Council advances tobacco ban, sets February deadline

What's happening: City council voted 5-0 Monday to introduce an ordinance banning the retail sale of tobacco products and electronic smoking devices in Mill Valley, moving the enforcement date up two months, to February 1, 2027, from the April date city staff had originally proposed. A second and final vote is scheduled for October 5.

The background: The vote follows a March 16 meeting where residents brought the issue to council directly. Staff had presented three options that night: mirror the county's rules, phase in restrictions gradually, or ban tobacco sales outright. Tam and Redwood High students pushed for the full ban, describing a campus where nicotine pouches and vapes have become normalized. Councilmember Urban Carmel said Monday it reminded him of "the single most compelling night" he'd sat through on the dais in ten years, a story about a former student athlete whose vaping addiction derailed her academic and athletic career.

One Tam High junior told council that spring that Zyn pouches "litter the campus," turning up in water fountains and across the turf field during football and lacrosse season. Students also described tobacco and nicotine products being sold to minors through social media accounts they called "Snapchat plugs." Police investigated afterward using fake accounts and decoys, Deputy Director Kelsey Rogers told council Monday, but made no arrests, since the sellers' accounts get deleted and recreated faster than they can be tracked.

Council directed staff to draft a full ban that night. Councilmember Katherine Jones said Monday the city has been "playing whack-a-mole with an industry that keeps finding new ways to put addictive nicotine products in front of our children," pointing to Zyn pouches sold in bright, candy-like containers. Vice Mayor Caroline Joachim said she'd watched the same shift firsthand raising her own two children, now 20 and 22. Mill Valley has regulated tobacco sales since 1992, when it banned smoking in enclosed public spaces, and expanded those rules in 2015 and again in 2020, when it banned flavored tobacco and pharmacy tobacco sales.

The business side: Five Mill Valley retailers currently sell tobacco. City Manager Todd Cusimano named four Monday, ranked by their standing among the city's top 25 sales tax generators: Chevron, fifth or sixth; Fuel 24/7, ninth or tenth; 7-Eleven, in the 36th-to-50th range; and Jolly King, 39th to 57th.

Those top 25 businesses generate roughly two-thirds of the city's total sales tax revenue, which runs about $9.1 million a year between the standard 1% rate and Measure L, meaning Chevron and Fuel 24/7 sit inside that top tier while 7-Eleven and Jolly King fall well outside it.

Cusimano estimated losing tobacco sales at the five stores would cost the city a conservative $20,000 to $30,000 annually, and separately put enforcement costs at $15,000 to $20,000 a year if it requires two to four citations. Councilmember Stephen Burke argued enforcement would be simple regardless, since any product still on shelves after the ban takes effect would be plainly visible.

Edy Diaz, partner at Fuel 24/7 on Miller Avenue, was the only retailer to speak Monday. Tobacco makes up 52% of sales at his roughly 250-square-foot store, he told council, space that isn't easy to replace with anything else. Diaz said his store checks ID for every tobacco purchase and has donated more than $102,000 to local schools over the years, and warned that banning in-store sales could simply push buyers online or across county lines.

Diaz repeated many of the same points in an interview with the Briefing outside his store this week. He said the county had invited him to a meeting where alternative products for his shelf space were discussed, including running the space as an ATM or a consignment counter, outreach Marin County tobacco prevention coordinator Anita Renzetti described in general terms at Monday's meeting.

Deputy Director Kelsey Rogers told council the roughly 10 comments opposing the ordinance came largely from organized groups rather than identified Mill Valley residents.

The research council leaned on: Renzetti pointed council to Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach, which banned tobacco sales in 2021. A study by researchers at UCSF, the California Department of Public Health and Boston University, published in the journal Tobacco Control, found tobacco sales at the studied stores ceased within three months of the ban in Beverly Hills and had nearly ceased by December 2021 in Manhattan Beach, with no measurable decline in sales of gas, food or other retail. The only shift in cross-border shopping was a small uptick in cigar purchases nearby.

The study was funded by the California Department of Public Health's tobacco prevention program, the same program pushing these bans statewide, under a state contract. The paper's own disclosure states the department was involved in the study's design, data collection, analysis and writing, and reviewed the text before submission, while saying it did not influence the findings or the decision to publish. It was externally peer-reviewed.

