What’s happening: The city is preparing a feasibility study of possible improvements at Bayfront Park, similar to the Boyle Park master plan process, Arts and Recreation Director Ashley Howe told the Parks and Recreation Commission on Nov. 4.
Staff expect to engage a consultant in early 2027 to lead community engagement and the study, and a subcommittee of stakeholder representatives, commissioners and staff will draft its scope of work, she said. The commission is also still pursuing a bike amenity somewhere in the city’s park system, and that work will factor into the Bayfront study, she said. The Briefing reported on the early planning for a possible bike facility as Bayfront dog park users organize.
Bayfront Park from its southern tip looking toward Mt. Tam (MVB, Oct 2026)
Howe said she is organizing representatives of groups with a stake in the park, including youth sports organizations, Save Bayfront Dog Park, Friends of the Bayfront Meadow and the Redwoods, along with groups planning to ask for inclusion, such as the Mill Valley Pump Track Alliance. Organized groups should email her. A web page, which she said should go live next week, will carry meeting announcements, Bayfront Park history, links to master plan documents and a dedicated Bayfront email address.
The city’s Arts and Recreation newsletter this week said no improvements or additions, including a pump track, have been approved and no decision has been made to replace or take portions of the existing off-leash dog park. It said the statement was meant to address “some miscommunication.”
The debate: Fourteen people spoke about the park during public open time. Ten spoke about the dog park or the open space around it, three spoke about a pump track and one asked the commission to put the 2024 dog park improvements on an agenda and track their progress. At least four of the ten said they would support a pump track somewhere else.
Responding to the idea that the dog park portion is underutilized, speakers said it only looks underused because different groups visit at different times of day. One said an environmental study is needed if the park is a contender, and another said dividing the park with entrances, fences and hedges “will not work.”
A physician who said she is 85 said falls are a serious risk for older adults and that bikes and e-bikes near a park used by residents of the nearby Redwoods would add to it. She said she is not opposed to a pump track elsewhere.
Patrick Linehan of the Alliance said many people the group has spoken with are open to sharing “roughly a quarter” of the dog park if the design addresses their concerns. He said fencing, separate entrances and landscape buffers are central to the proposal. Another resident, who said he is 46 and hopes to use a pump track into his 70s, said that if Bayfront is the site, he hopes people worried about losing something find that “nothing’s lost.”
What’s next: The commission’s chair asked staff to bring a report on the 2024 dog park improvements to a coming agenda, and Howe said she is happy to do that. Howe has said the commission and City Council will review the study’s results before any decision is made.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Nov. 9 to add detail about one speaker’s comments.
Public comment at a city meeting is on the public record, and anyone can watch the video. We still leave out the names of residents who spoke unless we have contacted them and received their explicit permission. We name speakers who addressed the commission in an official capacity, such as representing an organized group. Residents who spoke for themselves are described by what they said.
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Measure T well ahead as Tam board incumbents trail in unofficial results
Mill Valley’s Measure T, the Municipal Services Tax renewal, has 79.5% yes (3,211 to 828) in unofficial results updated Nov. 5, well above the two-thirds it needs.
In the districtwide Tamalpais Union High School District board race, Valerie Wynn (16,229 votes), Brian Sutherland (15,193) and Joy Scully Koo (12,129) are leading for the three seats. Incumbents Cynthia Roenisch (6,947) and Kevin Saavedra (3,978) sit fifth and seventh, and former board member Leslie Harlander is fourth with 7,254.
Mail ballots are still being counted, with county updates due Nov. 9 and Nov. 11, and nothing is official until the results are certified.
County officials reviewed January’s flooding. Here’s what’s still open, and what Caltrans and AT&T told the Briefing.
Marin supervisors heard the county’s after-action report on the January tide flooding Tuesday. The report called for a Highway 101 diversion plan that Caltrans and CHP were to develop within six months of the report’s adoption.
Steven Torrence, the county’s emergency management director, said the county is working with CHP and Caltrans on the Manzanita and Lucky Drive exits and is drafting a proactive closure protocol where appropriate, but is still waiting for Caltrans to concur. He expects progress before the next high tides.
