OK, my Bing AI-generated image is over the top, but its purpose is to emphasize a point. Most of Marin County’s emergency responders can’t afford to live in Marin County. That includes EMTs, firefighters, police officers and deputy sheriffs. For example, about 10% of Marin County Deputy Sheriffs reside in Marin County. Others commute from Sonoma County, the East Bay or farther.
Our emergency responders must feel as though they’re part of the community they serve. We want them to live among us for their benefit and ours.
Some departments still have difficulty recruiting new hires in light of the foolish “Defund the Police” movement. Most have difficulty retaining new hires due to their inability to find affordable housing in Marin County. That must change.
I oppose rent control because it is a band aid that leads to less housing of lower quality. It is an unnecessary encroachment on private property rights that won’t achieve its stated goal of more affordable housing.
We need more housing not denser housing. And not just for emergency responders, but for our young that want to stay in Marin County and have families and our elderly that want to retire here. Denser housing isn’t the answer because that detracts from the quality of life. We need more space to grow to build more homes that people want, and we can do so while protecting our precious Open Space District. There are farmers and ranchers that, for a variety of reasons, can no sustain their agricultural operations (*). Their land can be rezoned residential or rural residential if they choose throw in the towel on agricultural operations and open their land to development.
As your supervisor I will strive to streamline such rezoning processes for mixed development properly skewed for realistic income distribution. I will streamline permit approval processes to lower the up front costs of small developers building spec homes. And I will fight against the current Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) numbers that require more housing than we need and require more high-income housing than low income housing. I will continue to oppose the incompatible big box government projects imposed by Sacramento based on ludicrous RHNA numbers, projects that will forever change the nature of our bucolic small towns and cities.
I will convince other County supervisors to join towns and cities to fight the needs assessments that are based on unrealistic growth numbers. I will convince other County supervisors to side with the City of Sausalito to assert its right to protect its historic downtown and prevent the construction of incompatible housing that will obliterate its historical features.
As for Marin County emergency responders, I will work with planners, developers, realtors and bankers to establish creative ways for those essential workers to become residents of Marin County. The problem didn’t occur overnight and nor will its solution. But the ship start to turn so that hope of moving and staying in Marin County becomes a realistic possibility for young families, our retirees and our emergency responders.
Elect Francis Drouillard for Supervisor District 4!
(*) If they can’t sustain operations because of excessive requirements imposed by radical environmentalists, I will help them fight that cabal. That is particularly true for the ranch families that gave up their land with the government promise that they would be allowed to continue their operations. No more broken promises like those that closed the Lunny Oyster Farm. No more targeting the beef and dairy ranchers of the Point Reyes National Sea Shore. We need a pristine environment and productive ranch lands. State and Federal government should bear the cost of environmental compliance to keep those lands in production!
Drouillard 4 Supervisor 2024 
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