Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
I don’t often get booed when speaking publicly. That’s mostly because I don’t often speak publicly.
But, I was at the Sunrise Rotary Club on Tuesday talking to Rotarians at Moylan’s in Novato. The meeting started at 7 a.m. I arrived half an hour early, like a good guest speaker should.
Two of the first people to greet me were Mary and Carol. They handed me a folder with a news release and told me it was very important, and would I please, please, please read it.
I told them I would.
When it came time to speak to the 40-or-so bushy-tailed Rotarians in attendance, I started with how much I admire their civic club. In the mid-80s of the last century Rotary set out to do something remarkable – eradicate polio from Earth.
And they did it.
It remains one of the great stories of our lifetimes, speaking to the power of good people from all nations pooling resources to make a difference. Rotary reminds me that there is always hope.
I then turned to some of the issues facing Marin. We talked about homelessness. We touched on the fentanyl crisis, all with nodding agreement from the audience.
Then, unknowingly, I hit a nerve: The financial situation in Novato and how well city manager Adam McGill handles such controversies. That’s when Mary and Carol booed me.
I’m not exaggerating. Straight up, booed me.
I knew then that I should have read the press release they gave me at the start of the meeting.
It’s a letter to Mayor Susan Wernick and the council asking the city to “suspend all discussion and negotiations for the sale of the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club” until “accurate and complete information is available to the Council and the public in order that the Council can make responsible, fully-informed decisions.”
The issue at hand involves the mobile home park that the city owns and is now considering selling to a private developer. Residents are up in arms.
If it earned me boos for simply off-handidly expressing my view on the strenths of Novato’s city manager, I can only imagine the heat the mayor and the council must be feeling. One of the primary rules of journalism is never, ever take senior citizens lightly, especially when startled or threatened. Approach with caution.
Marinscope and its website (MarinLocalNews.com) will keep you posted on the issue. If you have views on one side or the other, or information you’d like us to share, you can reach me via email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.
By the way, the meeting ended on a civil note, as Rotary meetings always do. I enjoyed the invite, if for no other reason than I got to rub elbows with some very nice Novatoans such as Jackie Bonner, Susan Royce, Judy Johnson, David Gabriel, Jean L. Batman, Vicki Sue Martinez and William Davis, and I got to see what the inside of Moylan’s – a fine bar in which I have been many-a-time after sundown – looks like at 6:30 in the freaking morning.
There’s a first time for everything, even for old dogs like me.
PRAYERS
Of course, Marin sends prayers to those in Hawaii dealing with the killer wildfires. We look at the devastation and realize this is how it would be for us. Electricity, off. Cell phones, dead. Communities with one-way in and one-way out, cut off from escape and help.
It’s these kinds of events that show us real time what we need to do to prepare. Marin has been lucky so far, we can never let our guard down.
Prepare, prepare, prepare.
TWICE?
The news that Novato police made a hate crime arrest on the same guy in roughly the same area in the span of four days tells me that this guy must be one taco short of a combination plate. You commit a hate-inspired crime on Tuesday, go to jail, get out of jail and do it again on Saturday?
I don’t want to sound like I’m picking on the District Attorney’s Office (it gets plenty from the Civil Grand Jury) but this time this fellow ought to be separated from the herd for longer than 72 hours, don’t you think?
WHY?
San Franciscans are weird. On a recent trip into the city, I stopped at an intersection. The person crossing the street (outdoors and by himself) wore a mask. Then in the car stopped next to me, the driver had a mask on as well. No one else was in the car.
This behavior makes zero sense.
ONE MORE THING
– Social media has taught me a couple of things. First, there are some incredibly brilliant people in the world. Secondly, they are vastly outnumbered.
– I was going to cook alligator stew for dinner, but I only had a croc pot.
– My 4-year-old spilled cereal and I told her to pick it up. She called the dog. There is nothing left for me to teach her.
Thanks for reading Marinscope. Once again, I appreciate you putting up with my lame jokes. Until next time, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority. Also, don’t forget that you can read us online at either MarinLocalNews.com or at NovatoAdvance-ca.newsmemory.com.
(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
Mary and Carol were, in fact, in attendance at the amazing Novato Sunrise Rotary Club meeting last Tuesday, August 8, 2023. They did greet Mr. Frederick, and Mary handed off a press release about a critical topic facing so many in Novato, Marin County, and beyond – the threat of a loss of affordable housing directly involving Novato City Manager Adam McGill.
The following statement by Mr. Fredrick requires clarification from Mary and Carol’s view of what occurred, “…The financial situation in Novato and how well city manager Adam McGill handles such controversies. That’s when Mary and Carol booed me. I’m not exaggerating. Straight up, booed me.”
Mary and Carol did not boo Mr. Frederick. Mary and Carol, nearly in unison, immediately following Mr. Frederick’s kind words about city manager Adam McGill handling Novato’s finances well, stated clearly, at a volume that all could hear, “That’s not true.”
Mary and Carol did not in fact boo Mr. Frederick. Yes, it certainly may have seemed that way. There was indeed an unnecessary and rude outburst from two people, Mary and Carol, who are presently feeling stressed and filled with anxiety because of the possibility of losing their homes as the City of Novato pursues an offer from a private for-profit mobile home park developer to purchase the land upon which their homes and 400 other residents are situated.
The rudeness was out of line. Yes, Mary and Carol agree on that. Mary and Carol respectfully apologize, here and now, to Mr. Frederick and the entire Novato Sunrise Rotary membership.
Mary, following the meeting, emailed Mr. Frederick additional information about Mary and Carol’s current situation in which the City of Novato is pursuing the sale of the Marin Valley Mobile Country Club, where Mary and Carol reside, for a quick windfall of $30 million, to a private for-profit developer who will, in turn, do what is happening, like a wildfire across this country, raise rents and force the displacement of residents who have sunk their life saving into their homes to live out their lives in a safe, peaceful, affordable, supportive, community in the County ranked 8th for highest income in the U.S.
Mary and Carol are regretful because their rudeness displaced one of the most important stories facing Novato today.
Most Sincerely,
Mary and Carol
Yes I agree that the hate mongering racist should spend a little more time separated from the herd, and is definitely one taco short of a combo plate (Which is actually what I had for lunch today at wonderful Mi Pueblo in Novato.).
As the offspring of a father whose family fled the hate and racism/anti semitism of nazi Germany, I feel well qualified in stating that there is no place for hate or racism, and that people who foster and spread it needs to be shut down In ways that make it clear to the public that it is despicable and will not be tolerated..
Bueno Mi Pueblo!