Novato should support dense downtown housing

Being a Novato resident for 38 years and raising my two sons here, I can say that I just love calling this place home. I would like to encourage our city council to move forward on approving development for downtown sites like the old Pini Hardware location, Dr. John Elloway’s former building across from Carmen’s La Hacienda Restaurant, the old Luna Travel location and others.

The way I see it, we can meet the state’s housing mandate by building vertically rather than horizontally. I’ve heard comments such as, “we don’t want to turn Novato into Walnut Creek.” What’s wrong with Walnut Creek? It has a thriving downtown.

Novato’s downtown merchants are struggling because there are too few thriving storefronts to draw enough people. By adding more affordable housing, perhaps our children can move back and be part of our community that we so desperately need.

We will need to address parking issues, but that can be done.

I encourage the Novato Building Division to streamline whatever is necessary to encourage developers to get moving. If developers are dragging their feet, then city officials need to somehow pressure them. I simply cannot understand why some prime downtown storefronts have remained empty for what seems like decades.

Many in Marin County were pleased in the early 1960s when myriad factors (including disinterest from some local officials) led to the North Bay not being included in Bay Area Rapid Transit’s commuter-train infrastructure. I think decisions like that led to the issues we now face, including a lack of affordable housing and failing downtowns.

I think we need to encourage Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit service as a means of providing rapid transit through the county. It may be our last chance.

— Patrick Wallen, Novato

Fairfax recall target’s behavior is out of line

I am writing in response to the article published April 17 with the headline “Fairfax vice mayor, recall petitioners quarrel in street.”

I am very concerned about this incident and what it means to Fairfax residents to have Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman as a leader. In the article Hellman states, “I regret engaging in a verbal exchange with people who I know to be actively spreading disinformation and defaming me personally.”

Hellman does not have the right to aggressively harass volunteers who appeared to be peacefully collecting signatures (which I believe they were doing legally) for a recall against her. She does not have the right to intimidate voters and disrupt the peace. I think she crossed a line and interfered with the election process.

The Voter Protection Act strictly forbids voter intimidation and voter suppression. It is very clear about the resulting consequences. I think most would consider Hellman’s comments and actions to be an act of aggression against the people she represents. Portions of the confrontation are recorded on video. It was witnessed by several Fairfax residents.

The public has a right to recall elected officials, for any stated reason of voter dissatisfaction. It is enshrined in the California Constitution.

— Teliha Draheim, Fairfax

Letter about protests is laughably transparent

I am writing in response to a recently published letter by Francis Drouillard. He writes,”We are a republic that respects differing views and protects individual rights — even when they are unpopular. What we’re witnessing is an attempt to silence dissent, punish political opposition and enforce ideological conformity. That’s not a republic or a democracy — it’s authoritarianism wearing a democratic mask.”

One might think I was quoting an op-ed reflecting on the news stories that have barraged us in the past weeks, as we witness illegal deportations; refusals to properly allocate funds approved by Congress; the punishing of universities that offered dissent; or the demanding of ideological conformity by refusing to allow transgender people to reflect their current identity and appearance on their passports.

But one would be wrong.

This letter was written in defense of President Donald Trump and his administration, accusing the Democratic Party of these assaults to liberty. Drouillard appears to have eloquently illustrated Trump’s signature style, direct from his playbook: Take what you are accused of, usually with plenty of evidence, turn it around and attribute it to your accusers. It is laughably transparent.

— Mark Silowitz, Novato