Noticed the bright pink and blue markings all over the roadways in downtown Mill Valley?

They're a harbinger of big infrastructure upgrades to come over the next two years. The City of Mill Valley currently has $4.3 million dedicated to upgrading sewer systems, sidewalks, roads, and utility infrastructure downtown, an area that spans part of East Blithedale and West Blithedale avenues, Corte Madera Avenue, Throckmorton Avenue, Sunnyside Avenue, Bernard Street, and Miller Avenue.

The multi-colored markings on the sidewalks and streets are part of an effort to develop the base map for the downtown project, providing proper elevation of the streets, sidewalks and other features, according to project engineer Michael Hanlon. Poster told the Council that so many of the downtown features – streets, sidewalks, crosswalks – varied significantly in terms of height, thus making an effort to bring them all in line with one another both necessary but also complex.

The project also calls for safety, bicycle-pedestrian improvements and accessibility upgrades that could range from a shortening of long crosswalks at intersections like Miller Ave. at Throckmorton Ave. up to a "potential reconfiguration" of downtown streets, particularly around Lytton Square, according to City officials. 

A law passed in 2014 to help achieve California’s aggressive recycling and greenhouse gas emission goals moves into its next phase of implementation on January 1, 2019.  

In October 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1826 Chesbro, requiring businesses to compost their organic (biodegradable) waste on and after April 1, 2016, depending on the amount of waste they generate per week. Organic waste is food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste. The law phases in the mandatory recycling of commercial organics over time, and therefore an increasingly greater proportion of the commercial sector has been required to comply in each year since its passage.
 
Beginning January 1, 2019, all commercial businesses and public entities that generate 4-cubic yards of trash per week must recycle their organic waste to comply with new mandatory commercial organics recycling established under California Assembly Bill 1826 (AB 1826). These new state regulations apply to schools, stores, restaurants, businesses, and for-profit or nonprofit organizations located in California. New regulations also require multifamily properties with 5 or more units to have green waste service.

Businesses can meet these requirements by:

• Separating organic waste from other waste as part of trash collection. (See Mill Valley Refuse Service website link for organic waste collection services).
• Recycling organic waste on site, or self-haul organic waste off site for recycling.
• Subscribing to an organic waste recycling service that may include mixed waste processing that specifically recycles organic waste. (See Zero Waste website link below).

The City of Mill Valley is working to educate our local businesses on new state regulations, and will be visiting local businesses in the New Year to provide assistance. Contact Danielle Staude, Senior Planner at dstaude@cityofmillvalley.org for more info.
    
The City of Mill Valley has reduced its Greenhouse Gas emissions associated with waste generation by 26% since 2005. The new organics composting regulations will also work toward the City’s Zero Waste goal, wherein all materials are recycled, reused or repurposed.

You can learn more about commercial organics programs through Zero Waste Marin and Mill Valley Refuse Service's website.

While traffic, parking and construction tend to be the subjects of much of the input the City of Mill Valley gets from the community, 5G – the latest generation of telecommunications infrastructure that promises faster mobile phone and streaming video service – has suddenly elbowed its weigh into the inboxes of City Councilmembers and City staff in recent weeks.

At its Sept. 6 meeting to discuss 5G and potential regulations for its implementation in Mill Valley, the Council faced an outpouring from members of the EMF Safety Network. The group that advocates limiting cell phone towers for fear of exposure to electromagnetic fields that they believe can exacerbate symptoms like fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, anxiety, heart problems, learning and memory disorders, ringing in the ears and increased cancer risk, according to the EMF Safety Network website. A Fairfax activist said 5G would add “another cloud to what we refer to as ‘electromagnetic smog,’ … just say no to 5G.”

Facing those concerns and that of others around the aesthetic impact of new cell phone towers within residential neighborhoods, the Council unanimously backed an urgency ordinance that strengthened its existing regulations around wireless telecom facilities in Mill Valley, “utilizing existing locations in our commercial districts, and other locations when it can be shown that there is a gap in service coverage in a specific area.”

The ordinance would require the provider to apply for a Conditional Use Permit that will be reviewed by the Planning Commission for any new wireless facility and the Zoning Administrator “for smaller amendments to existing Conditional Use Permits.” It also requires annual EMF readings to determine that the wireless facility is within compliance of federal and state laws.

Mill Valley Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and City Manager Jim McCann delivered the annual State of the City to a group of Chamber members and friends on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at Piazza D’Angelo restaurant.
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Over the course of a wide-ranging, substantive, data-centric and interactive hour, the pair dove into an array of subjects, from traffic and fire prevention to workforce housing and infrastructure improvements.

“We have a great partnership with the Chamber and we gets lots of things done and we always have lots to do and we’re very grateful for this partnership,” Moulton-Peters said at the outset of the event after some meet-and-greet time over coffee and pastries.

