A Letter from an Artist to the Mayor

Dear Mayor Woodside,

As a working artist who has maintained a studio in the Marinship for forty years, I strongly object to your characterization of our community as “dying in the water” or merely a drop in Sausalito’s economic ocean.

The Marinship is not a failed or empty place waiting to be rescued by development. It is a vibrant working waterfront whose artists, craftspeople, marine businesses, property owners, employees, and visitors contribute substantial tax revenue to Sausalito. It supports the houseboat community, the boating community, and the skilled trades that keep our waterfront functioning. Its value cannot be measured only by how much additional development can be placed upon it.

You begin your letter by assuring residents, “Your vote will count.” Yet Measure X would repeal the very protection that gives Sausalito residents a direct vote over major changes to building height and density in the Marinship. Calling that protection an obstacle to representative democracy misses the point. Ordinance 1022 does not prevent planning or responsible change. It simply requires that substantial changes be approved by the people who will live with their consequences.

Electing City Council members does not mean surrendering our right to vote on decisions that could permanently alter Sausalito’s waterfront. Representative democracy and direct public participation are not opposites. In this instance, they are essential checks on one another.

Nor is it sound planning to invite taller, denser development in an area already vulnerable to flooding and sea-level rise without first presenting a credible, funded plan to address those conditions. Once high-rise buildings are approved and constructed, their effects on views, traffic, infrastructure, flooding, and the character of the waterfront cannot be undone.

The examples you cite from Santa Clara, Sonoma, and Marin actually demonstrate the importance of communities making deliberate choices about what they value and wish to preserve. Sausalito residents made such a choice when they adopted Ordinance 1022. It may be appropriate to revisit a forty-year-old ordinance, but any replacement should be specific, transparent, and presented to the voters—not achieved by asking residents to relinquish their rights before they are shown what will take its place.

The Marinship does need thoughtful planning. It needs protection from flooding, support for its marine and creative industries, improved infrastructure, and policies that allow existing businesses and artists to thrive. What it does not need is a blank check for increased height and density.

After forty years of working in this community, I believe its future should be determined openly and with the informed consent of Sausalito’s residents. Taking away our right to vote on such an important and irreversible choice is unacceptable.

Sincerely,

Georgette L. Osserman
Working Artist, Marinship