City Council · meeting of Tuesday, Sept 2
Neighbor Fights Tennis Club's Plan to Move Employee Parking Into Wooded Curve
A resident who lives directly across the street from the planned new tennis club told the council she's alarmed by a proposal to relocate employee parking to a wooded lot behind the club, near what she described as a dangerous, flood-prone curve in the road.
“I live directly right across the street from where he's planning to put an employee parking lot... there's 14 beautiful trees back there... he could easily add a few more spots instead of destroying that pretty little area in the back.”— Debbie Harowitz, resident
Debbie Harowitz said the site holds 14 mature redwood and eucalyptus trees that would be cleared for the lot, and argued the club could instead add a handful of spaces to its existing front parking area without touching the grove. She told the council she'd already checked with the city's own tree expert: "I called Kent Julen of Arbor Science, the city's tree authority, who said the eucalyptus is not a fire hazard and all the trees are healthy."
No formal application was before the council Tuesday — this was public comment only, with no staff recommendation or vote attached. But the objection puts the tree removal and the site's flood/traffic concerns on the record ahead of whatever comes next in the club's permitting process.
City Council · meeting of Tuesday, Sept 2
Council Backs Tougher Oversight for MCE After Grand Jury's 'Series of Missteps' Finding
The council unanimously approved a formal response to the 2026 Marin Civil Grand Jury report titled "MCE (Marin Clean Energy): A Series of Missteps Highlight Need for Governance Changes," agreeing with all of the grand jury's findings and recommendations and noting that both have already been put in place.
“I would like to jump on the Mayor Andre bandwagon—you have been doing a phenomenal job of looking into things, finding problems, and fixing problems.”— Council Member, on Mayor Andre's oversight of MCE
The cover letter, drafted for Mayor Andre's signature, backs MCE's mission while pushing for a finance committee, stronger governance training for board members, and a permanent CEO search. Mayor Andre told colleagues the point wasn't to tear the agency down but to make it run leaner: the city is hoping tighter operations can translate into steeper rate cuts for customers starting in fiscal 2027. Another council member raised the harder governance question — whether board members are properly trained and actually show up to do the job.
One public commenter tried to raise the low-income housing element and the 'Lucky' site during discussion but was told that was off-topic for this letter and would be addressed separately by email. A colleague praised the mayor's watchdog role on the item before the vote, and the council approved the letter as drafted, with one wording fix to keep the mayor's title consistent throughout.