Month: July 2023

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Citizen Letter to Mr. Lucan July 30

To: Eric Lucan <[email protected]>

Subject: Binford Road

Hi Eric –

Well, week after week after week I see the crime report of assaults, vandalism and theft on Binford Road. It appears, since you and I talked, nothing has changed.

You and I discussed requiring people to not have anything hanging around outside the RVs. There is still lots of material outside the RVs.

You told me contact was going to be made with local RV parks about having some people going there and the county paying six months rent for them. Has that happened?

I was saddened to see the article on the dogs being chained up out there.

It really seems that the County is just waiting for the problem to disappear or that those who want new locations for the unhoused, and for the environmental issues to be taken care of, will go away and forget about this. I don’t believe that will happen.

What are the concrete plans at this time for the RV’ers to be relocated?

What are the plans to not let the marsh get more environmentally damaged?

What are the plans to take care of the dogs that are chained up or allowed to run loose?

All dogs on the Rush Creek trail have to be leashed, and if not oftentimes MCOS is out there giving tickets.

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More Animal Neglect on Binford Rd 7.21.2023

From: Toni Shroyer
Date: Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 10:22 PM
Subject: Animal neglect etc on Binford Rd This evening 7.21.2023
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>

Dear Mr. Stapp,

Below are the three photos I texted you tonight about the ongoing abuse/neglect of animals on Binford Rd Novato.  The MHS station for free vaccinations etc. each month is nice, but MHS needs to do the uncomfortable work that is desperately needed on Binford Rd to stop animal neglect/abuse. Each vehicle should be looked in and searched for animal welfare. If the resident is on parole, which I am told many are, this can be done with the MCSD.

I would like to thank Bridgette from your office who was able to confiscate the exotic birds that were in a camper in the scorching heat earlier this month after I reported it to the MHS for the second time.  The inhabitable filthy, squalor-like trailer that held the birds, while they were in your care, was towed.  Now the man who owned the birds either has the same birds that the MHS had OR he got new ones. I believe they are the same birds.  They have no shelter, no awning to protect them from the heat or have air conditioning and I could not determine if they had water or food.  This man has so much hoarding in his car that I am told he is being bitten by rats while he sleeps in his vehicle.  Rats come out in the evening in the road where they look like leaves in the dark from his hoarding/junk pile on the wetlands.  The “bird man” will drive his black suburban full of debris while rat urine stench permeates the air.  The county is allowing this man to live in filth, squalor and inhumane conditions.  I feel so badly for him and his birds.  The Board of Supervisors know this man is being attacked by rats, yet they allowing his living conditions.

Earlier this year a small dog was weaving in and out of traffic on Binford Rd and was brought into MHS for safety by a friend.   It just keeps going….

The second photo is of the dog who is tied to the bread truck (Colorado Plates) every time I drive down Binford Rd.  This poor dog has been tied out in the rain earlier this year and has crawled under the bread truck for weeks trying to get shade. I have photo documented all of it.  I have called MHS three times this year and was told the dog “was fine.”  Today, Deputy Russo told me it is against the law to tie a dog to an object.

The third photo is of two dogs charging cars, teeth barred, as vehicles drive down the 55-mph road.  The black dog is off leash, and the skinny and underfed German Shepherd was tied to a vehicle, unattended, where he/she could run into the road.  My friend called over the weekend to MHS about the skinny German Shephard.  He’s still on Binford.   

Every level of our government, except for the MCSD, has failed the people, the environment/wetlands and the animals on Binford Road.

My family and I have adopted and rescued animals no one would take.  I am truly an animal lover.  I am a member of PETA and will be calling them on Monday to see how they can help with the situation on Binford Rd as I don’t feel MHS is adequately addressing the problem.  I am tired of calling and emailing MHS about Binford Rd.  PETA is great with media coverage and protests.  Perhaps before that happens, we can all have a plan of action on how to better help the animals on Binford Road.  Again, I appreciate your monthly Thursday services for Binford Rd residents, but there is much more to be done by the MHS for animal welfare.

