MCM Launches Canal Community Resilience Council
This winter, the Multicultural Center of Marin embarked on an initiative to build community leadership, creating and developing a Canal Community Resilience Council (CCRC). The Council’s mission is to identify resident-generated concerns around climate change, gentrification and other local issues and build capacity for seeking solutions. The project is funded by the Marin Community Foundation and receives technical support from the Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative (MEHC).
Each month since November 2019, a group of 24-35 Canal neighbors has come together for a community meal and conversation, which is followed by issues discussions with experts and elected officials from the City of San Rafael, Marin County, and others, who present information, hear the community’s concerns and answer questions. Each session is simultaneously translated into Spanish and Vietnamese. The group will continue to meet until May 2020, when the council will review the concerns raised and decide which and how these concerns should be addressed through community action.
Water Quality
In the first session in November, residents raised many questions about water quality. They had heard troubling stories on the news about toxins in the water in other communities. Matt Sagues of MMWD explained that the water in Marin and the infrastructure to deliver it was of high quality. However, MMWD has no control of the condition of the pipes from the property line into the individual apartments in which residents live. While the construction in the Canal is not old enough to raise concerns about lead pipes, residents noted that their water sometimes tasted and smelled bad or was odd in color. Many felt that their landlords did not take these complaints seriously.
Stormwater, Flooding, and Waste Disposal
In the December session, residents discussed stormwater and flooding. In response to comments from Public Works engineer Diane Dillon about problems with litter, residents raised some significant concerns over waste disposal and dumping in the community. Many noted that landlords seldom provided enough bins — which led some residents to try creative but unacceptable methods of disposing of their trash. According to Cory Bytof, Sustainability Program Manager for the City of San Rafael, part of the problem has to do with crowding — apartment managers do not order enough trash service for the true number of occupants in each apartment, instead ordering the minimum amount based on the number of bedrooms in each unit. This does not take into account the fact that many households are doubling up to make ends meet. Participants resolved to dedicate another meeting to waste and sustainability issues.
Sea Level Rise
The January 2020 meeting provided extensive information on sea level rise and its likely impacts on the Canal Neighborhood via presentations from Chris Choo, Marin County Principal Planner, and Paul Jensen, San Rafael Community Development Director. Theo Sanchez from the City’s Public Works Department provided suggestions about what could be done to adapt to the impacts of sea level rise, such as raising levees, restoring marshlands, capping storm drains, improving the capacity of pumping stations and creating buildings with “soft stories” to raise the habitable areas above flood levels. Residents were asked if they could help generate solutions for this problem, but many noted that they did not know enough about the options due to the technical nature of potential solutions. Residents expressed interest in touring pumping stations and planned project sites to better understand what was being done, and could be done, to help prepare for rising sea levels.
Next Steps
A consistent theme throughout these meetings has been renter concerns about housing and landlord/tenant relations. Too late to review for this newsletter, the February meeting will address overarching issues of tenant empowerment and gentrification. MEHC will continue to provide assistance to this initiative as it unfolds.