Amazon. The presses allow dealers to pump out counterfeit pills that look almost identical to prescription drugs, such as Ritalin, Adderall and oxycodone.

“Fentanyl is now present in most illicit pills and powders,” Willis said. “People overdose from the presence of fentanyl in what’s sold on social media as prescription pills, cocaine or other powders.”

The opioid drug epidemic affects people of all ages, either through intentional or unintentional use. Even infants are brought to emergency rooms with fentanyl ODs.

The issue is daunting and complex; however, Marin and Sonoma have countywide collaboratives to attack the crisis from all sides.

OD Free Marin has five teams, including intervention, treatment and recovery; youth action; education and outreach; equity action; and the justice system. The Sonoma County Prevention Partnership works on drug policy and advocacy efforts.

Both counties agree that a harm reduction approach is beneficial. For example, many pharmacies in Marin and Sonoma sell Narcan, a medication that can reverse the effects of fentanyl, without a prescription. Schools have Narcan, and staff have been trained to administer it. Some experts recommend that every first aid kit contain the life-saving medication. Substance abuse programs are also key to addressing fentanyl use.

Law enforcement agencies are working on getting dealers off the streets, but it can be difficult when social media platforms make it easy for them to hide. For example, Snapchat, a messaging app, allows users to determine how long their messages remain visible. In addition, dealers use different emojis for each drug they have available, negating the need to write anything incriminating.

The illicit drug business, especially with inexpensive fentanyl readily available to dealers, is quite lucrative. There’s always a dealer ready to fill the void when another is arrested, according to Willis.

“Public health and law enforcement agree that we aren’t going to arrest our way out of this problem,” Willis said. “Instead, we partner with the justice system using all of the tools at our disposal, including diverting people with low level drug offenses to assessment and ensuring people who are incarcerated have access to addiction treatment.”

Willis, Struzzo and Michelle Leopold say it’s imperative that people understand the dangers of just one pill.

Leopold plans on educating as many people as possible about what happened to her son, with the goal of preventing fentanyl deaths. “People just don’t know,” she said.

Last year, Leopold and her husband hosted Narcan training sessions at the six Ace Hardware stores they own. Although Leopold admits it’s hard, she makes herself available to the media and speaks at numerous public forums.

“When we got the phone calls about Trevor, I turned to my husband and said, ‘We can’t be quiet about this,’” Leopold said. “There are a lot of us speaking out on behalf of our dead, poisoned children. Hopefully, it’s making a difference.”

Gauging aging: ‘maturity’ isn’t for amateurs

Nikki Silverstein

Jan 25, 2023

Gauging aging: ‘maturity’ isn’t for amateurs

For most of my adult life, I had the good fortune of looking younger than my age. Until now.

I’m not going to tell you how old I am, but it begins with a six and ends with a zero. Healthwise, no complaints. Yet, I suffer—from wrinkles and zits at the same time.

Unbeknownst to me, this phenomenon probably started a while back, although I only realized it a couple of weeks ago, after I picked up my new eyeglasses with a much stronger prescription. With my newly discerning eye(s), I noticed that many of my girlfriends seem to be weathering the sexagenarian tsunami better than me.

Enter Dr. Faye Jamali, of Belle Marin Aesthetic Medicine in Mill Valley, who enlightens me about some of the non-surgical treatments that my friends might be having. Of course, there’s Botox, a muscle relaxant used to soften lines and wrinkles. But Jamali’s anti-aging tool kit contains far more than that old standby.

Jamali describes a smorgasbord of services available, including injectable fillers to replenish lost facial volume; microneedling, which stimulates new collagen and elastin production to address hollowing and sagging; and laser therapies to improve skin tone and texture.

Maintenance visits are required to keep what Jamali calls a “better rested and more youthful appearance,” because the measures are temporary. Still, Jamali emphasizes that she’s performing medical procedures.

“This isn’t a makeup counter,” Jamali said. “You don’t want to go for a Groupon for these treatments.”

Hmm. Now that I give this more thought, it is my more affluent friends who look decidedly unaged. So, can a reporter afford to look younger?

