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