The 415
New carpool lane restrictions worry traffic officials The carpool lane scenario in the North Bay is about to get way better, or way worse—depending on whether you drive solo during commute hours. Caltrans recently approved changes to Marin and Sonoma counties’ HOV time limits, a move necessary to standardize the counties’ lane hours once work completes on the years-long highway widening project along the 101 corridor from Novato to Petaluma, aka “the narrows.” The 52-mile stretch from the Mill Valley to Windsor will conform to the same carpool lane hours used by the seven Bay Area bridges: 5 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays in both directions. The new times are a notable increase in lane restrictions—carpool enforcement jumps by three hours per morning in Marin and four hours per morning in Sonoma County. The afternoon restrictions increase by 90 minutes in Marin and 30 minutes in Sonoma. While the Transportation Authority of Marin approved the changes, Marin traffic officials raised concerns about the potential effect the
new hours will have on traffic, predicting additional delays to general-purpose lane users, as well as transit services which use those lanes. The revised carpool lane hours will go into effect once construction is completed on “the narrows” sometime this summer.— JW
Marin nonprofit wins housing discrimination settlement A Marin-based fair-housing nonprofit recently reached a settlement on behalf of an Oakland couple who claimed a home appraiser undervalued their property by nearly a quarter of its worth because of their race. Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California (FHANC), a San Rafael-based agency which supports alleged victims of housing discrimination, and Ronald and Dominique Curtis in November settled a case for $90,000 with appraiser Mehdi Mehdipour- Mossafer. Filed with the California Civil Rights Department, the complaint detailed how the Curtises in December 2020 applied to refinance their home, which had been appraised the preceding April at $1.15 million. Ronald Curtis, who is black, and Dominique Curtis, who is Latina, had purchased the North Oakland property in 2019 and had since made “significant renovations,” according to FHANC.
But when they hoped to take advantage of the low interest rates offered at the close of 2020, the Curtises were “shocked,” as FHANC described, to receive a valuation from Mehdipour-Mossafer for $900,000—about $250,000 less than what they were expecting. Ronald Curtis, a real estate agent, and Dominique Curtis, herself an appraiser, believed racial bias was the reason for the low valuation, and the couple appealed. But Mehdipour-Mossafer wouldn’t change the appraisal—and the Curtises were unable to secure the refinance loan. “After this experience, the Curtises made the difficult decision to sell their home,” FHANC said in a statement following the settlement. “In preparing their home for sale, they removed all their belongings, including family photos and other items indicating their race and ethnicity, and hired a real estate agency to stage their home with neutral furnishings and show it to potential buyers,” the statement continued. In October 2021, the house sold for $1.2 million, nearly $300,000 more than Mehdipour-Mossafer’s valuation. Working with the Curtises, FHANC filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Department on behalf of the couple. In a statement about the settlement, Julia Howard-Gibbon, FHANC’s supervising attorney, said research shows appraisers contribute to the undervaluation of Black and Latinx neighborhoods in a variety of ways, including: Considering a neighborhood’s racial and ethnic composition in their determination of the market area from which to choose comparable sales, allowing biased assumptions about the race or ethnicity of the homeowner to influence valuation; relying on the unfounded assumption that a typical buyer is white and that white people want to live in predominately white neighborhoods; and by valuing homes based on recent local sales, which recycles home values that were initially determined under racist appraisal criteria. — JW
County of Marin budget jumps 6% The County of Marin increased its budget for the coming year by 6%—bringing the total for 2025-26 to $865.8 million. The Marin County Board of Supervisors approved the all-funds budget May 21. According to county officials, the budget maintains current levels of services to the community and includes $10.4 million in one-time funds allocated toward one-time enhancements and pilot initiatives such as the expansion of 24/7 mental health mobile crisis support and investment in wildfire response, including the addition of eight full-time positions at the Marin County Fire Department. Board President and District 1 Supervisor Mary Sackett applauded the budget’s inclusion of $20.4 million toward affordable housing. She also said the budget was approved with awareness that changes in funding for counties could be on the horizon. For more info, visit marincounty.gov. —JW
June 2025
NorthBaybiz 13
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