Flooding along Miller Ave in late October affected students on their way home along the bike path. (MVB, Oct. 28, 2026)
The county told the Briefing Friday that developing the protocol is a priority and that it cannot yet give a completion date. Caltrans told the Briefing it did not agree to any proactive closure or diversion protocol, and said such closures can create gridlock on surrounding roads. It said its traffic center will use message signs, including advance messaging and active messages when a road floods.
CHP or maintenance crews will close lanes as necessary, and its emergency operations center will join the county’s pre-event meetings before major events. It said it is setting its own tide-based response thresholds, with enhanced preparations when tides are expected to exceed seven feet.
Caltrans’s advisory this week says maintenance will keep closing the northbound 101 to Highway 1 ramp at Manzanita when tides reach the road. The county will message the public when forecast tides top 7.0 feet.
The county told the Briefing it uses the “San Francisco Bay tidal gauge reference point” and that the late-October forecast tides did trigger a proactive notification, sent Oct. 24 to subscribers of the corresponding AlertMarin group. In January, no countywide AlertMarin went out at the peak.
Torrence said more than 100 partners were trained in the week before Tuesday’s meeting to request alerts, and about 40 cities, towns and districts signed an alert agreement in September.
Documents the county released for Tuesday’s meeting include three letters from the fire chief and sheriff to AT&T about the Jan. 4-5 outage, which the county says disrupted 911, cell and landline service across Marin south of Novato for roughly six hours. The most recent letter, dated Oct. 12, says the county still lacks the information to know whether one facility’s failure could again take down service across the county. It asks AT&T for copies of its outage reports and a response within 10 business days.
The county told the Briefing AT&T had not responded to the Oct. 12 letter as of Tuesday and that it is reaching out to the company. Asked whether it had, AT&T told the Briefing Friday, “Yes, we’ve fulfilled our reporting responsibilities,” and did not say when. It said it rebuilt or replaced the San Rafael facility’s pumps and alarms, reinforced the building and relocated the power systems that support them, and that it believes an identical failure would not have the same impact because it reconfigured its mobility network. It said its outage reports are confidential and it has offered to discuss them with county officials in person.
None of the three saw the others’ responses to the Briefing before publication.
The county holds a “Weather Together” virtual town hall on winter weather Thursday, Nov. 19, at 6pm.
sponsored by
MILL VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETYThis week in Mill Valley history: The night that celebrated the end of the war
Just after midnight on Nov. 11, 1918, fireworks lit up Mt. Tamalpais. Shortly after, the midnight train arrived with confirmation: the war was over.
Mill Valley woke up. Bells rang. Whistles blew. The Scout drum corps turned out. Auto horns and the fire engine added to what the Record called “the hub-bub.” Grown-ups, the paper noted, “were not ashamed to be seen hammering dishpans where no other instrument or noise was at hand.”
They celebrated, the Record added, “not forgetting the unpleasant mask.”
Students on the roof of Mill Valley Summit School on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918. (Photographer unknown, courtesy of Lucretia Little History Room, Mill Valley Public Library)
The town was two weeks into a mandatory mask ordinance. Eighty-four residents had contracted influenza. Weeks earlier, all public gatherings had been discontinued. Now the whole town was in the streets at midnight, making as much noise as it could, gauze on their faces.
That evening, the Fire Department organized a dance in Lytton Square. A piano was placed near the flagpole. Local businesses — Tamalpais Market, the Mill Valley Hotel, the Modern Bakery among them — provided refreshments.
The schools stayed closed. Edna Boland, clerk of the school board, explained in that week’s Record that conducting school with masks “would be a farce.” The San Francisco Health Board had indicated the mask ban might not lift until Thanksgiving. Elementary schools would open December 1 — nearly three weeks after the Armistice, still tied to San Francisco’s schedule. Mill Valley, she had written the week before, “because of the large number who daily commute, is a part of San Francisco.”
The war ended on Nov. 11. The epidemic did not.
Sources: Mill Valley Record, Nov. 9, 1918; Nov. 16, 1918; Nov. 16, 1918.
