Candidates Meet The Public Tonight

The Corte Madera Town Council is still upset over a Grand Jury report regarding the town's finances, but the council members seem to be moving on.

Mayor Alexandra Cock and Vice-Mayor Bob Ravasio both agreed the Town needs to rebuild its financial reserves up to 10 percent, as advised by the Grand Jury earlier this year. They disagree slightly, however, how the Town should go about it.

Incumbents Cock and Ravasio, plus challenger Melissa Gill, discussed the Town's finances and an array of other topics during Friday night's Corte Madera Town Council debate, hosted by the Marin County League of Women Voters. The debate will be broadcast later.

The public is invited to another debate tonight at 7 p.m. at the Corte Madera Town Center's community room.

"We should work toward creating reserves, but we need to balance that with maintaining our infrastructure," Cock said Friday. "If we don't, then we'll end up spending all that reserve money on fixing roads and other projects.

"My criticism of the Grand Jury was that they seemed to look only at our reserves and not at our assets or the condition of our assets."

Gill, who is looking to rejoin the Town Council after a hiatus, affirmed the Town's "operating resources need to be built back up."

Ravasio defended the Town, saying "It's not like the money was frittered away all those years. It went to flood control and other projects."

The three candidates seemed to be in general agreement on the hot topics within the Town, so voters aren't likely to see any fireworks before the November 8 election.

All three supported the idea of a community garden, but were uncertain where it should go. They also supported easing restrictions on keeping bees and chickens — but drew the line at keeping goats and chickens within town limits.

The Park Madera shopping center has been the source of some controversy lately, since it was proposed the Town lease space for the Cafe Verde project, backed by the owners of Benissimo Restaurant. All the candidates agreed there are still details to be worked out before the project can go forward, but that the town needs to foster new businesses.

Cock said Corte Madera needs to attract more businesses to increase its revenues through sales taxes.

Gill said, however, there just isn't enough space within the town to bring in many more businesses.

Also on the November ballot will be two bond measures and a parcel tax. Measure A would help fund a new school in the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District. Measure C would fund paramedic services and help maintain the bayside Corte Madera fire station No. 13.

"These are not new taxes," Ravasio said. "This is an extension of an existing tax. And part of the service is paid for out of our operating budget. The school bond measure is desperately needed. People are moving to Corte Madera for our schools. … We are a victim of our own success in a way."

"All (three) of us are part of a grass-roots movement to pass Measure C," Cock said. "It's important to our commitment to the town. This also goes to property values. People want to purchase homes here when they see the quality of our services."