On a positive note, Deputy Russo is very kind and professional when I called tonight about my complete frustrations and concerns about the birds who have been gasping for air and chirping madly in distress being tossed back on Binford Rd in inhuman and vile conditions.

I am hopeful you will confiscate the birds again—I will find them homes so they won’t go back to Binford AGAIN– and you will confiscate the dog tied to the bread truck (what a horrible life) and remove the two dogs who are running into the road— so they don’t get violently killed and flattened by a car driving 55 mph or more.  Please see that the German Shepherd is fed.

I am also here to help.  My family has trucks, and we can load animals to safety.

Respectfully,

Toni Shroyer

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“Letter to the Editor” from Francis Drouillard

I am a 40-year resident of Marin County and have resided in Novato for the past 30 years. I speak for Friends of the Rush Creek Preserve, a group of over 140 individuals that use and enjoy the Open Space trails along the preserve. I believe that the County can protect the Rush Creek Preserve AND provide services to the homeless that deserve our compassion.

The wetlands of the Rush Creek Preserve improve the water quality of the preserve and connected waters of the north bay. The preserve also provides essential habitat for protected species, including migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (16 U.S.C. 703-712). 

The homeless parked illegally along Binford Road have a significant adverse impact on the Rush Creek Preserve, the habitat it provides for protected species and the local community. Shoulders lined with illegally parked vehicles adversely affect public safety as well because they block passage of emergency vehicles when a traffic accident closes the two-lane roadway (so do the earth berms erected by the County). Some of the homeless have deliberately strewn bent nails and screws on the road to impede normal use of the road by the public.

By spilling their human excrement and spreading trash onto the ground or directly into the wetlands, the homeless adversely affect public health and water quality as well. It is clear from the extensive algae blooms growing adjacent to the illegally parked vehicles that they are having a detrimental effect on water quality. Privately organized cleanups by civic minded volunteers have reported retrieving trash that included used adult diapers, tampons and dead fish from the waters.

The homeless have also had an adverse impact on migratory and predatory birds, birds that returned to the preserve after the wetlands were restored at great public and private expense. They now stay away from the shore due to the presence of humans and their trash, and because fewer fish are in the waters near the shore. One must walk ½ mile east before seeing birds in the numbers once seen near the shore. And the blackbirds that once sang in great numbers at the trailhead to the Open Space trail along Rush Creek are no longer present at that location. The same is true of other bird species that once thrived near the shoreline along Binford Road.

 That the County permits harm to the wetlands to continue is shameful. Some of those living in illegally parked vehicles have ample means to live elsewhere, like the owners of a fully restored Chevy Nova, nice boats, and jet skis parked on the shoulders. One resident even set up a shop complete with unconfined industrial waste such as spent oil. 

It includes those living in nice RVs with ample means to park them legally at a nearby campsite designed for them and available for a small daily fee. It also includes felons, drug users, and drug dealers. Those homeless are there by choice. They are grifters living off the generosity of Marin residents at the expense of the homeless that deserve our compassion.

The County is too eager to garner state and federal funds to provide services to the homeless without addressing its root causes. Their approach is all carrot and no stick. Officials from other counties and cities direct their homeless to Binford Road. They must snicker at the gullibility and incompetence of Marin County officials. 

By providing services, placing porta-potties and erecting earth berms on the shoulders, the County has created a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). As a result, the County is required to evaluate the adverse impact of its project on protected resources and to establish mitigation measures that reduce those impacts to levels less than significant. If the latter cannot be achieved the County must consider alternative locations to providing services to those homeless. No exclusions apply; the County must comply with CEQA.

As pointed out by numerous citizens during public comment at Board of Supervisor Meetings, there are far more suitable locations where services can be provided that have far fewer adverse impacts. Suggestions include the vast parking lot at the Civic Center, or the old Honor Farm and the now defunct San Geronimo Golf Course purchased by the County. 

