Community Guide 2017
the allocation of funding and resources for the programs. “Three hundred angry people attended meetings, and they were screaming, ‘It’s a communist plot!’” In a move that changed the lives of generations of Valley kids, the board formed the three programs in a single night, on a 3:2 vote. During this period, the Marin County Board of Supervi- sors had approved the new San Geronimo Valley Master Plan, bringing the promise of 5,000 homes, shopping centers and the East/West freeway to the Valley. All West Marin was open to development, and Gary realized that the key to saving our county would be the designation of A-60 zoning (one unit per 60 acres) over Marin’s ranch lands. Inspired by the importance of the issues, and in spite of having a young family and having to give up his legal practice, Gary decided to run for a seat on the Board of Supervisors. In the historic 1972 election Gary was elected, tipping the balance on the Board, which imme- diately overturned the Valley Master Plan and the freeway plan on a 3:2 vote. Most importantly, they rapidly enacted the A-60 zoning. Gary recalls the implementation of A-60 zoning as the single thing he is most proud of in his 24 years of service as a supervisor. But it wasn’t easy. Ranchers, a good number of them Gary’s relatives, had vested development rights, and they grimly urged Gary to remember that “blood is thicker than water.” Hardest of all, Gary recalls, was his cousin Waldo, who had plans for 400 homes and a marina on what is now the restored Giacomini Wetlands. In a many-hours-long meeting, and in spite of screaming and vehement protests, the Board took its action at midnight— reducing the development units in West Marin from 1.1 million to just over 3,000 units. Waldo didn’t talk to Gary for years. It took a decade to actually implement the zoning, ranch by ranch, and to everyone’s surprise, the land did not decrease in value. Gary realized later that the action made development entitlements rarer, therefore more valuable, a fact which helped sustain the A-60 zoning in a series of lawsuits claiming that the County had “taken” valuable property. Additionally, Gary kept the County focused on sustaining agriculture, using the supervisors’ powers to raise taxes and fund the construction of dairy barns to help ranchers comply with new environmental regulations. Gary recalls 1972 as a “heady year,” and that it was thrilling to make enormous strides in the arena of conser- vation. The Marin Open Space District was formed and funded the same day as he was elected. There was land that needed saving and money to buy it. It was also time of great personal loss, with the passing of his wife, Andrea, mother of his two young sons, Anthony and Andrew. Through the ’70s Gary also led the Board of Supervisors in getting Congress to protect enormous swaths of land in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Point Reyes National Seashore. In a series of actions the Board
Summer 2010 Homegrown Hero, Gary Giacomini By Liza Crosse
On September 11, 2010, the Community Center was pleased to honor Gary Giacomini at the Annual Under the Stars Gala. This article appeared in the June 2010 Issue of Stone Soup. Did you ever consider that the battle to save the San Geronimo Valley was part of a movement of global impor- tance? Indeed, the storms that raged in Marin in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s were precedent setting—showing the nation and the world that “progress” could be averted and special places saved. While there are many heroes in Marin who helped make that profound change, the guiding force at the eye of this era’s hurricane was Gary Giacomini. He came to the world, and the Valley, in the usual way. But he brought with him a powerful intellect and a voice that carried authority, persuasiveness, humor, and, when needed, sharp barbs. And Gary used these tools to the utmost over an extraordinary 50-plus-year-long career in Marin’s politics. Most striking has been Gary’s willingness to take risks—balanced by strategic and political instincts that turned what were often extremely unpopular positions into triumphs. Gary came to politics in the usual way as well, starting small and local when he was elected in 1968 to the Laguni- tas School District Board of Trustees. Back then the big issue was the formation of three new academic programs— notably the Open Classroom. When I sat with Gary recently he recalled the knock-down-drag-out battle over
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