Marin supervisor District 2 candidate shares his vision

Following the 2005 flood in Ross Valley, our leaders at the time proposed a new tax to raise funds for storm mitigation. According to the Marin County Public Works Department, the objective of the new levy was

“to substantially reduce the frequency and the severity of flooding throughout the Ross Valley Watershed, in an economically viable manner while prioritizing public safety and minimizing environmental impacts.”

In the 17 years since the tax was imposed, we have spent

$52 million — more than half the total cost of the damage to the towns of San Anselmo, Ross, Kentfield and Larkspur from the flood — yet it is clear to me that we are no closer to achieving its goals.

A complex overlay of local, state and federal regulations is partly to blame. But the real problem lies in the premise. It assumes, falsely, that with enough bulldozers we can prevent nature from doing what nature does.

That's not to say that we should not seek measures to safeguard our homes and businesses. But a “tax first, plan later” strategy has not worked. Nor is it evident, even as weather extremes become more frequent and severe, that we are at greater risk of catastrophic flooding. The serial storms of last year's atmospheric rivers did not cause the San Anselmo Creek to skip its banks. And San Anselmo's ballot measure to withdraw from the flood tax signals that voters are frustrated.

We must recognize that honesty is the better part of empathy. Flood plains, by definition, flood. Rather than trying to control nature, we should strive to live more intelligently with it. Thinking differently means tying flood mitigation to climate change adaptation. We should be inviting carpenters and ecologists to the table as well as engineers. Our solutions should be carbon negative rather than emissions heavy.