One of those locations will have the fewest impacts after mitigating them to levels less than significant. It is the responsibility of the County to identify and choose that location to provide homeless services!

Francis Drouillard

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Citizen Letter – Binford Road Crime and Drugs 7.19.2023

Dear Sheriff Scardina,

As much as I tire of writing these emails, I am sure you are just as tired of reading them.

My parents did not raise a shrinking violet, so I will continue to reach out until Binford Road is safer for the community and the wildlife.

Thank you again for being the ONLY government agency who is willing to help with solutions for Binford Road.

There has been yet another arrest TODAY on Binford Road: Possession of a Dagger, Burglary, Vandalism, Malicious mischief auto etc.

I hear there is yet another Binford resident who is from Lake County….the vehicles keep coming.  We know the media and the county’s narrative is, “People are being priced out of their homes in Marin” but we have seen a slew of state license plates and out of county residents on Binford.

Per the county’s own admission, which is documented, they have housed only three people on Binford Rd since 2017.  This is appalling and shameful.

I am respectfully asking you to enforce the law now with expired vehicles, tags and hoarding.  We cannot wait any longer.  Our safety is at stake and the algae from pollutions in the marsh is overwhelming.

It has been reported to me that the person living in the large bus (with all the solar panels next to Ex-Con-Current Con, Terry Kramer’s former spot) who has severe hoarding, has an expensive electric bike, does quick stops on Binford Rd for drug dealing.  Please investigate this.  If there are as many parolees on Binford as I believe, I am asking you to have your Deputies search all those vehicles.

I am also asking that you, as an elected official, to stand up to the bureaucrats, even if you are standing alone and double down for the good people of Novato.  We need a leader and we have chosen you.

On a positive note, we really appreciate Deputy Thompson for doing the best he can, but figuratively speaking, he is “handcuffed.”

We have given up on Eric Lucan as he has no plan of action for the state’s 1.6M funding for Binford aside from hiring more staff and services for the residents, hence he will be kept out emails and our plans.  If someone isn’t willing to help, they need to get out of the way. 

Thank you for being in the Novato Parade on a horse noless!  Please Cowboy Up on Binford Road!

Best,

Toni Shroyer

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Citizen Letter to Mr Lucan – July 11, 2023

Dear Eric,

Thank you again for taking the time to meet with me regarding my concerns about the Binford Rd vehicle encampment. After our meeting, I shared with you the website that Novato residents have created to track the environmental impacts to the Rush Creek Preserve as a direct result of the vehicle encampment on Binford Rd. Steve Pollock created and maintains the site, so I have copied him on this email. Please understand that this site and our efforts are a direct result of our frustration with the County for their continued negligence in leadership, beginning when the encampment started up many years ago. You inherited this problem and it has grown out of control, creating conflict in our community and degrading the natural resources of Novato (resources that the County once protected.) I want to follow up with an outline of the problem and my suggestions for the County:

Problem: We have numerous people, pets, vehicles, personal belongings and trash taking up permanent residence on Binford Rd in Novato. The County has thrown numerous financial and human resources at providing services for campers on Binford Rd., but there is no accountability or plan in place. Many speculate as to why they are there, but the reality is that we really don’t know more than what Binford campers tell someone who takes the time to interview them – media, case workers, etc.

Solution: We need data and it needs to be clearly documented and kept in County records.The *County employees who are already funded to work on Binford need to take inventory of every person and pet that is residing on this County land and figure out who is truly “in need” and which services they specifically need, and who needs some motivation to find another lifestyle choice elsewhere. County employees, in partnership with the Humane Society should also ensure that all pets are living in humane conditions. If not, they need to be removed, as they would from any other home. 

*County employees: I’m referring namely to Deputy Michael Thompson, who has a County-paid, full-time position as the Homelessness Liaison. My understanding is that there are also County social workers, among others, assisting Binford residents. They could help as well. 

