SOS debate opening statement - Positive change with voters in charge

Opening Remarks

This debate is about one of the most important decisions this community has faced in more than a generation.

The precious right to vote

It really comes down to just one question: who gets final say over what gets built here? Voters, or politicians and large commercial landowners?

Right now, Sausalito residents have a precious right few communities have. Before the City can allow bigger buildings in our commercial areas or along our waterfront, it must be approved to a vote of the people.

Vote of the people. When I hear those words, I feel inspired. Vote of the people means you.

Measure X asks you to surrender your vote.

It hands your power to any three City Council members, to allow larger buildings and make deals with developers without voter approval.

That surrender is the beating heart of Measure X. Everything else follows from it.

Measure X immediately allows much larger commercial buildings along the waterfront:

…up to 47 feet tall, with ten times the square footage allowed today, starting right here where we are sitting outside the Spinnaker and running to the north to the end of town. And Measure X repeals rules requiring view protection.

Measure X affects every neighborhood

But it is not only the waterfront. Measure X affects every neighborhood.

Everywhere you see shops, restaurants, or businesses in Sausalito is under voter control: Old Town at Golden Gate Market, the Historic District, Caledonia and Bridgeway, the 7-Eleven at Spring Street, the UPS store. Measure X takes away your vote to control building size all those areas, keeping the vote only in the tiny historic district.

Backed by large commercial property owners

Large commercial landowners and developers support Measure X, and it is not hard to see why.

Proponents say this 40-year-old law is holding Sausalito back. Yes, it is holding back large new commercial buildings that would block our views of the water and thank goodness!

Promises vs the actual law

In exchange for your vote, Measure X offers promises and AI-generated pictures: maybe a fish market, maybe a café, maybe help with sea level rise. We would welcome those things. But not one of them is written into Measure X.

So here is a test for tonight. Every time you hear a benefit, ask: is that in the law, or is just a promise?

The rules for much bigger buildings become law. The promises do not.

View protection rules repealed

But Measure X takes more than your vote. In 266 pages, it erases rules that protect views, require public paths to the shoreline, and make developers pay their fair share of infrastructure. All repealed with no replacement.

“Fix it later” is not a plan

Measure X has numerous drafting errors. For example, one big blooper classifies every existing use in Sausalito as legally nonconforming. That means your home or business. The City’s independent legal review warned that Measure X would place “strict limits on expanding or modifying homes and businesses throughout the city.” Wow.

Tonight you may hear Measure X proponents say, “don’t worry, we will fix it later.” Why in the world would we want to enact something we know has many errors.

Measure X is a bad bargain.

Sausalito can do better. We have real challenges: flooding and businesses that need room to adapt.

Voters can say no to a bad deal and still get what they want.

An example is Oracle Park. Bay Area voters turned down four ballpark proposals before they finally got the deal they wanted and then San Francisco said yes, nearly two to one.

Bring the community together and say yes to a better deal

Sausalito can do the same. Fix the specific rules holding businesses back now. Do the homework on traffic and flooding. Bring the full community to the table, including the people across from us tonight, and get a balanced proposal by June 2028.

Keep your vote. Judge the law, not the promises.

Vote no on Measure X.