High-Density Housing Critic Joins Contested San Rafael Council Race

A San Rafael resident concerned with high-density housing plans has announced he will be running for San Rafael City Council in November.

Randy Warren, who has lived in Terra Linda for 19 years, said San Rafael’s housing element, which outlines state-mandated development plans, is “flawed” in his candidacy announcement.

Warren said he’s “concerned” with housing plans as well as the controversial Plan Bay Area, which seeks to connect projected population and job growth with new residential development near transit corridors.

“The proposed affordable housing could end up not going to needy Marin residents but instead to people relocating from other areas around the bay whose vast numbers could shut out San Rafael’s poor,” Warren said in a release. “We need good quality jobs to support a growing population, and there is no viable plan at present to do that. Wishful thinking is not enough. We need to avoid related increases to unemployment and homelessness, and the risk they present in wage deflation.”

Affordable housing has been a recent point of contention in San Rafael recently. A group of residents, many who live in northern San Rafael and are concerned with the area’s affordable housing allocations, are petitioning to recall Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams.

The petition drive was launched at the end of May, according to the Marin Independent Journal.

At Least Four Residents to Run For Two Council Seats

The San Rafael City Council seats of Councilwoman Kate Colin and Councilwoman Barbara Heller will be on the November ballot. Colin plans to run as well as former councilmember Greg Brockbank and Peacock Gap resident Maribeth Bushey-Lang, a former planning commissioner.

Heller, who has served on the San Rafael City Council for 20 years, announced last month she won’t run for re-election this November and has thrown her support behind newcomer Bushey-Lang.

Heller, who was the third women elected to San Rafael council, said she has secretly been trying to get Bushey-Lang to run for council for 10 years and felt she finally could retire if Bushey-Lang went for council. She added that it’s significant to have another female run for a council seat.

Bushey-Lang has lived in San Rafael for 20 years and served on the city’s planning commission for more than 13 years.

Councilwoman Kate Colin is the fourth woman to serve on San Rafael’s City Council. Colin was appointed to the council to replace Assembly member Marc Levine’s seat in January.

Warren, a businessman and San Rafael attorney, has also been a magazine and business journal writer, according to a release announcing his candidacy.

His legal practice is in family and appellate law. He also owns a travel agency that he founded 26 years ago. Warren was originally from New York and Florida. Click here to see Warren’s campaign website.

Residents interested in running in the race can pull papers from the city as early as July 15, according to San Rafael City Clerk Esther Beirne.