“The state of the city is .... busy,” Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, recalling hearing construction trucks driving past her Blithedale Canyon home at the wee hours of the morning in the mid-2000s, and how quiet it got a few years later when the recession and real estate collapse hit. “It’s just like that busy period around here all over again, but more. But 10 years ago, people were adding bedrooms and bathrooms onto their homes. Now they’re tearing those houses down and building new ones.”

Moulton-Peters repeated Mill Valley Fire Dept. Battalion Chief Michael St. John’s oft-used phrase that “in Southern Marin, it just churns.”

One of our jobs is to help you sustain and grow your business. To that end, we've done educational workshops on a variety of subjects over the years, from digital marketing and taxes to hiring and managing the inter-generational divide.

With seasonal swings and an ever-fickle retail climate, the Mill Valley Chamber staff and board has decided to invest in your business, contracting with the Marin Small Business Development Center to have experts in their respective fields teach you how to maximize your business online, running the gamut from a two-part workshop on building an e-commerce store to getting recognized on Google and a master class on SEO strategies.

With the support of the City of Mill Valley and Pacific Gas & Electric, each workshop is on a Tuesday afternoon in the Mill Valley Community Center's Mountain View Room, with easy access and ample parking. You can register for each session below its description.

Here's a breakdown of what we're offering:

​Get Recognized Using Google My Business and AdWords

Have something you want to sell online, but not sure how?
Already have an online store, but know it could be doing better?

If so, then this is the class for you! We broke this workshop up into two parts so you can decide what will be best for you. This one covers the tips and tools for selling online, getting into product sourcing, digital marketing and platform selection. The next workshop is where you get to build your online store using Shopify. This is hands-on, so bring your laptops!

Each participant will leave the workshop with:
- An extended 60-day free trial for their new online store
- A full directory of digital resources to help run and grow your business
- A digital copy of the presentation to reference later

Date: 10/9 | 1-3 PM | MV Community Center (Mountain View Room), 180 Camino Alto 

Instructor Ramin Ramhormozi owns two eCommerce businesses and is a partner at SKU, a premier agency in the Northern California focused on e-commerce strategy, design and development. Ramin has helped many companies successfully strategize their ecommerce goals, taking their products from concept to market. He assists with platform selection, on-site and off-site marketing initiatives, SEO with keyword analysis, social marketing strategies, content curation, product data mapping, dropship and fulfillment set-up.

NOTE: For those that want to get everything they need to build and operate an online store, it is strongly recommended that you take this workshop and the "Create an Online Store with Shopify" session on Oct. 23, as listed below.

With an understanding of how to sell online from the previous workshop, it’s time to put it into practice and build your own online store using Shopify. This is hands-on, so bring your laptops! You will learn the tips to successfully setting up your store and get noticed online.
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Each participant will leave the workshop with:
- An extended 60-day free trial for their new online store
- A full directory of digital resources to help run and grow your business
- A digital copy of the presentation to reference later

Date: 10/23 | 1-3 PM | MV Community Center (Mountain View Room), 180 Camino Alto

Instructor Ramin Ramhormozi owns two eCommerce businesses and is a partner at SKU, a premier agency in the Northern California focused on e-commerce strategy, design and development. Ramin has helped many companies successfully strategize their ecommerce goals, taking their products from concept to market. He assists with platform selection, on-site and off-site marketing initiatives, SEO with keyword analysis, social marketing strategies, content curation, product data mapping, dropship and fulfillment set-up.

NOTE: For those that want to get everything they need to build and operate an online store, it is strongly recommended that you take this workshop and the "Ecommerce Tips for Selling Online" session on Oct. 9, as listed above.

This workshop will explain basic to intermediate principles of SEO so that business owners can transform their websites into lead-generating machines. Attendees will take away:

• strategies to get their websites ranking with both on-page and off-page tactics
• free tools that deliver the best keyword research and tracking
• low-cost ways to build landing pages that attract leads
• a peek at what's most likely to be included in Google's next algorithmic shift
 
Date: 11/6 | 1-2:30 PM | MV Community Center (Mountain View Room), 180 Camino Alto

Instructor John Sames, principal at Sames Digital Marketing, helps small businesses grow through better internet marketing and online presence. His firm is based in San Rafael.

Given the current climate around immigration rights in the United States, we thought it would be helpful to provide our members with the information below, which the civil rights and immigration team of Mill Valley Community Action Network (MVCAN) repurposed via the Golden Gate Restaurant Association.

​Email us with questions/thoughts. 

Know your rights as an employer.  

