Dear Fairfax Forum:
This is an open letter I have sent to Mayor Cutrano and Fairfax Council Members Coler, Hellman, Ackerman and Blash:
I am writing to request this letter be added to the public comments record relating to Agenda item #1, pertaining to an ordinance amending the town’s zoning code for gas stations, during the Fairfax Town Council meeting scheduled for Oct. 4.
There is concern among residents that all voices are not being heard. A prior letter, which I emailed two days before the scheduled Sept. 6, 2023 meeting, was excluded from the public meeting record. It required two additional requests for this letter to be added, belatedly, to public comments for that meeting. Other town residents have since reported their letters have been omitted from the public record from previous meetings.
My concerns about Agenda item #1 relate to Fairfax’s stated goals in adopting the Electric Vehicle Acceleration Strategy. This county-wide strategy is designed to help Marin communities reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enable the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030, outlined as a goal in each jurisdiction.
Fairfax’s CAP includes an ambitious goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2030. This also effectively means that Fairfax must achieve 100% zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) registrations by 2030.
Fairfax had 5.2% ZEVs registered by the end of 2021, the third lowest number of registered cars in Marin County after Novato and San Rafael. Do you really think Fairfax is going to reach the goal of 100% registration in seven years?
It is important to note that EV adoption is significantly higher among Marin’s more affluent communities. These wealthier communities, including the town of Tiburon, with almost twice the number of EV registrations as Fairfax, has a far more realistic expectation at 45% adoption by 2030 than Fairfax’s goal of 100% !
The data contained in this letter is from County and State resources, yet I truly wonder how many Fairfax Town Council members study the data. It has been admitted publicly that at least one council member didn’t read the proposed Fairfax rent ordinances before voting them into existence. This is irresponsible and harmful and a shirking of the duties you were elected to perform.
When are you planning to tell Fairfax residents about the negative impact of adopting these overly rigorous GHG emission goals? When are you planning to give Fairfax residents all of the data to complete the full picture of the economic impact of your decisions?
When are you going to let people know that adoption of the state’s energy policies will hurt household budgets and the state economy?
The 2022 Scoping Plan Update of the California Air Resource Board (CARB) outlines our state’s path to achieving its carbon neutrality and emission reduction goals. Published late last year, the Scoping Plan Update stated, unequivocally, that “California households will see increased costs” due to the state’s energy policies.
CARB economists also reported that the policies will slow employment statewide by 0.4%. Low-income households will suffer the most, further increasing income inequality in California.
“Households in lower income groups are anticipated to see negative impacts, while households in higher income groups are anticipated to see positive impacts from the Scoping Plan … [Black and Hispanic] populations are likely to experience reduced income.”
The Scoping Plan estimates that in 2035 California energy policies will cause incomes for households earning less than $100,000 annually to be $4.1 billion lower than they would be otherwise. How many households in Fairfax earn more than $100,000 a year? How many households in Fairfax earning less than $100,000 annually will be harmed?
Once again, it appears that decisions made by the Mayor and the Town Council members are based on their personal ideologies rather than on facts or common sense about the daily reality of town residents. Why is it important to the Fairfax Town Council to have the most extreme version of rent control in the State of California and the most ambitious goal of achieving 100% zero-emission vehicle registration by 2030?
Could it be that these goals reflect the future political ambitions of our Town Council members, some of whom now sport all-electric Teslas, which most Fairfax residents will never be able to afford? Are these goals more important to our Town Council members than paying attention to and recognizing the reality and needs of the majority of residents in this community?
Fairfax is not a wealthy community. It is historically working, middle class. Why is the Fairfax Town Council threatening the foundation of our town by promoting unattainable goals and doomed ordinances which create hardship? Why does the Fairfax Town Council claim to be helping our town when they are actually adopting policies which harm us?
The actions of the Fairfax Town Council are very shortsighted. How far will your ideologies take you when gas stations are closed or limited and additional populations from the proposed massive, high-rise, affordable housing, urban infill projects try to exit the town in an emergency or when our grid system fails and we have a week-long power outage as has happened in recent years? How will the 2022 Scoping Plan Update of the California Air Resource Board (CARB) policies and the Electric Vehicle Acceleration Strategy negatively affect Fairfax and its infrastructure?
I urge you to study and think more thoroughly about the decisions brought before you, to publicly expose negative aspects of policy and ordinance adoption for evaluation, and to create opportunities for community discussion and feed-back before blindly casting your vote to establish more economic hardship and personal disaster in Fairfax.
With hope,
Teliha Draheim
Fairfax resident 28 years
Ms. Draheim has, with accuracy and clarity, brought concrete examples demonstrating our Fairfax Town Council’s determination to put ideology over practicality. The persistence with which they refuse to address the bread and butter issues of our town must stop. Sorry to disappoint them, but I won’t be buying an EV before 2030. This town council has been intentionally and repeatedly deaf to those of us who have lived here far longer than some of them. Some, perhaps not all, need to be voted out or recalled. We need them to authorize money to fix roads and sidewalks, trim trees, address the homeless encampments, etc. and a couple of them need to stop vilifying and pigeon-holing some of us when we ask them to come down to earth. Just because we want them to be realistic doesn’t automatically make us right wing reactionaries. I’m tired of it.