Happy New Year!

Dear District 4 Resident:

Wishing you all healthy start to 2022. As this new year begins, I want to take an opportunity to share with you some of the work my office prioritized in 2021. In addition to serving as District 4 Supervisor, I was appointed by my colleagues as the Board President for the Marin County Board of Supervisors. This required my office to manage the organization of meeting agendas, lead the weekly Board of Supervisors meetings, and serve as the primary representative for County of Marin government matters.   Even under our COVID-19 health guidelines we managed our virtual Board of Supervisors meetings well, and we were able to successfully transition to hybrid meetings in November. Despite the additional responsibilities of a leadership position on the board, here is some the progress my office was responsible for in 2021:  

Emergency Preparedness

Right at the start of COVID-19 Pandemic I was appointed to Chair the Marin Operational Area Disaster & Citizens Corps Council (DC3) and serve as the Director of Emergency Services. I also serve on the Board of Directors for the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. In these positions, I advise and direct staff to ensure our emergency planning, notifications systems, and community engagement strategies work effectively for all. It is a priority of my office to improve our emergency preparedness to ensure that our community is ready for the next disaster.   I believe we are better prepared than ever before as a County. However, I also recognize that we have more to improve on and I will continue to make sure that the gaps in our systems are fixed.

Community Engagement

We had a successful season of virtual office hours via Zoom. My office hosted 12 community virtual spaces for residents throughout our district. My office hours are valuable to me as it gives my office an opportunity to hear directly from you---our residents--about what is most important in your community.  To remain engaged click on this link to visit our Office Hours homepage. My office will hosting spring office hours virtually and hoping to transition back to in person office hours in the fall.

My office also supported the creation of the first ever community art project in the Canal neighborhood of East San Rafael. We partnered with Canal Alliance to mobilize our Latino/a/x community to design and create a community art project located at 3300 Kerner Boulevard. My office remains committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming community for all.

Sustainability

My office is leading two sustainability policy projects that made good progress in 2021. The first is a foodware ordinance which will ban the use of take-out plastic containers and utensils form being used in all unincorporated Marin.  We hope to encourage our incorporated cities and towns to join us in ratifying a similar policy.

Secondly, we have been working on a “Leave No Trace” coastal education program with Mendocino and Sonoma Counties   We hope by the summer of 2022 to have a resolution and funding to establish a long-term commitment to educate our coastal residents and visitors about taking home their solid waste and encourage to leave no trace when visiting our coasts.

Equity 

My office led the development of the Canal Policy Working Group which is made up of key community-based organizations, the County of Marin, and the City of San Rafael to develop policies that positively affect the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael. This is a multi-jurisdictional effort to improve the lives of our most vulnerable residents.  Two policy successes that came out of this group were the extension of the county wide eviction moratorium, and the rent increase restriction in certain census tracks in the county to protect residents from evictions. 

In addition, we also funded and helped organized the Canal Collaborative, a group of interested key stakeholders in East San Rafael who meet monthly under the guidance of Marin Promise Partnership to promote resident input and to allow our community-based organizations to discuss issues that are important to them. The Canal Collaborative is modeled after the successful West Marin Collaborative.

Redistricting

As result of our recent US Census count, the County was tasked with redistricting our supervisorial districts. I could not be more pleased with the new District 4, as it encompasses the largest Latino/Hispanic population in the county. Our new district encompasses part of the Bret Harte and Lincoln Boulevard corridor neighborhoods of San Rafael.  My office is ready to connect with our new residents and l look forward to reporting back on our expanded work and at the same time remain the proud representative of our coastal villages, San Geronimo Valley, West Novato, Corte Madera, Larkspur, Homestead Valley, Greenbrae Boardwalk, San Quentin Village, and East San Rafael. Click here to view the new District 4 map. 

Aging

Aging in place continues to be a District 4 priority and my office is looking forward to seeing how the Age Forward initiative engages and works deeply with every county department to ensure that our priorities as older adults are considered with every policy and budget decision.

Lastly, as much as I wish the pandemic was behind us, it isn’t.  Each new variant poses a serious threat to our health, so I encourage you all get tested, vaccinated, and the booster dose as soon as you are eligible. We must do everything we can to protect the health of our family and community. 

Thank you for the opportunity to provide you with an update. Please do not hesitate to reach out for more information or help. You can contact me at (415) 473-7331 or Drodoni@marincounty.org.

Sincerely,

Dennis Rodoni, District 4

Marin County Board of Supervisors 

 

District 4 Office:

Lorenzo Cordova

E: LCordova@marincounty.org

Ph: (415) 473-3092

 

Rhonda Kutter

E: RKutter@marincounty.org

Ph: (415) 473-3246