Why the date moved: Burke told council he wanted the ban in effect by January, to "ring in the new year with no nicotine products in our system," and argued the standard rationale for a longer transition, that retailers need six months to sell through existing inventory, doesn't hold for tobacco the way it does for other products, since retailers restock from regular shipments rather than warehousing stock. Mayor Max Perrey proposed February 1 instead, aligning Mill Valley with Corte Madera, which adopted its own ban in a divided 3-2 vote September 15, a vote where Total Wine argued against it, the only retailer opposition on record there. Burke folded the February date into his own motion to introduce the ordinance, which Carmel seconded.

What's next: The ordinance returns for a second and final vote October 5. If adopted, Mill Valley's five tobacco retailers can sell through January 31, 2027, before the ban takes effect.

This week, Mill Valley Briefing reported that school enrollment in the district has climbed to 2,416 students — up 3.9% from last year, bucking a county-wide slide driven almost entirely by a surge in transitional kindergarten. Fifty years ago this week, the Mill Valley Record was asking a very different question.

"Where have all the children gone?" the paper asked in September 1976. "Are couples with young families being forced from Mill Valley because of rising costs?"

The numbers that year told a stark story. Enrollment had fallen to 2,747 students — down 211 from the year before, part of a steady decline since 1972. The kindergarten drop was the worst since 1973. The school board wanted answers. Parents withdrawing their children were asked to file a card stating their reason. Most didn't fill it out. Superintendent Peter Palches told the board the data was "pretty sketchy and certainly not the type of information on which you could make an intelligent policy decision." Trustees were already discussing closing one or more schools.

By April 1978, Palches had the answer: the birth rate. Elementary enrollment was projected to fall to 1,447 students — down 10% in a single year. Kindergarten registrations told the story plainly: 177 in 1976, 156 in 1977, 136 in 1978. The low birth rate that had begun around 1972 was working its way through the system grade by grade.

By August 1981, the consequences were physical. Homestead School closed. The Alto/Maguire campus — later known as Edna Maguire — closed. Three private schools moved into the abandoned buildings. The district concentrated its resources on four campuses: Park, Old Mill, Tamalpais Valley and Strawberry Point. Countywide, Marin public school enrollment had fallen from 30,378 students in 1970-71 to 18,058 in 1980-81 — a loss of more than 12,000 students in a decade. The vanishing children, the Record noted, had not gone to private schools. They simply hadn't been born.

The first sign of recovery came in September 1987, when the Record reported that for the first time in fifteen years enrollment had increased — to 1,590 students. The baby boomlet of the early 1980s and lower mortgage rates had brought young families back. But Board Chairman Jeff Freiberg cautioned: "It's very hard to project the exact number of students. One year enrollment rises, then it drops. We have to be cautious."

By 1990, the district was overcrowded. With enrollment at 1,643 and the four elementary campuses at capacity, trustees were debating reopening Edna Maguire. A consultant warned: "No demographer can tell you his numbers are right to within five students five years out." Edna Maguire did reopen. It is now one of the district's most active campuses — home this year to the TK expansion that is driving Mill Valley's enrollment growth.

The question the Record asked in 1976 hasn't gone away. It just keeps getting answered differently.

Sources: Mill Valley Record, Sep 22, 1976 (John Kearney); Apr 12, 1978; Aug 19, 1981 (John Kearney); Sep 30, 1987 (Ann Kuntz); Mar 21, 1990 (Ann Kuntz). Current enrollment: Mill Valley Briefing, Sep 21, 2026.

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs Thursday, Oct. 1 to Sunday, Oct. 11, and you don't need a ticket, a badge or much interest in movies to enjoy the part that happens in town. Two of its venues sit across the street from each other downtown: the Sequoia Cinema on Throckmorton and the festival hub at the Outdoor Art Club. Downtown will be busier than usual for eleven days.

The hub is open to everyone: The Outdoor Art Club is open to all during the festival, badge or not, according to the festival. Mill Valley Market runs a lunch cart on the front patio from noon to 2pm, October 2 to 9, and the patio bar pours from 4 to 6pm, October 2 to 10. Ticket help is in the club's library, daily from noon to 7pm. Only the sunroom lounge is reserved for badge holders.

