February 29, 2008
Not Your Average Suburbia: Marinites are Walking and Biking
As a Marinite and a fairly devout cyclist and tree hugger, I confess that while I tell all out of towners that I’m from “San Francisco,” I have never lived in SF proper. Part of me definitely is a city dweller - I detest driving, I am convinced I was an urban transit planner in a prior life and I find myself walking to the neighborhood coffee joint more often than not to hang out and people watch. 
Surprisingly, I live in Marin. For those of you who don’t know Marin well, that’s why I love it. I have the best of both worlds. In 15 minutes, I can run to a lake and pretend I’m away on my 6th grade camping trip and in 20 minutes, I’m crossing the GGB to savor the finest dishes at some of the world;s top restaurants.
A MarinIJ article recently reported that Marinites do more than their fair share of walking and biking. “The percentage of daily trips made by bicycling or walking is an estimated 13.6 percent, according to the study. That’s better than the national average of 9.5 percent.”
So there… for all you city dwellers who give me a hard time about living in the burbs.
But, really, Marin is a hot spot for encouraging its residents to walk and bike. Selected for a federal grant to devise ways to encourage Marinites to get out of their cars, the county developed the WalkBikeMarin initiative..”to help make Marin more healthy, livable, and environmentally sustainable by encouraging walking and bicycling as everyday transportation.”
There is already a decent amount of biking and walking routes but this initiative will study and develop even more. What a dream! As you can see - Marin is not your average suburbia. We are walking and biking our way all around more than you think.
Mark said:
Is the Marin Association of Realtors in a state of crisis? Many members think so. What do you think?
About 10 years ago the Marin County Association of Realtors maintained the Multiple Listing Service (MLS/property information) database for Realtors in Marin County. This was prior to the internet becoming such an intricate part of our lives and businesses. At that time the Marin Association of Realtors was worried that Microsoft might attempt to make inroads into our profession, and we relinquished the data we owned and controlled to third parties (which is now Bay Area Real Estate Information Services/BARIES.) I was on the Board of Directors at that time, and protested this action. I felt we were allowing our fears to define us.
When the Marin Association of Realtors (MAR) controlled the MLS the “Code of Ethics” and “Professional Standards” were respected. Why? Because if you conducted your business in an unethical or in a non professional manner you could have your MLS privileges suspended. Now that the MLS is operated by a third party, it appears that there are no mechanisms in place to enforce unethical conduct and unprofessional behavior.
Over the last 10 years we’ve seen realtors, real estate companies, and VOWs (virtual office websites aka virtual offices without walls) marketing other realtor’s listings as if they were the listing broker. Misleading? Confusing? That’s just the tip of the iceberg!
In the last ten years we’ve begun seeing what Steven Colbert on The Colbert Report calls “truthiness” being practiced in Marin County Real Estate advertising. It’s not the truth, but some variation that has nothing to do with the truth. You think at first that it might be true, but when you examine it, it has nothing to do with the truth.
How can there be two number one real estate companies in Marin County? How can there be multiple agents claiming to have been the number one agent in Marin. How can local newspapers, and other local publications print conflicting ads depicting two different companies claiming the mantel of being number one, oftentimes in the same publication? Not only is this a disservice to the company that truly is number one, but what kind of disservice is this to the public? You might think that the Real Estate profession would have established clear criteria and standards in this regard…wouldn’t you?!
What happened to the Code of Ethics?
If there is a real estate agent, broker, or company in Marin County that is disingenuous, devious, deceptive, and dishonest in their advertising, does it matter? Does this kind of behavior affect other real estate professional’s ability to practice real estate fairly in the same environment ? Has “truthiness” become the new professional standard?
Is the Marin Association of Realtors in crisis? As long as these kinds of concerns plague the membership many members believe there’s a cancer eating away at the integrity of MAR. It appears that the organization has become ineffective and powerless. The Marin Association of Realtors Board of Directors needs to take a long look at where it’s been and where it want’s to go. Or continue doing what they’re doing and run the risk of becoming an unnecessary entity.
This post was originally emailed to the current President of MAR, last year’s President and now a member of the Board of Directors at MAR, and Ed Segal Cheif Operating Officer of MAR on 2/26/2008. On 2/28/2008 the Board of Directors had a meeting. Afterwords, Ed Segal, said the Board would be taking actions to enforce the Code of Ethics and Professional Standards.
The Tiburon Film Festival’s program for 2008’s back cover has an Ad from a new real estate office in Tiburon claiming to be the Number One Listing Office in Tiburon. The problem is they don’t have any listings in Tiburon? Not one listing? I’ve asked an agent in that office if they could explain this to me on February 28, 2008. They said they could not. One agent said they did have a listing but it’s been withdrawn so the owner could refinance. She was visibly upset when I asked her if she could explain the ad. Can anyone explain to me how this company is the Number One Listing Office in Tiburon, and does not have any listings in Tiburon?
March 10, 2008 6:44 AM