Editorial: Segregated Marin remains out of reach for too many - Marin Independent Journal

The University of California, Berkeley study that lists six Marin cities among the Bay Area’s 10 most segregated communities should be no surprise.

Look around, this is largely a community filled with White households.

Restrictive zoning and high cost of housing plays a large part in keeping much of Marin out of reach for some minority households.

That was the conclusion of a 2009 federal Department of Housing and Urban Development review of Marin and impediments faced by protected classes.

To many who consider Marin to be a hotbed of progressive thinking and racial tolerance, the report held up a mirror capturing a troubling image.

It’s not a new reflection, maybe one that many refuse, probably benignly, and don’t think much about.

We should. It’s built into our history.

For example, Marin City’s public housing, a longstanding Black community, was created because local zoning restrictions prohibited the sale of homes to Black residents, many of whom had moved here to play an important part of the effort and work in the World War II shipyards.

Such restrictions are unconstitutional, but such “Jim Crow” rules can still be found in too many local deeds.

The Black Lives Matter movement has led to many local municipalities pledging to dig into those deeds and remove the unlawful and offensive restrictions. There has also been creation of local committees addressing social equity and racial diversity.

The Berkeley study looked at 101 Bay Area municipalities and how they compared in the racial composition of their populations.

Ross, Belvedere, Sausalito and San Anselmo finished second through fifth, respectively, in their lack of racial diversity. Fairfax finished seventh and Mill Valley was ninth, all primarily because their populations are, according to the 2010 federal census, overwhelmingly White.

For many years, the lack of diversity was largely shrugged off.

We enjoy and treasure the fact that Marin has had a reputation for keeping its housing low-rise and at reduced densities, as well as for protecting hundreds of acres of open lands from being carved into homesites. However, one price that’s been paid is a lack of housing supply and a narrowing of opportunities for many people to locate in Marin.

In fact, much of the steady increase in Marin’s Latino population has been the result of overcrowding in available apartments and homes, mostly in San Rafael and Novato, leading to speculation that their numbers are undercounted.

In most Marin cities, we’ve got jobs for minority workers, but not local places for them to live.

That disconnect needs to be admitted. Municipalities must take a frank and honest look at creating their fair share of the Bay Area’s local affordable housing needs, as well as a realistic plan for meeting them.

It can be done, if it is a priority. It can be done, if we take down the virtual “Not Here” signs minorities see when they consider making Marin home.

It will take a lot more than expunging offensive language from deeds.

Just about a month ago, Marin voters’ ballots formed the second largest local majority — 55.7% — in support of Proposition 16, which sought to repeal a 2009 voter-approved measure and restore affirmative-action measures in state contracts, employment and university admissions. Yet, it was soundly defeated.

Its statewide defeat is an example that California still faces challenges when it comes to racial diversity and equity. There is good reason for the frustrations voiced by the Black Lives Matter movement and why we as a community need to listen and act, wherever possible.

But our vote on Proposition 16 is out of sync with our housing and our actions in terms of lowering, if not removing, impediments that keep the doors of racial diversity closed.

The Berkeley study is another reminder that we have a lot of work to do and room for effective change.

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Editorial: Segregated Marin remains out of reach for too many - Marin Independent Journal
"Many" - Google News
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