The price for Botox and dermal fillers depends on the number of units needed. For example, to treat frown lines, the forehead and crow’s feet with Botox, Jamali estimates the cost at $600 to $750. That investment lasts about three months.

Maybe what I need here is an attitude adjustment, so I call my friend who is brutally truthful, Rachel De La Montanya. Also, she’s a hair stylist, and I need to tell her about the new feral gray hairs sticking out from my head at right angles. And my mane is thinning. Double whammy.

First, De La Montanya reassures me that gray hair is a marker of genetics, not age. Hair loss, on the other hand, could indicate an underlying medical condition or simply that I’m old. Off to Kaiser I go.

The good doctor, a man half my age, orders blood work. The following day, he calls to cheerfully provide the diagnosis for my thinning hair: “maturity.”

Speaking of mature hair, De La Montanya says, “A lot of women are choosing to let their gray hair come in, and they have way less maintenance.” She adds, “Women can achieve that balance of looking good for themselves and feeling comfortable. I honestly don’t understand how women spend as much time as they do in a hair salon. It’s my business, but it’s not my value.”

I could go kicking and screaming into the process of growing old, but where will that get me? My sage father was delighted to age. “It beats the alternative,” he always said.

Sherri Franklin, the founder and director of Muttville, is well-known to dog lovers. In 2007, Franklin, 67, founded the Bay Area nonprofit, which is devoted to rescuing and finding homes for dogs seven years old and up. When it comes to matching senior dogs with people 62 +, she’s the expert.

One of Franklin’s first “senior for senior adoptions” was for a grandfather with early-stage dementia who had to move into a senior living community, where he had become agoraphobic. His family decided to adopt Rocky, a 10-year-old Pomeranian, for the grandfather.

Suddenly, the grandfather was taking Rocky out on walks every morning and getting to know the neighbors by name. By virtue of socializing again, his dementia seemed to diminish, according to the family.

“This is not a one-off,” Franklin says. “I hear stories like this all the time. There is science behind it.”

Indeed, there is. Studies show that having a pooch companion boosts a person’s mood and helps those who are isolated, according to the American Heart Association. In fact, the organization’s website lists more than a dozen other health benefits, including that dog owners are 31% less likely to die from a heart attack or stroke than non-dog owners.

Check. I have a dog. A senior dog, I might add. And with this info, I always will.

Oops. I apologize for using the word “senior,” which sets Dotty LeMieux’s “teeth on edge.”

“I’m on a campaign to get rid of it for anyone not about to graduate—and I don’t mean from this world into the next,” LeMieux, a 74-year-old firecracker, wrote on my Facebook page.

It’s not only LeMieux who’s particular about the terms used to describe humans of a certain age. Pamela Weintraub, an award-winning author, chimed in, too. “Older people” is correct, while “elderly and senior” are both bad.

“What is an “older person?” asks Marcia Thomas, a local artist. “To a teenager, it can be someone over 40. To someone 80, that number could be very different.”

Thomas is decidedly against using subjective words, preferring to identify a specific age range, such as “people over the age of 65.”

I’m OK with that for the time being. But when I turn 65 and a young person lumps me in with centenarians, I’ll probably whack them with my walker.

Linda Wosskow, spunky and fiercely independent at age 76, has no fear of dying.

“It’s going to come sooner or later,” Wosskow says. “My only concern is that I want to die peacefully and quickly. I don’t want to be dependent and need medical attention.”

Wosskow’s outlook on aging is absolutely refreshing. She travels alone, won’t go out sans lipstick, loves her “silver” hair and has no regrets about her life, although the former dancer sounds wistful when she mentions that she used to have great legs. I’ll bet her gams still look gorgeous.

While there’s a plethora of perspectives about moving into the last decades of life, I’ll close with wisdom from Bay Area sailor Jim Rohrsson, 65, who prefers to stay active and optimistic.

“I get up in the morning and I’m like, ‘Wow. Another day!’” Rohrsson says. “Killing time or being bored? I’m going to wait until I’m dead to do that.”