Bodovitz leaves legacy as environmental leader
As former executive director of the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, I would like to share some details about the life of Joseph Bodovitz, a longtime Mill Valley resident and state environmental leader who passed away March 9 at the age of 93 (“California coastal advocate Joe Bodovitz dies at 93,” March 22).
It is hard to overstate Bodovitz’s exceptional contributions to his community and to preservation of the California coast and San Francisco Bay.
Bodovitz and his wife, Shirley, raised their three children in Mill Valley. He served on the school board for nine years and was involved in planning and opening the Mill Valley Middle School.
In 1964, Bodovitz directed the study commission that led to the creation of the BCDC, then served as the commission’s first executive director. Under his leadership, BCDC created a plan to protect the bay from overdevelopment and nearly all the plan’s recommendations were enacted into law. BCDC was made permanent, and it continues to safeguard the bay from unnecessary landfill and to require public access in every shoreline project.
In 1972, Bodovitz became the first executive director of the California Coastal Commission, charged with preparing the coastal plan mandated by the Proposition 20 initiative. His unique capabilities again proved pivotal. Made permanent in 1976, it continues to protect the California coast while ensuring vastly expanded public access consistent with orderly development.
Bodovitz went on to become executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission, president of the California Environmental Trust, chief staff officer of the Bay Vision 2020 Commission and a popular teacher at the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning in San Francisco.
He was a phenomenal person. He made all of us who had the privilege of working with him better writers, better public servants and better people. He will be greatly missed.
— Mike Wilmar, San Francisco
Happiness committee offers food for thought
California Assemblymember Anthony Rendon has a plan to make happiness a central tenet to policymaking. His Select Committee on Happiness in Public Policy Outcomes recently held its first public hearing. This is the first such group in the nation. I applaud his efforts.
While recently making some of my own personal happiness by sweeping twigs and leaves from the wheelchair ramp at the beautiful Bon Air Landing Park in Greenbrae, I chatted with another immigrant, a woman named Rita from Argentina. We discussed the beauties of Greenbrae, but soon discovered a shared view of the United States as a very uncaring nation.
The woman wondered why we elevate abortion fights but seemingly ignore the unhoused. She asked why our nation seems incapable of doing more to help.
In the United States, national legislators don’t discuss the inequalities and inequities underlying the unhoused enough. I also think issues related to poverty, poor schools, drug deaths, high fetal and infant mortality rates should be examined often. Elected officials seem to make gestures and throw out a few “patch” solutions. Some offer prayers.
In 1868, author Horatio Alger birthed his stories of the self-made man, the myth of the impoverished boy rising to middle class through good works. But there is no self-made person. We are each born into a cultural situation that largely determines who we are. Today, our rapidly evolving technology presents endless new opportunities. The first people to notice harvest the bounty.
These freshly minted billionaires wouldn’t have a nickel if it wasn’t for our culture. If we taxed accordingly, these opportunistic innovators would still be richer than Croesus, while society would be properly compensated.
I hope Rendon’s committee discusses these questions: What kind of society do we want? How might we get that? What will we do today to move in that direction?
— Barry Phegan, Greenbrae
Horse Hill too steep for some who use bikes
In a letter by David Colton published March 20, he expressed opposition to a proposal for opening Alto Tunnel to cyclists and pedestrians. Colton calls the path from Meadowsweet Drive in Corte Madera to Horse Hill in Mill Valley “perfectly acceptable.” I disagree.
This route is too steep to attract many. From Mill Valley, the total climb up Camino Alto is 330 feet, while Horse Hill climbs 200 feet total. The proposed Alto Tunnel route would climb just 60 feet.
Opening Alto Tunnel offers the opportunity for many to partake in healthy physical activity while getting us where we need to go sustainably.
In some affluent countries, about 30% of all trips made are with the joy of cycling — safely and easily using the most efficient mode of transport ever devised. Let’s complete the North-South Greenway and make Marin as “flat as Holland” (and with better weather).
— Joe Breeze, Fairfax
County must move faster to prep for sea level rise
As co-founder of the Tam Valley sea level rise task force, I am writing in response to the article published March 20 with the headline, “Marin County allocates $500K for sea-level rise plan.”
The recent vote by the Marin County Board of Supervisors to allocate $519,000 to hire a consultant to develop a decision-making plan to address sea level rise reminds me of the legend of Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Spending that much money to advise the supervisors how to make decisions strikes me as misguided and wasteful. I thought we elected them because they convinced us they could make good decisions. To help them out, I suggest they read the materials provided on the website adaptingtorisingtides.org. There is lots of good advice there.
What’s also misguided is the amount of time allotted to this consultant process (to be completed by Dec. 31, 2025). Given the speed at which sea levels are actually projected to rise, the low-lying topography of the Marin shorelines and the length of time it takes to actually get projects designed, evaluated, funded and built, waiting more than two years from the inception to the completion of the analysis is irresponsible. Why will it take so long just to get advice about how to make decisions? This money doesn’t include any actual decisions, nor does it include any recommendations for actual adaptations.
I urge the board to actively seek out and establish truly collaborative organizations with citizen groups in the affected areas well before the end of 2025.
There is no time to waste. The planet is burning. Delay means that communities flood, traffic sits at a standstill and economies slow. Let’s get to work now.
— Ted Barone, Tamalpais Valley
Reverend connected us to Marin City community
We were not at all surprised to read the recently published letter to the editor by Jen Levine that the Rev. Floyd Thompkins has started a community event in Marin City called “Come to the Table.”
We met Thompkins three years ago when we attended a Juneteenth celebration in that community. Living in Novato, we decided to attend his service once a month (in addition to time with our own church affiliations in Novato). We were inspired and soon began volunteering at a Marin City food pantry, helping to shop for those in need at the nearby Target, Starbucks and, most recently, at Marin City’s newly opened Grocery Outlet.
I want to thank Thompkins for his dedication to the people of his church and the fine work he does for Marin City. We hope this letter gives us priority to attend the next “Come to the Table” event — I am only kidding, we will wait our turn.
— Alfredo Angulo and Darlene Purcell, Novato
