Planning on traveling to SFO or Open Homes in San Francisco? Be aware that sections of 19th Avenue in San Francisco may be closed certain weekends starting 11/13/09 (7pm). The sections closed are due to Muni Transit work on streetcar tracks and Water Dept. work on water pipes. However, Thanksgiving, most of December, and New Years will not be impacted.
Planned closures include:
Fri. 11/20 thru Mon. 11/23: CLOSURE of 19th and Judah northbound
Fri. 12/4 thru Sat. 12/5: CLOSURE of 19th and Judah southbound
Sun. 12/6 thru Mon. 12/7: CLOSURE of 19th and Judah northbound
Fri. 1/8 thru Monday 1/11: CLOSURE of 19th anCd Taraval southbound
Fri. 1/15 thru mon. 1/18: CLOSURE of 19th and Taraval northbound
Fri. 1/22 thru Sat. 1/23: CLOSURE of 19th and Taraval southbound
Sun. 1/24 thru Mon. 1/25: CLOSURE of 19th and Taraval northbound

Free H1N1 Flu Vaccine Clinics for High Risk Groups Planned for Marin County Residents Vaccination Clinics have been scheduled throughout Marin County in November and December. These clinics will only be administering the H1N1 vaccine. Vaccine supplies are limited and, therefore, will only be given to higher risk people including:
- Pregnant women
- Persons who live with or provide care for infants younger than 6 months of age
- Health care workers and emergency medical services personnel
- Children and young adults age 6 months – 24 years of age
- Persons 25-64 who have medical conditions that put them at higher risk for influenza-related complications, such as asthma, heart disease, diabetes and immunosuppression.
(Senior Citizens, even with medical conditions, are not included in the CDC priority vaccination groups)
Clinics are scheduled as follows:
Wednesday, November 18th
West Marin Elementary School
11550 Highway 1 @ Point Reyes Station
3-7 pm as supplies last

Thursday, November 19th
Manzanita Recreation Center
630 Drake Avenue, Marin City
9am to 4pm as supplies last

Saturday, December 5th
Novato Teen Center
950 7th Avenue, Novato
9am to 4pm as supplies last
More information is available at the Marin County H1N1Flu website (www.marinflu.org)

The House today and the Senate yesterday passed legislation to extend the $8,000 home buyer tax credit to May 1, 2010, for first-time buyers and add a $6,500 tax credit for repeat buyers if they’ve lived in their home for five of the past eight years. Home prices are capped at $800,000.

The legislation in both houses was included in a bill to extend unemployment benefits and is expected to be signed by President Obama shortly.

“REALTORS® appreciate the swift action by Congress to extend the home buyer tax credit and expand it to some current homeowners,” says NAR President Charles McMillan. “As the leading advocate of housing and real estate issues, we urge President Obama to sign this legislation into law quickly to keep the momentum going in the fragile recovery of the nation’s housing market.”

Under the bill, income limits are expanded to $125,000 for individuals and $225,000 for joint filers. Individuals with incomes up to $145,000 and joint filers with incomes up to $245,000 qualify for reduced credits.

Households who have binding contracts in place by April 30 will be allowed an additional 60 days to complete their transaction. The deadline for members of the military serving out the U.S. for at least 90 days between Jan. 1, 2009, and May 1, 2010, has been extended one year.

Taxpayers can claim the credit on their federal income tax returns. If the credit exceeds their tax bill, the government will issue a check. Taxpayers will be able to claim the credit on their 2009 income tax return for purchases made in 2010.

For more information on the credit CLICK HERE

Source: The Associated Press (11/5/2009)

The second season of the Bay Area’s crackdown on wood burning began on Sunday . The rule will be in place from Nov. through Feb. 28 and outlaws the use of wood-burning devices including fireplaces, pellet stoves, wood stoves and outdoor fire pits on “Spare the Air” days.

Last winter the Bay Area Air Quality Management District launched a zero-tolerance policy for wood smoke on “Spare the Air” days, when weather conditions make it likely that smoke will hang in the air and cause particulate pollution, making it hard for some people to breathe.
On bad-air nights during the winter, smoke from 1.4 million fireplaces and wood stoves in the Bay Area accounts for a third of the air pollution outpacing cars, which account for 23 percent of the pollution.