1. Have a plan for who on staff handles government officials. Establish who that point of contact is — whether a specific manager or owner and instruct employees of the appropriate contact. Your plan should also include contacting legal counsel.
2. Know your rights. Anyone showing up at your workplace is only allowed to enter public areas without your permission — primarily the dining area. California law AB 450, which just went into effect requires that employers may not voluntarily consent to an immigration enforcement agent to enter any nonpublic areas of “a place of labor” without a subpoena or judicial warrant. Therefore, any areas that are off-limits to the general public can be off limits to federal officials as well. This includes your kitchen, office, break room, etc.
3. Ask to see a warrant. A valid warrant should be signed and have accurate legal information, including the name and address of your business, listed names of specific employees, etc. You don’t have to provide them more information than what’s requested on the warrant. In fact, the new state law indicates that except as otherwise required by federal law, employers cannot re-verify the employment eligibility of a current employee at a time or in a manner not required by federal law. Basically, don’t offer up or penalize employees who you think may not have the proper documentation just because ICE has arrived.
4. I-9 forms. ICE will likely request to see your Employment Eligibility Verification forms, known as the I-9. You should have these forms separate from other employee records, which federal officials don’t have a right to review. You have the right to request that officials come back another time to review these forms, and in fact under California law AB 450, employers must give notice of 72 hours to employees of any immigration review of employment records, and there are specific measures for notifying “affected employees." The notice must be posted in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information to the employee.  In addition, the notice must include the following information:

• The name of the immigration agency conducting the inspections of I-9 Employment             
• Eligibility Verification forms or other employment records.
• The date that the employer received notice of the inspection.
• The nature of the inspection to the extent known,
• A copy of the Notice of Inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms for                      the inspection to be conducted.

Additionally for an “affected employee,” “an employee who may lack work authorization, or an employee whose work authorization documents have been identified by the immigration agency inspection to have deficiencies,” a copy of the Notice of Inspection of I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms must be hand delivered at the workplace (if possible) within 72 hours. Complete guidance surrounding federal employment verification forms can be found here. Please see a more in-depth list of guidance and a sample warrant here.

Call the Marin County Rapid Response Hotline 415-991-4545 to report the raid. Marin RR does raid verification for all calls of alleged ICE Enforcement activity within Marin. Raid verification is an important component to dispel myths and lessen fear. They will physically go and verify or announce false alarms to rumors about ICE activity. Your employees have rights too. Employees don’t have to speak to immigration officials. They can request an attorney and a translator.  ​

With the Miller Avenue Streetscape Project largely in the rearview mirror and in the interests of supporting and providing stimulus to Miller Avenue area businesses, the City of Mill Valley is issuing an exemption of up to $500 on the annual business license tax.

First approved by the City Council in September 2017, the exemption goes into effect on the business license tax bills that go out in May and June and are due July 1, City officials said. The exemption covers 264 licensed businesses on Miller Ave. and its immediate side streets of La Goma, Montford, Willow and Locust Avenue.

For the 200 businesses whose business license tax is $500 or below, no tax is due for the 2018-19 fiscal year business license tax cycle. The other 64 businesses whose tax bill is above $500 will pay the difference. City officials say the exemption will result in a nearly $70,000 reduction in business license tax revenue for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The City will send out instructions on how to calculate your business license tax with their annual Business License application. 

The exemption builds on the City's business license deferment program for the 2017-18 fiscal year that allowed business owners a six-month payment extension to Jan. 31, 2018, with no penalty.

MORE ON THE MILLER AVENUE STREETSCAPE PROJECT.

The perfect way to welcome a client, friend or family to the 94941, the Enjoy Mill Valley Welcome Kit includes:

• A felt tote bag, a hat, an embossed journal and a stainless steel water bottle, all bearing the Michael Schwab-designed Mill Valley logo.
• Gift cards from Grilly’s, Piazza D’Angelo and La Ginestra
• Copies of MV Community Map, EMV Guide, MV Recreation Guide, Marin Magazine, Marin Visitor Bureau Guide, One Tam Map, My Mapbook, Where SF & MV Herald
• Vital Emergency Preparedness Info
• “Tam Near Perfect” license plate holder
• A One-Year Mill Valley Chamber Community Membership
• Chamber Saver Card w/ access to 60+ discounts around town

In all, it's a $300+ value for just $200. Interested in purchasing a EMV Welcome Kit? Email us!

That was one merry Mixer! The gorgeously decorated The Outdoor Art Club was the place to be for the Mill Valley Chamber's annual Holiday Party on Dec. 12. With delicious food from Pizza Antica, Prabh Indian Kitchen and the Plant Organic Cafe, amazing wine from Anne Minkin's Boisset Collection, champagne, beer and soft drinks, live music from the Mill Valley Middle School Bluegrass Club and an array of incredible raffle prizes, this was a can't miss party.
Thanks to the OAC and all of our food and drink providers, our amazing staff, volunteers and ambassadors for helping to organize the event, to the fantastic Susan Royce (get well Gary Ferber!) for stepping in to take photos and, most of all, to all of you who came out to celebrate a fantastic 2017 with us! 
CHECK OUT ALL THE GREAT PHOTOS HERE.

