The View from The Hill/Lew Tremaine
I trust everyone is enjoying their holiday season (at least I hope you are), as we watch 2024 race at us.
2024 is going to be quite the year in Fairfax and beyond. We Fairfaxians have a new Mayor, Barbara Coler. This is not Barbara’s first rodeo, as she has served two previous terms. I congratulate her on her ascension, and can only hope that she enjoys her third term more than I enjoyed my third term. I’ll get back to that.
It promises to be an interesting New Year. The November ‘24 election will be dominating the news, both locally and nationally. We will bare witness to two dinosaurs fighting for the presidency of the U.S. and a pitched battle for control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Must see TV, to be sure.
Here in Fairfax, There will be a battle royal for control of the town council and a voter determination on the rent control and renter’s rights ordinances. Our new mayor will certainly be tested in her attempt to maintain order throughout, and I sincerely wish her luck. In my 40 years here, I don’t think I’ve seen a more tempestuous time in Fairfax.
I hope that our new mayor will allow more public expression during meetings. I know that the council does not enjoy the criticism being heaped upon them, but the residents and voters of the town have a right to be heard and the council has an obligation to listen. Limiting comment to 2 minutes isn’t cutting it. Sorry gang, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it, or you should have known.
I can empathize with the year Mayor Coler is about to embark upon, because my third term was no fun at all. The council was fighting with the school board over the fate of the Fairfax San Anselmo Children’s Center at the old Deer Park school. We were also battling PGE over the creation of Marin Clean Energy. Those two issues consumed my year as mayor, back in 2010. Stressful? Yes.
My first term as mayor was ever so much more fun. We hosted the descendants of the town’s namesake, Lord Charles Snowden Fairfax. I got to give the family a tour of the town and the Marin Town and Country Club, Lord Fairfax’s property during his time here. We then had a splendid catered lunch at St. Rita’s church. I recall sitting with the Fairfax’s children during lunch and asking them what their strongest impression was of the town. It’s no surprise that it was our theater marquee. They said they had never seen their name so big before.
So, my New Year’s wish for Mayor Coler is that the third time is a charm and not a drag. But then, if wishes were fishes they’d all swim away.
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