A violation of the ban can vary from a warning the first time and is subject to a $400.00 fine for repeated violations.
There are expected to be between 15 and 20 Spare the Air alerts during the season and
the rule applies to the nine-county Bay Area region, which serves a population of about 7 million people.

For more information go to http://www.sparetheair.org

In just two hours, learn how to safely and confidently ride your bike on the roads. Topics covered include how to avoid crashes and citations, improve visibility, ride between and through intersections, and learn your legal rights and obligations. Check WalkBikeMarin or the Marin County Bicycle Coalition websites for more information. Individuals must be 16 or older and advance registration is required. Registration is free and can be done online through either of those two websites. The next class will be held on Monday, November 9 from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Sausalito Parks and Recreation Department.

These classes are implemented by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition in their ongoing effort to improve bicycle safety in Marin County.

Thinking of relocating to Sausalito? Be afraid, very afraid….Naah…On Saturday, Oct 24th some of the local Sausalicians turned out for the Thriller re-enactment. What a town. We get a bad rap some times for being a bit “stuck up” but then there’s the other side.

The number of default notices filed against Marin homeowners in the third quarter of this year jumped 66 percent compared with the same quarter in 2008. What does this mean to you? It’s time to be a brave buyer, take the plunge and be glad you did.
To see the foreclosure activity in Marin County CLICK HERE

Two development projects and the imminent departure of a longtime working boatyard highlight a continuing tension among competing interests along the southern Marin waterfront.

County supervisors took action Tuesday that should, in part, satisfy neighbors who have said that a proposed hotel project has led to a decades-old eyesore, a nuisance and a possible environmental hazard just south of the Richardson Bay Bridge.

Developer Jack Krystal has been trying for the last 30 years to build a hotel complex on the property. Krystal’s first development application, filed in 1977, called for a 12-story 300-room hotel and marine development. The project never could come close to meeting local planning guidelines. (The property is in the county’s jurisdiction.) To read the full story from the Pacific Sun CLICK HERE

Usually when you see an announcement of a large gift of private money going to a school, it’s on its way to a favored college, university, or business school.

Recently here in the Bay Area, that direction changed, and big money instead was being steered to elementary and high schools.

In what is undoubtedly one of the largest single donations of private money to public schools, the community foundation I head, a cohort of over 300 Marin families, has just announced an historic 5-year, $35 million commitment designed to close the “academic achievement gap.”

To Read the Full Story from SFGATE CLICK HERE

I’m sorry to have heard this sad news and thought trice about posting it but if your thinking about moving or already live in Marin County it’s part of my job to keep you informed about the crime that occurs as well. You would want to know everything about a neighbourhood before moving into it right? I would like to stress that as the headline says it’s the fourth homicide to have taken place in this town in 40 years.

TIBURON — A 79-year-old Tiburon woman was found shot dead near the front yard of her Del Mar neighborhood home this morning, police said.

The woman, whose name was not immediately released because relatives had not been notified, was found with a bullet wound to the head, Tiburon Police Chief Mike Cronin said at an afternoon news conference. No suspects or motives have been identified in the homicide, just Tiburon’s fourth in the past 40 years.

“This is traumatic,” Cronin said. “This is something that happens here once in a decade.”

The woman’s body was discovered at about 9:30 a.m. by a family friend who regularly checks in on her, Cronin said. The body was in a pool of blood near a patio that was outside the Hilary Drive home but inside a gate at the end of a driveway. The woman was fully clothed, “dressed the way a lot of us look when we first get up in the morning,” Cronin said.

Cronin said the woman’s home had not been ransacked, and the incident was not believed to be connected with a burglary. The woman lived alone.

Tiburon police had been to the home in the past for an alarm-related visit but reported no previous disturbances or criminal activity at the home.

“If anybody in this neighborhood heard anything last night, even if they think that it was something minor, please let us know,” Cronin said.

Source: Marin Independent Journal