A Third Way for Downtown

Downtown. Historic. Beautiful. Hip. Green. Wholesome.  These are some of the words that helped to inspire Petaluma’s new economic development marketing campaign to be unveiled in October.  Complete with Sunset Magazine-ready images of craft beer, bikes, café laptops, and vintage downtown signage, the effort is an attempt to lure new businesses, investment and “talent”. 

Reading between the lines, the campaign appears geared toward attracting professionals, particularly the “creative class” – the kind of people who might launch a tech start-up one day, and an artisanal charcuterie business the next. This set is particularly interested in places with appealing lifestyles and are at the forefront of a larger cultural trend towards living in walkable downtowns. 

While trading on farm chic, Petaluma’s marketing campaign also hints at urban amenities.  In keeping with the theme, the City has not been afraid to encourage more urbanism in its downtown core.  It recently built a mixed-use Theatre District, is entertaining a number of proposals for residential and mixed-use development downtown, and is planning for more still. 

San Rafael’s Opportunity

If there was ever a place that could benefit from an influx of the young and employed, it’s Downtown San Rafael.  It would be a boon to local retailers.  It would make downtown safer by putting more eyes on the street.  It would improve both the business climate and the arts and cultural scene.  

Crucially, this influx could also generate more in tax proceeds than it would cost in services, improving the city’s bottom line.  Dense, market-rate infill development would add substantial property and sales tax revenue, while requiring relatively little in the way of infrastructure capital costs (roads, sewer, and water).  Many ongoing city services (like fire and police protection) are also more efficiently provided in places where development already exists.  The yard-less crowd Downtown would also use less water per capita, enroll fewer kids in schools, and generate fewer car trips.

San Rafael is well positioned to capitalize on the demand for urban living.  It’s in the heart of an innovative region best known for attracting the creative class.  It’s unique, walkable, historic, transit-friendly, increasingly bike friendly, and even hosts a film festival.  Leveraging all these assets to further revitalize Downtown should be a no brainer. 

And yet, there are two political currents working against it.

The “Go Away” Brand

In north San Rafael, development opponents recently successfully rallied against a “Priority Development Area” designation for commercial properties near Northgate Mall.  They also sought to dial down allowable building heights.  For many of these people, the effort was strictly about reducing development possibilities in the Civic Center Area.

However, a more zealous contingent has sought to shut down any new housing city-wide, even Downtown.  In stark contrast to the Petaluma approach, City Council candidate Randy Warren has pitched the slogan “Sold Out” as the unwelcoming attitude that we should adopt toward newcomers, regardless of what they might have to offer.  On his campaign website he blames urbanity for our ills and takes a veiled swipe at infill development stating that “the homeless tend to be attracted to city settings.”   

On an even more extreme note, some of Warren’s fellow travelers have criticized him for a lack of purity and the sin of mentioning a desire for job growth.  In their minds, the introduction of anything new in San Rafael is unacceptable.  This attitude is a recipe for downtown torpor and stagnation.    

The Welfare Brand

A 2009 Marin Civil Grand Jury report stated that San Rafael was “a magnet for the homeless” given its amount of homeless services.  In fact, Point-In-Time counts of the homeless population indicate that San Rafael (at 1 per 109 residents) actually has a higher homeless population than San Francisco (at 1 per 125 residents), or Oakland (at 1 per 132 residents) or Berkeley (at 1 per 168 residents).  So much for Randy Warren’s urbanity = homeless theory. 

While homeless services are valuable and the providers of these services deserve respect, in San Rafael it’s way out of scale to the town’s population.  The Grand Jury report noted that San Rafael is the “biggest exception” among Marin County cities in that it provides 4 full time staff people just to deal with homeless issues.  And yet, City Council candidate Kate Colin just called for even more spending on the homeless.

Meanwhile, the lead boast on the City’s Economic Development website is about its affordable housing efforts.  The Downtown Station Area Plan likewise brags that over 1,000 low income housing units housing have been created in the City. 

The wide panoply of social welfare services in downtown is becoming San Rafael’s identity.  It’s practically our brand. 

This has implications.  Low income housing involves property tax exemptions which limits city revenues.  Downtown doesn’t always feel safe, which impacts local businesses and also inhibits sale tax revenues.  Social welfare services add to the expenditures side of the ledger.  And, all of these things fuel the anti-development backlash.

Another Way

San Rafael’s elected officials need to open their minds up to the great possibilities offered by attracting new residents to Downtown.  While they can compromise with wary residents in low density areas like Terra Linda, they should take a stand Downtown against anti-development extremists. 

They should also stop the endless expansion of social welfare services and instead focus available resources on amenities that make Downtown more appealing to all.

The City also needs planning reforms.

It should drop or reduce the requirement that all new housing developments over a certain size (just about any infill project) set aside 20% of units for low and very low income residents.  This greatly adds to the cost of development.  It means that strictly market-rate housing development is impossible and predominately market-rate developments are far less likely to pencil out.

Lastly, the City should allow greater flexibility with parking mandates that drive up development costs and density limits that force out high-demand products like studio apartments. (something Greater Marin blogger Dave Edmonson has written about extensively).  

A healthy and continuously improving Downtown is vital for the health of San Rafael as a whole.