Yesterday in history in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge let auto traffic through to Marin. Marinites start being annoyed.

Please download the Repeal Prop 8 Pledge and print out as many as you would like. Recruit folks to do the right thing for California.

Sure, you can get us on Oprah, but can you get us a seat when she is giving away free cars?

Thursday night Maven went to Boca restaurant after work for cocktails — brought there with tales of yummy mixed drinks for around 9 bucks. These top shelf drinks did not disappoint. Certainly, in these days, one cannot make a habit of these libations, but they make for an occasional treat. Their Boca Salad for $6.50 is pretty tasty too and friends give their hamburgers high marks.

Thanks to Nigel Hall (@parallelp) for letting Marin twitterers that the County of Marin is on twitter.

This Sunday, May 31st from 11am – 6pm, downtown Larkspur will be having the Larkspur Flower & Food Festival .

Do you have any electronic waste? Electronic waste includes:  Monitors, televisions, PC systems, notebooks, computer servers, networking equipment, printers, copy machines, scanners, computer components and peripherals, digital cameras and camcorders, UPS, VCR/DVD players, MP3 players, PDA’s, cell phones, telephones, home entertainment systems, facsimile machines, dry cell and car batteries. Keep these things out of our landfills by bring them to the Northgate Mall this weekend from 9am-4pm. Speaking of Northgate, Marin Retail found pictures and plans for the Northgate Mall, which includes a Kohls.

A high-end women’s clothing store in Marin is closing in “30 to 45 days” and needs “barracuda” clerk. [craigslist]

Mahbod Seraji, author of Rooftops of Tehran will be at the Corte Madera Book Passage.  In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran’s sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. On Sunday at 11am, Vernon Jordan will be at the Corte Madera to talk about his book, Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out.

Calitics writes about Dianne Feinstein’s comment on the voters of California.

“I have been around in 15 elections. I have never seen a time when the voters did what they did, in view of what they were told about cuts, in the enormous defeat of these propositions,” she said. “I can’t give you the reason for it, but I can tell you, to me it was astonishing.”

“And what they said is, in so many words, take the cuts, because that’s the alternative. And nobody wants them, but people have to understand.”

Maven heard this on the radio and the jaw dropped open. How she can be so willfully wrong about what happened on May 19 is astonishing. The props presented were so poorly written they begged to be rejected. While there were voters on the right who wanted taxes, that small sample of the small percentage of Californians that actually voted are hardly the political tea leaves to be reading. These props were designed to go down in defeat and provide cover for politicians in Sacramento to make cuts and blame it on taxpayers. Difi is doing exactly what I expected politicians would do, blame taxpayers for their spinelessness in addressing taxation. Difi should be getting federal funding for us as Californians have paid more than their fair share of federal taxes and never get enough back. Feinstein needs to get back in touch with voters, or consider retiring. You can write to her and let her know why YOU voted against 1a-1e (most of you voted FOR 1F).

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It really isn’t safe to conclude what Californians really think from this election given such a  horrible turnout – 28%. Yes, there are Californians who don’t like being taxed, and there are Californians who do not like spending caps. The rest of  Californians just said, “Meh.” and stayed home. Californians who were progressive and Californians who are on the right side of the political spectrum have left the political bed they’ve slept in both recognizing for their own reasons that these propositions were flawed.

It is a truism that it is easier to knock something down, than to create anew. The way forward will be rough and will require real courage to undo what we thought will always be with us (ie. 2/3 budget vote).  There will have to be new taxes as all Californians have these obligations. Running a State as big as California takes serious money. In past elections, Californians want schools to be a priority, and they want taxes to go to early childhood programs and the mentally ill. They recognize these programs do the most good to prevent problems and give us the best bang for our buck.

Our roads and parks cost money, our police cost money, our firefighters need money, and social services need money.  Our libraries cost money, our department of motor vehicles cost money, and taking care of sick people costs money. The Department of Fish and Game cost money, and Cal OSHA which keeps workplaces safe cost money. Prisons take an incredible amount of money, and each time people cut social services they just have to transfer the money they think they save on more prisons. These propositions were merely exercises in robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Maven has said this many, many times that people who are against taxation want everything they take for granted for free and it is unrealistic. They are clueless at the unintended consequences of their wishes of limited government.

We will need to take a look at Proposition 13 and modify it so it doesn’t harm single family homeowners  or small business via a split roll system.  California may have to look at taxing some services, and dccriminalize marijuana to cut the cost of housing pot possessors in prison. The war on drugs have cost us dearly in prisons and in social services because it breaks up families.

We will also need Federal help to pay for unfunded mandates and to stimulate the economy. California more than any other state should be the leader in green jobs. We need the Feds to pass universal health care and pass comprehensive immigration reform to process those who want to  be here in a timely manner so they do not have to wait years which creates criminals of desperate, hard-working people.

The past 8 years of Republican rule taught most Americans that people who hate government shouldn’t be in charge of government. The American people last November came together to vote for Obama because they believed government can play a role in fixing things and getting us back on track. The government is us and we have a lot of work to do.

The high speed train will create jobs in construction and give people the mobility to live where they want and go whereever work happens. It will spur green building where the speed train goes and create businesses to support such development.

