Candidates formayor discuss positions
The two candidates running for mayor of San Rafael this fall include a seven-year member of the City Council and a political newcomer who wants to shake up the way things are run at City Hall.
Kate Colin and Mahmoud Shirazi are competing for the post being vacated by Gary Phillips, who is not seeking a third term in the Nov. 3 election. San Rafael is the only municipality in Marin with an elected mayor who serves a four-year term.
Colin, a former marketing executive who sat on the San Rafael Planning Commission for seven years before shewas appointed to the City Council to fill a vacancy in 2013, says her experience will be crucial for San Rafael as it wades through the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. City officials are projecting $9 million in losses this fiscal year as the pandemic continues to gut the city’s sales tax revenue.
“Now is when we need to have steady, consistent leadership,” Colin said. “We need a mayor who understands policy and understands our city.”
Colin said her vision for San Rafael revolves around bringing “a broad spectrum of voices” together to tackle the city’s key issues.
“I co- create with our community, and I think that’s really representative of the best type of government, having engaged citizens who have a voice in what’s happening,” she said.
Colin would be San Rafael’s first woman mayor, according to a review of city records and historical documents by librarians at the Anne T. Kent California Room, a history archive at the Marin County Free Library.
Shirazi, who owns a convenience store in the city’s downtown, said San Rafael needs new leadership to address its longstanding problems, including a lack of development and growth. He said with 55 years of experience inbusiness administration he brings “innovative ideas” and a fresh perspective from outside the political sphere.
“I see a lot of problems in the city,” Shirazi said. “Things are looking ugly businesswise. Even before COVID started, things turned ugly on Fourth Street.”
Shirazi said he wants to attract crowds to downtown and shape San Rafael’s identity around a lively Fourth Street.
“Fourth Street has been the center of attraction all along until recently,” he said. “Iwant to bring that back andmake it look beautiful.”
The coronavirus pandemic is a top issue for the candidates. Almost half of the people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Marin live in San Rafael, county data show. Many of them live in the city’s Canal neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community, according to health officials.
Shirazi said he would advocate for more aggressive test
ing to track down cases and isolate people who are infected.
He said he would help the city bounce back from its budgetwoesby focusingona revitalization of downtown.
“If I can bring crowds to Fourth Street and make it busy, then the city can take in taxes,” he said.
Colin’s plan is to continue working in partnershipwith county officials and the nonprofit Canal Alliance to address the pandemic collaboratively. She said it’s important to tackle the “underlying issues” that have fueled an ongoing outbreak in the Canal neighborhood, including income inequality.
“The underlying issues are about economic opportunity and abouthousing. What do we do to reduce overcrowding? How can we help people retrain if their jobs aren’t coming back?” she said.
Colin said shewould seek to invite more residents to weigh in on the city’s pandemic-fueled budget problems by hosting informational webinars on the topic “so people can better understand the deficit and the impacts.”
“Then when we aremaking these tough decisionswe already have input from the residents,” she said.
Homelessness is another key issue for the candidates. Shirazi said he’s impressed
by the work of local nonprofits, such as the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, and he said the best way to get people off the streets is to provide housing for them. He said the city should buy buildings to house the homeless.
“If you know how to solve this problem why are you waiting?” he said.
Colin said, “Homelessness is solved by putting people into housing.”
Colin said she has a track record of involvement with efforts to house and provide services to the homeless in Marin. As a member of theMarin County Council of Councilmembers and Mayors, Colin
formed its homelessness committee and recruited an elected official from each of Marin’s municipalities to join it. The committee created a fundwith contributions from each city and town and thatmoney is paying for a program that provides free showers for the homeless. Colin is also a member of a county committee that aims to provide housing for the “chronically homeless.”
“I bring the ability to get things done and have the broad conversations that are needed,” she said.
Colin said addressing the threat of catastrophic wildfire is also a top priority for her. She pushed for
the creation of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, which began operating this year after voters approvedMeasure C on the March ballot. Colin said San Rafael must continue reducing overgrown vegetation in its open spaces and publicize a map of evacuation routes.
Shirazi said he supports laws that mandate fire safety on private properties, but noted he lacks experience when it comes to wildfire prevention.
“I really don’t have any experience in fire,” he said.
Shirazi said he’d like to reimagine policing in San Rafael.
“I would like to change the name of the police department to a peace maker department,” he said. “I want them to change hats. Instead of thinking of themselves aspolice, I want them to think they are part of making society better when they are called upon.”
Colin said in response to calls for “defunding” the police department, she wants to examine the department’s service calls and question whether some of those calls would be better addressed by another city department so that “our tax dollars are being spent wisely.”
“What we all want, and what our community has said loud and clear, is to ensure that the police role in our community is equitable for everyone,” she said.