Star sightings on Throckmorton: Festival guests almost always walk into the Sequoia through the same doors as the audience, according to the festival's publicist. The evenings to know:

Free conversations: Several talks in Mill Valley are free, though each needs a ticket:

A free family afternoon: The festival closes Sunday, October 11, with Family Film Day at the Outdoor Art Club from noon to 4pm: face painting, balloon art, a flipbook workshop and local vendors. Free, with one catch: the movies aren't. Screenings at the Sequoia that day are ticketed, and prices vary. For younger children, a program of short animated films from college students runs at 1:30pm, recommended for ages 6 to 10, with the filmmakers in attendance. For teens, "Boss Cat" plays at 2pm.

Still time to get in: Screenings with guests nearly always include a Q&A afterward, according to the festival, and several in Mill Valley still had seats as of this writing. Mountain bike pioneer Gary Fisher is expected at "No Hands," a Schwinn history with a Marin chapter, on Friday, October 2, at noon. Longevity researcher Cynthia Kenyon is expected at "The A-Word" on Sunday, October 4, at 2pm, and co-director Viridiana Lieberman at "Jean-Michel Basquiat" on Tuesday, October 6, at 6:30pm. The “Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” screening had seats too, and overflow screens at the Sequoia show the opening and closing night films without the live introduction.

If it's sold out: The festival releases more tickets daily at noon, and sells any remaining seats in person 15 minutes before showtime. Standby tickets can't be bought online, and the festival suggests joining the line an hour early. Living a few blocks away is the advantage here. If you do have a ticket, arrive 30 minutes early: latecomers can lose their seats to the standby line, with no refund.

Box office: 415-818-8757. Full program at mvff.com.

Sunday, September 27

🎸 28th Annual Larry the Hat’s Mill Valley Community Block Party, Depot Plaza, 1–6pm. The beloved downtown tradition returns to 87 Throckmorton Ave with a tribute to Bobby Weir benefiting the Muir Beach Volunteer Fire Department (for their new firehouse) and the Furthur Foundation. Features an all-star lineup of Bay Area musicians, a local fashion show, a kids zone, food, drinks, and a beer garden. Free admission.

Monday, September 28

🎸 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out of the Park: Lukas Nelson & Friends (SOLD OUT), Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Benefit show presented with Music Heals International at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.

Tuesday, September 29

💀 China Camp Family Band, The Junction Beer Garden, 7pm. Garrett Deloian, Scott Guberman, J.P. McLean, Jerry Saracini, and Darrell Thomas celebrate the music of the Grateful Dead and JGB outdoors at 226 Shoreline Hwy ($30 ADV / $35 DOS; all ages).

Wednesday, September 30

🎸 Spafford (Night 2), Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Second night of exploratory jam rock at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.

Thursday, October 1

🎬 MVFF49 Opening Night: Wild Horse Nine, Sequoia Cinema, 6–8:01pm. The 49th Mill Valley Film Festival opens with simultaneous screenings across Sequoia 1 & 2 at 25 Throckmorton Ave.

Friday, October 2

🍿 Family Movie Night: Tangled, Tam Valley Community Center, 5:30–7:30pm. Community screening of Disney’s Tangled at 203 Marin Ave. Popcorn, drinks, and treats available for purchase. Free admission; RSVP requested.

🎸 John Pearce & Musical Feast, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 5:30pm. Alt-country, folk, and classic rock outdoors on the plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; all ages.

🐺 Youth Musical: Little Red Met a Wolf, 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 5:30–6:30pm. Opening performance of local playwright Tyler Null’s humorous musical adaptation presented by Throckmorton’s Afterschool Program at 142 Throckmorton Ave.

🪕 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out of the Park: AJ Lee & Blue Summit w/ Bandits on the Run, Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Acclaimed bluegrass flatpicking and vocal harmonies at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.

Saturday, October 3

🪕 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out of the Park: Old Crow Medicine Show w/ Ismay (SOLD OUT), Sweetwater Music Hall, 8pm. Legendary string band icons at 19 Corte Madera Ave. All ages; doors open at 7pm.

Sunday, October 4

🐺 Youth Musical: Little Red Met a Wolf, 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 12pm, 3pm & 5:30pm. Closing day performances from the Afterschool Youth & Teen Program at 142 Throckmorton Ave.

🎸 Hydromatic Drive, The Depot Cafe and Bookstore, 4–6pm. Live outdoor blues and classic rock on the downtown plaza at 87 Throckmorton Ave. Free entry; all ages.

🔍 Businesses and venues mentioned in this section are covered on editorial merit only. No business has paid for coverage. Promotional content is always labeled.