This story was sponsored by the Mill Valley Historical Society. Visit their new website at mvhistory.org.
Sponsors pay for placement, not coverage. Our reporting is always produced independently, without sponsor review or editorial input.
What we covered this week
🌊 Mill Valley’s City Council approved a local emergency for the El Niño winter, and the city is weighing a temporary flood wall on Miller Avenue near Tam High. Miller closed at high tide every day last week. We reported on how a wall could work, what the emergency powers let the city manager do and what the city hopes to recover from FEMA. The next extreme tides arrive Nov. 22.
🗳️ Measure T, the Municipal Services Tax renewal, is on track to pass. With mail ballots still to be counted, the ‘yes’ vote stood at 79.62 percent Tuesday night, well above the two-thirds threshold. We tracked the count as it came in. The next vote update is Monday.
🏘️ Councilmember Urban Carmel told county supervisors that a bigger county contribution could help Bayfront Terrace, a 45-unit affordable housing project on Hamilton Drive, win the state money it still needs. We reported on how a perfect score still lost out, what Carmel says the county’s share would have to be and the court cases still hanging over the project.
🎾 The City Council gave Boyle Park’s tennis courts to BP Tennis over HRT Tennis Academy. We reported on the hour of public comment that filled the room, why council said it was not an appeal and what the city plans when it closes all five courts next summer.
📱 Mill Valley schools are aiming for a February vote on limits to student screen time. We reported on what teachers and parents told the district, where they disagree and why the superintendent says this was not what the district planned to work on this year.
If you want to read about any of these stories as they develop and get full access to the archive, the weekday Briefing lands in your inbox Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6am. A paid subscription makes this reader-funded, local news operation possible. It’s $12 per month, which you can cancel any time, and the annual subscription comes out to less than $2.50 a week. Upgrading is only two clicks if you use Apple Pay.
📅 Next week in Mill Valley
ℹ️ See the full event calendar and bookmark it as we’ll update that same link each week.
🎸 Sunday, Nov. 8: David Bettner, “Very Special Genius”, The Depot Cafe & Bookstore (87 Throckmorton Ave), 4-6pm. Live outdoor plaza performance. Free; all ages (weather permitting).
📚 Monday, Nov. 9: Author Talk: The Nightingales with Emil Wilson & Sophie Yanow, Mill Valley Public Library, 6:30-7:30pm. Graphic novelist Emil Wilson discusses his 1985 coming-of-age graphic novel in the Creekside Room at 375 Throckmorton Ave. Free; registration required.
🎸 Tuesday, Nov. 10: Tyler Hilton, Sweetwater Music Hall (19 Corte Madera Ave), 8pm. Singer-songwriter and actor performs live acoustic and Americana selections. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
🎸 Wednesday, Nov. 11: Jeffrey Martin with Sam Weber, Sweetwater Music Hall (19 Corte Madera Ave), 8pm. Oregon songwriter brings narrative folk and lyrical roots. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
🎭 Thursday, Nov. 12: The Addams Family Musical, Throckmorton Theatre (142 Throckmorton Ave), 7pm. Wednesday Addams brings home a respectable Midwestern boyfriend, and her macabre family descends into chaos over dinner.
🎸 Friday, Nov. 13: The Smithereens, Sweetwater Music Hall (19 Corte Madera Ave), 8pm. The power-pop and rock band plays its catalog live. All ages; doors open at 7pm.
🎸 Saturday, Nov. 14: Keystone Canyon, The Depot Cafe & Bookstore (87 Throckmorton Ave), 5:30pm. Classic rock, Americana and acoustic favorites on the plaza. Free; all ages (weather permitting).
🎻 Sunday, Nov. 15: Chamber Music Marin: Rachel Barton Pine with Matthew Hagle, Mt. Tamalpais United Methodist Church (410 Sycamore Ave), 5-7pm. The violinist presents “Brahms and Friends,” including Brahms’ Violin Sonatas No. 1 and No. 3. Advance tickets online via Chamber Music Marin.
🔍 Businesses and venues mentioned in this section are covered on editorial merit only. No business has paid for coverage. Promotional content is always labeled.