In crisis comes opportunity. It is time for real leadership from Democratic politicians to get to work and grow the backbone the electorate have provided.

Can we sell Southern California back to Mexico? Is Spain interested?

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Gov. Schwarzenegger (Schwarzenegger) is now following your updates on Twitter.

A little information about Gov. Schwarzenegger:

120004 followers 359 updates following 56135 people

You may follow Gov. Schwarzenegger as well by clicking on the “follow” button on their profile.You may also block Gov. Schwarzenegger if you don’t want them to follow you.

@marinmaven Props 1A-1F are as lame as that movie, “Twins”

Just 4 days before Tuesday’s May 19th election, the Marin Democratic Party Central Committee has come out in favor of Propositions 1A-AF. It is interesting, while they do mention cuts, they do not talk about the spending cap which is central to why progressives oppose 1A.Regardless of whether these May propositions pass, there will be painful cuts to almost all services. It is going to be tough, but times will get better and voting for a spending cap that will tie the hands of the state to address restoring funding to programs we cut is not the answer.

League of Women Voters say, “It would amend the state Constitution to dictate restrictions on the use of funds put into the reserve and limit how “unanticipated” revenues can be used in good years. It could lock in a reduced level of public services by not taking proper account of the state’s changing demographics and actual growth in costs. Prop 1A would also give future governors new power to make budget cuts without legislative oversight. Like the other propositions opposed by the League on this ballot, Prop 1A came from a deeply flawed process that resulted in measures written in haste and without public input or analysis.”

Instead we need to get more democrats in the State Legislature, overturn the 2/3 vote to pass a budget, and overturn what Maven has always thought was a bad idea – term limits. The best term limit is at the ballot box. Artificially setting term limits results in legislators relying on staff and lobbyists for answers instead of having time knowing the issues. Time limits doesn’t give legislators the ability to think long term about the issues as they will be leaving in the short term.

Passing nothing at all is better than passing bad law. If the voters turn these down, be prepared for all the Pro-Props 1A-1F to blame everything that happens from now on on the voters turning these  props down, when really this mess and the coming troubles started when the 2/3 rule passed, term limits passed, and when the California surplus was given back to the voters instead of being in reserve. There is a lot of blame to go around.

So I am not opposed to a reserve fund, but not the kind in 1A.

Look. I have a son starting kindergarten this Fall, so I am worried about the fate of the schools. My son will have more than 12 years in education, so I am thinking way beyond this crisis and more long term.

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What does Maven want for her birthday week?

Next Tuesday, May 19th, Maven would like a sound defeat of all propositions wrapped up in a bow.  You have to love their appeals to fear when they have an ad of the firefighter threatening that you just might not have anyone to put that fire out. They always do this to scare people into voting for bad legislation. People will complain and they will find the money for the fire and police.

Another thing Maven would like is that May 22nd be named Harvey Milk Day. Our own Mark Leno got a bill that would do that last year, but  it got vetoed by Arnold. It is time to contact Arnold and ask him to allow Harvey Milk Day to become reality. Marin came out big against Prop 8, so I am hoping that Marin comes out in support of this important holiday.

Maven wishes that AB372 would either be amended to provide unconditional access for adult adoptees to their birth records or be killed.

Maven hopes she doesn’t forget to get her free birthday ice cream a Three Twins Ice Cream in Terra Linda. They are the official ice cream of Marin Maven.

Maven’s fiftieth birthday on 2016 will also be the 10th year anniversary of Marin Maven. Save the date, as we are thinking of throwing a huge party.

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Whether you call it H1N1, Mexican Influenza, or “Hamthrax” (a new moniker found on Twitter) this past week’s appeal to fear story was the Swine Flu that probably killed less people than what normal influenza killed. It was terrible for the Mexican families who lost loved ones, but I think the newsmedia kinda went overboard, like the right wing tinfoil crowd who somehow found a way to make it about illegal immigration. Little mention was made that with climate change we are going to see more strains of viruses and diseases around the world. Panic, but panic over global warming.

KQED_CapNotesYes on 1A/F cmpgn starts to ratchet up doomsday scenario, issues statmt on Stockton cop layoffs as “sign of what is to come” if props fail.

First thing the Yes on 1A/F campaign will do is  say they will take away your emergency responders like firefighters and police.They want you to freak and say, “OMG! Who is going to be left to douse my flaming house? I must vote yes on 1A!” Hint. They will not cut these services as they will be voted out by homeowners who expect that government’s least job is  to protect their property. Maven’s political weather forecast? Periods of heavy appeals to fear and 90% chance of BS.

marinijAll About Marin: Whopping price tag puts brakes on talks of maglev train http://bit.ly/XQAeO

Brad Breithaupt of the MarinIJ reports that Arnold turned down Novato Supervisor’s idea of a Maglev system from Novato to San Rafael. I guess we will have to wait for  Governor Newsom.

More interestingly, Breithaupt  reports in that same article that the St.Vincent’s/Silveira Ranch project has zoomed back up to 500 units again with 221 housing units and senior housing like the 350 unit Redwoods senior complex. On Tuesday, the Supervisors voted 3-2 for the increase.

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