Problem: As Binford residents move out of the encampment, they leave a vacant place for others to fill, either with new “homes” or simply a further expansion of personal space and belongings. Binford has become known as a place for semi-nomadic, transient and homeless people to live for free with many support services in place. Opportunists will take advantage of an open spot because there is no reason not to do so. There is plenty of evidence of this based on history in the last few years on Binford. 

Solution: Empty spaces need to be filled by County agencies immediately. This should be part of a Strategic Plan for not allowing any newcomers to live on Binford Rd. If the County doesn’t act more efficiently than campers, the vehicle encampment will always exist there. In addition, there should be rules posted and enforced for those currently allowed to live on Binford, including a clause that bans further encroachment into the wetlands and along the roadway. This would include all property for each Binford camper(s) — dwelling, personal property/strorage, trash, patios, gardens, pet runs, etc. A maximum number of registered and operational vehicles per person should be part of these rules. Anything else should be removed/towed within 30 days, as would be the case with tenants not following rules and leaving personal property behind.

Problem: The County is not prioritizing management of Binford Rd that would lead to moving people off the side of the road and away from the sensitive wetlands. Novato, as a whole, is one of the lowest socio-economic cities in Marin. The northern part of Novato, is generally even lower than the surrounding areas. The homes closest to Binford Rd are an RV Park and a mobile home park. Binford Rd itself leads to a handful of small businesses (who have been negatively impacted by the encampment), that have few resources and no political clout/connections to get the attention of County representatives. I am of the strong opinion that part of the reason the County has failed to take action to create any real and lasting change is because it serves other district representatives and their constituents not only to keep the encampment on Binford Rd in Novato, but to also send campers from other parts of Marin to live on Binford Rd. It’s the whole “not in my backyard” (but I’ll promote it in someone else’s) mentality.

Solution: Many Novato residents have complained for years about the encampment. We are trying to work through the proper channels to make positive change; however, those heartfelt complaints and concerns seem largely overlooked. I understand that there are also homelessness advocacy groups and Legal Aid of Marin in support of keeping the encampment on Binford Rd. Those opposed to the encampment are circulating a petition about the County not taking appropriate action. A group of business owners and residents are discussing a lawsuit against the County. I would hope that we could all work together to find a reasonable solution that uses County funds responsibly to provide housing options and services for those truly in need, encourages those not in need to move on and protects our wetlands and public resources. In order to do this, the County must: 1) Create a Strategic Plan for Binford Rd, which clearly outlines a long-term plan for how funding will be spent on alternative housing and services for those who qualify, 2) Set an end-goal of no one camping on the side of the road by a set date, 3) Monitor water quality of the wetlands and put programs in place to improve water quality by eliminating point source contamination. 4) Collect and share data throughout the process to create transparency. Your constituents deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent. The campers on Binford deserve to know that there is a long-term plan and how it may influence their housing in the future. Perhaps, this is issue raises an opportunity for some consensus-based decision-making, where all stakeholders are represented.

Problem: The wetlands are being contaminated by the vehicle encampment on Binford Rd. I have personally seen the changes in water quality because the contamination is visible to the naked eye. The algae is now overgrown, cutting off the oxygen supply to the marine life there. There is a decrease in resident and migratory birds that inhabit these wetlands.

Solution: Work with Fish & Wildlife to get water quality testing done in the wetlands. They can’t do their job without County support. I know because I’ve spoken with several officials regarding water quality testing — and the lack of it at Rush Creek. The County must cooperate to test the water for contaminants. The purpose of testing is to determine the current contaminant levels, take action to reduce those contaminants and retest to ensure that our efforts are working.

As the Supervisor of District 5, I implore you to make protecting Rush Creek Preserve and creating a data-driven, strategic plan for Binford Rd a top priority. Novato is part of Marin. It’s time that the Board of Supervisors represent Novato in the same way that they would represent Tiburon, San Anselmo, Ross or Mill Valley. I don’t want to keep writing these emails. I want solutions. I want action. And, I want it five years ago.

Sincerely,

Naya Calmels

Novato resident for 40 years