Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for Feb. 4, 2026

Countywide funding for flood control makes sense

It is both gratifying and appropriate to see the IJ devoting coverage to climate adaptation. The heavy rains and king tides at the beginning of the year served to remind us that we can’t continue to keep our heads buried in the sand. Larkspur’s creek area, San Rafael’s levees, Sausalito’s waterfront and Stinson Beach’s main road all suffered flooding and damage. It is only going to get worse and more frequent.

Recent Marin Voice commentaries — one co-authored by Ron Arlas and Spencer Sias (“It’s time for countywide climate resilience district,” Jan. 22) and the other by Steven Woodside (“Sausalito mayor assesses next steps after tidal flooding,” Jan. 26) — include suggestions for countywide planning and financing. That makes sense to me. You can raise more money for adaptation as a countywide joint-powers entity rather than each local jurisdiction trying to raise money on its own for a narrowly focused local plan.

Sonoma County has already done this, so we don’t have to “reinvent the wheel.” We just have to cooperate countywide to improve our outlook. It will not be cheap. As they say, the future started yesterday. We are already late.

— Bernie Samet, San Rafael

Doubtful any developer would build on Santa Venetia site

I am writing in response to news that members of the Santa Venetia neighborhood are buying the old MacPhail School site in order to prevent a new housing project there (“Santa Venetia residents win former school property with lone bid,” Jan. 29).

I agree that it’s a bad place for housing, but I disagree with my neighbors about the risk. I think there is zero chance that any bank would write a mortgage and lend money to a developer for that site — as the risk from sea-level rise is both too great and currently does not appear to be under human control.

I doubt the community needed to be concerned about the sale resulting in an unwanted buyer. I suspect developers know what I do about finding a bank to loan them money for that risky location. I really don’t think dense housing at that site is an issue our neighborhood needs to worry about.

— Peter Newman, San Rafael

Some Republicans are putting the focus in the wrong place

The California Assembly Republican Caucus decried Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to set the latest possible date for a special election to replace District 1 Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Republican who died Jan. 5. Newsom set the election for Aug. 4, the latest possible date.

The decision means district residents will lack representation in Congress for a mere two months longer than the earliest possible date. While Newsom is indeed engaging in politics, I think this is in line with what Republican and Democratic governors have done for decades. It deserves little attention.

Much more significant and tragic is the response by some in the GOP to two American citizens being killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Having citizens killed by employees of the federal government and arguing that they have immunity from prosecution is unacceptable. I think it sounds similar to Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler when his Gestapo in Germany killed citizens in the streets.

It appears to me that President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other Republican leaders are spinning the facts, despite what I consider clear video evidence showing what happened. They should stop labeling the victims “domestic terrorists” and saying they threatened the lives of federal agents.

Unless Republican leaders are willing to change how these federal agents operate, I don’t think anyone who cares about human life and the truth should support them. As the great Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed on Hitler’s orders, said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. … Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

— Ruth Dell, Tiburon

Congratulations to Trump for getting things done

I believe President Donald Trump has set a benchmark for accomplishments that all future presidents will have to compare to.

I think he accomplishes more in a week than most other presidents do in a year. I think members of the media can’t keep up with his dizzying pace. It appears to me that many reporters are unable to understand his deal-making process, which may be why commentaries that truly congratulate Trump on his skill in achieving his end goals are rarely written.

In opposition, Democrats are proposing alternative policies that won’t work. I am tired of hearing them cry like babies on all matters Trump. I think they are jealous of him. I suspect they are kicking themselves for not backing a candidate like Trump. He makes all other recent presidents mediocre in comparison.

I believe Trump has the foresight to think three steps ahead of anyone else on many issues, such as our need to have a secure Greenland. Yes, I sometimes cringe at the comments he makes, but I think those unfortunate statements are minor compared to the big picture of what I consider to be a turnaround for America and the whole world.

— Henry Burgin, San Rafael

Agents in Minneapolis appeared to act like a mob

Like many of you who saw video showing the tactics employed in Minneapolis by officers from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and the Border Patrol — as well as the deadly results for two protesters — I think they were, at best, tragic and unbelievable.

As a U.S. Air Force veteran, a career firefighter and having been in, and now teaching, effective leadership, I attest to the following: A deployed force acting without leaders’ intent — having been communicated to through concise and clear orders, and where the force employs little to no effective on-scene tactical control — is nothing more than a mob.

— Grant Welling, Corte Madera

Elected officials need to put a stop to deportation raids

The agents of the federal government engaging in Minneapolis deportation raids all appear to be masked. They show no identification. I think they should have the same requirements as all other police agencies.

These officers should be required to tell us how many of the people they have arrested are actually documented criminals. That is what President Donald Trump said would be the focus when he was elected. I wonder if these actions are doing the American public any good.

If we don’t stop this, I worry it will be just like the Nazis in Germany. I am concerned that all this is doing is making the proprietors of private prisons wealthy. We appear to have created an industry of incarcerating individuals — some of whom have done nothing wrong.

I consider these actions to be sick. This is certainly not the country in which I was raised and not the military in which I served. We should all be ashamed of what the Trump administration has turned our country into. We have to tell our congressional representatives to get off their comfortable chairs and do something to stop this instead of just protecting their upcoming reelection bids.

— Jim Libien, San Rafael

What are the restraints for a law-defying president?

Commenting after his recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Donald Trump said something that he wisely chose not to reveal when he ran for a second term. He said, “sometimes you need a dictator.”

What’s astonishing is that he can now make that admission with apparent impunity. It appears to me that the Republican-led U.S. Senate derailed two impeachment proceedings and the Supreme Court may have breathed new life into Trump’s ambitions by ruling that presidents have seemingly near-absolute immunity.

The inexplicable murders of two citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis have spawned protests in Marin County and cities across the nation. The question now is will and can restraints be put upon a president who is defying the laws?

— Richard Rubin, Mill Valley

Trump may be taking advice from some TV pundits

I was alarmed but not surprised when I read the article by the New York Times published in the IJ on Jan. 29 with the headline “How Trump realized he had a big problem in Minneapolis.”

It mentions that Trump watches the news program “Fox and Friends” on the Fox News channel. Hosts there had implored the president to make changes in Minneapolis. It verified for me that TV pundits have a big hand in how this country is being run.

— Karla Kvam, Terra Linda