David: I am very curious why you say in your bio: "I believe that Marin is still one of the best places in the world.....Creeping suburbanization - parking lots, malls, and car dependency - has a steady momentum in the County. We can reverse the momentum, but it will take political will and activist zeal to make our County as great as it can be."

I was born and raised in San Rafael (in the 60's) then left for UC Berkeley & lived there for 10 yrs working at U.C. but never liked the urban environment at all. Finally moved back to Marin after getting a job in San Francisco, deciding 1) I was tired of noisy, stinky, crowded Berkeley & wanted some peace and quiet and 2) I wanted to take the Ferry to work instead of the constantly over-stuffed and dirty A/C Transit system. You cite "creeping suburbanization" as a problem with Marin. I guess since you did not grow up here, you don't understand that Marin was built up in the 50's and 60's to be a suburb mostly for people who worked in The City and did not want to live in an urban environment. There isn't any "creeping suburbanization" - we ARE a suburb and have always been one (after, of course, the early days of farming and ag.). Most of us wish to keep Marin suburban. A very large group of community coalitions and involved citizens is now forming to fight outside interests and agencies wanting to urbanize Marin (i.e.ABAG & One Bay Area plan). You will hear more about us soon: Marin Community Coalition for Local Control.

David- I've been following your comments on the "what they say vs.." thread. I'm really interested in how you envision the shift in behavior of SMART commuters, specifically around life/health issues. Having traveled outside the US a lot, the cultures and communities that are most integrated with public transportation have been so for many many years. It seems to me that we have greater issues than cost, pensions, and politics.. We have an underlying attitude of a car based culture. People that are used to pubTran shop, commute, travel very differently than us Californians who are more likely to spend 20 minutes looking for the parking spot closest to the door of target. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and to hear about what is being done to refocus public opinion on the actually important issues.