Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
Voters have their work cut out for them this election season. Not only are there a number of ballot questions to wade through, two incumbents in city council races have called it a day, making room for new blood and what promises to be spirited campaigns to guide the direction of Marin governments.
In Novato, for example, Denise Athas, a fixture on the City Council for 13 years, did not file for re-election. “It has been my pleasure and honor” she told Marinscope but after “deep consideration” she decided against running for a fourth term.
That opened the door for Rachel Farac and Andy Podshadley to compete for Athas’ District 2 seat. Farac is a real estate agent Podshadley is a winemaker and owner of Trek Winery in Downtown Novato.
Similar movements happened through Marin’s cities and towns.
In Larkspur, Councilmember Dan Hillmer plans to call it a day in December after his seventh term. He told the Independent Journal that he is looking forward to supporting the “next generation” of leaders. While it may sound basic, Hillmer counts as one of his successes in helping get tax measures approved to fix Larkspur’s roads.
Athas, meanwhile, told Marinscope’s Novato Advance that she leaves Novato in better shape than she found it.
“My mother passed away 13 years ago and it was on her deathbed that I promised to make sure Novato would have places for seniors to age in place – something we did not have 13 years ago.”
Novato now has Elegance de Novato in Hamilton and Oakmont close to downtown that allow the elderly to age in place.
“I have loved working for the people of Novato,” Athas said. “I do not consider myself as retiring as George and I will be concentrating on our Real Estate career and brokerage and will always stay engaged in our wonderful City.”
Both Hillmer and Athas receive accolades from other public officials for their work over the years..
Another City Council race in Novato finds Pat Eklund, the grand dame of Novato politics, challenged by Chris Carpiniello and Nicole Gardner.
Fairfax Incumbent Stephanie Hellman has drawn three who want her seat – Cindy Swift, Lisel Blash and Holly Baade.
Incumbents in San Rafael drew races. Ely Hill will face Gerrod Herndon in his re-election bid. And incumbent Maribeth Bushey will face Jonathan Frieman.
In Sausalito, two seats are open and four will ask voters for the nod. Incumbent Jill Hoffman, Joan Cox, Jeffrey Chase and Timothy McCloud have their hats in the ring.
A similar scenario has developed In San Anselmo where incumbents Ford Greene and Steve Burro will face off against Guy Meyer and Tarrell Kullaway for two spots on the Town Council.
Three seats are open In Corte Madera, drawing incumbent Eli Beckman asking voters for a return term. Other candidates are James Andrews, Pat Ravasio and Rosa Thomas.
Incumbents Catherine Way and Kevin Haroff in Larkspur also seek re-election but will have to get by Kevin Carroll and Jay Holland for the three seats open.
While Council seats tend to garner most of the attention, there are scores of races for various education boards, water boards, healthcare, and fire protection boards.
And, as if that’s not enough to wade through for motivated voters, there are a number of ballot measures up for consideration. They include:
– Larkspur voters will consider a sales tax for disaster preparedness.
– A special tax to fund the Marin County Free Library.
– A special tax in Corte Madera and Fairfax for paramedic services.
– A marijuana measure in Sausalito.
It is wonderful for Novato voters to have an opportunity to revitalize and promote a unified culture through policies with innovative city council candidates, such as Andy Podshadley and Chris Carpiniello, as well as Tief Gibbs for NUSD board. Personally, I appreciate their efforts to improve the quality of our city, address our safety concerns and benefit neighborhood businesses.
The crazy right wingers are on the move again, but because they make up only 18% of Marin and just 23% of Novato the question is: why don’t they just leave instead of trying to control everything???? They can get Big Bang for their bucks in Texas!