As we near the end of a year-plus that has been largely dominated by the nearly complete Miller Avenue Streetscape Project, the Mill Valley Chamber invited Mayor Jessica Sloan and City Manager Jim McCann to deliver the annual State of the City to Chamber members and friends on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at Piazza D’Angelo restaurant. 

Over the course of a wide-ranging, substantive and interactive hour, Sloan dove into an array of subjects, starting with the 18-month, $18 million elephant in the room: the Miller Avenue project, which is now in its 16th month, with most of the most critical – and most disruptive for Miller businesses – components finished.

“Overall it’s really been a great partnership with the businesses,” Sloan said.

Sloan touted Meet Me on Miller, the post-construction campaign from the Chamber and the City to re-engage the community with Miller Avenue shops, restaurants, businesses and organizations.  

And in the immediate future, there’s MillerFest, a four-hour celebration of the new Miller Avenue, on Saturday, Nov. 4 (12-4pm) in the public parking lot near Marin Theatre Company and Extreme Pizza. The action-packed event features food from Antone's East Coast Subs, Extreme Pizza, Swirl and Whole Foods Mill Valley, along with live music from Loose With the Truth, a beer garden from the Chamber and Fort Point Beer Co., a bounce house, a bike decorating content and parade, a bike maintenance station from Tam Bikes, pedicabs from Vanguard Properties and 4Leaf, children's play from the Marin Theatre Company, nature walks, history walks and much more.

Sloan says she hopes the new Miller incites even more families to get out of their cars. 

“I grew up in this town biking all over the place,” she said. “My mom loved it because she didn’t have to drive me everywhere. You knew where to go because your friends’ bikes were parked outside that store.”
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“Now I have seen an explosion of kids and parents biking and walking and using other modes to get to school along Miller,” she added, mentioning the dedicated bike lanes throughout the road and flashing beacons at many crosswalks. “And we hope that grows even more when people see how much more multi-modal the street is now.”

Sloan noted that some of the biggest improvements to Miller happened under the road surface.

“This is a huge project,” Sloan said. “There hasn’t been one of this size in the county in a very long time. The biggest piece, perhaps, was underground in terms of sewer pipes, storm drains, utility upgrades – we had some serious problems underground and it warranted a job of this size being done.”

That impact has already made gains, she said, as evidenced by the fact that last winter’s record rains caused considerably less flooding around Miller and its side streets than lower levels of rain in years past.

“To all of the businesses, I say thank you so much for your patience on Miller,” Sloan added.

Traffic
With the Miller project almost in the rear-view mirror, Sloan spent the bulk of the discussion on some of the macro-level issues that face Mill Valley face. The most obvious of those continues to be traffic. Sloan rattled off a series of changes that have been made, from traffic light timing adjustments to the pilot yellow school bus program, which has allowed dozens of families to avoid cross-town car trips to school, that have been made in the past year and that have reduced overall travel time in and around Mill Valley by 13 percent.
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Workforce Housing
The imbalance between the percentage of people who work in Mill Valley but cannot afford to live here “is the most important issue we have here in town,” Sloan said, recalling that when she was a kid, her neighbors were the local mechanic at Masters auto repair and that as many as 10 Mill Valley Police officers lived in Mill Valley in the 1990s, a number that has shrunk to just one officer in all of Marin County.

“We have moved away from being a community where the people who worked in and served this community lived here,” Sloan said. “And it’s changed the town on a cultural level as well.”
McCann said the City itself has faced tremendous difficult fill its own staff vacancies because of the dearth of affordable housing.

To address that issue, the City Council approved a change to the City’s affordable housing requirements, requiring any development of four or more units to make 25 percent of those units affordable. 

“I can’t tell you guys what a big win that is, especially looking at other jurisdictions,” Sloan said. 

The Council also this year approved an affordable housing impact fee on all new housing projects and remodels costing $100,000 or more. The fee 1 percent of the project’s construction cost. The fee take effect in November 2018.

City officials estimate that the fee could generate approximately $350,000 a year, and that the City is hosting a workforce housing summit in late November to discuss how the use of that revenue should be prioritized, with the options ranging from building new housing or buying and remodeling existing apartment complexes that “could use some TLC” to offering payment assistance for local workers, Sloan said.

Sloan and McCann also touched on a number of other subjects, from the ongoing overhaul of the network of Steps, Lanes and Paths and recent parking meter upgrades to the need for businesses to stay on top of their own emergency preparedness, a subject that has been on everyone’s minds of late, for obvious reasons,” Sloan said.