Dick Spotswood

THE BIGGEST tax grab in decades is aimed at Marin like a rocket and so far there has been nothing but a ho-hum from the public. I'm referring to San Francisco's harebrained scheme to place a toll on autos traversing Doyle Drive's southerly approach to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Ostensibly, the toll is designed to pay part of the $1 billion needed for Doyle Drive's long-overdue seismic upgrade.

State legislation is required because Doyle Drive is owned by Caltrans. The initial toll likely will be $2.

If a toll increase was proposed by the much-maligned Golden Gate Bridge District, an agency in which Marin at least has some representation, Marinites would be at the barricades. The instigator of the potential Doyle Drive toll is San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, an institution, to put it gently, that doesn't give a hoot about Marin residents.

Even San Francisco officials admit that the toll will pay the city's share of upgrade costs within six or seven years. After that, it will be a perpetual cash cow. San Francisco supervisors will continuously raise the toll once it's instituted. That's what a profligate public agency perennially short of cash inevitably will do. That's doubly true when the toll/tax is levied exclusively on perceived wealthy suburbanites who can't vote in the city.

A Doyle Drive toll is a commuter tax. Worse, it's a tax that will only be levied on North Bay motorists.

No corresponding toll is planned to pay for the Bay Bridge's new approach in the city used by East Bay commuters.

Nor would the toll be levied on those San Franciscans traveling on Doyle Drive from the Marina to the Richmond District.

San Rafael Mayor Al Boro, a bridge board member, is right when he calls the proposed Doyle Drive toll "half baked."

Is Marin officially fighting the effort? No. The only concern from Dianne Steinhauser, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin, is that part of the potential Doyle Drive toll be designated for Marin's use. Savvy San Francisco officials will gladly carve off a small percentage of toll revenue for Marin and consider the payoff cheap.

Ironically, the only institution throwing up a roadblock so far is the Golden Gate Bridge District. The bridge board is balking at San Francisco's request that the district does the dirty work of collecting the fee along with the current bridge toll. The only alternative is for the city to construct its own electronic toll collection system.

It could be that the bridge board is Marin's only ally, a bitter pill for those professional bridge district bashers.

If there isn't a prompt outcry to leaders in Sacramento from North Bay commuters, an ever-increasing Doyle Drive toll is a fait accompli.


ODDS & ENDS: It seemed that the field was set in the June race for the Democratic nomination in the Sonoma-Marin-San Francisco Third State Senate District. Perhaps not. With three San Franciscans eyeing the race, including incumbent Sen. Carole Migden, Assemblyman Mark Leno and San Francisco Police Commissioner Joe Alioto Veronese, a North Bay Democrat still could be a viable candidate. Former Assemblyman Joe Nation is giving the contest another look. He commissioned an opinion poll and will consider his options and review polling results when he returns this weekend from the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. If he does throw his hat into the ring, Nation would aim to be the environmental candidate concentrating his efforts on Marin and Sonoma voters who constitute 54 percent of the Democratic voters in the gerrymandered district.

SAUSALITO'S City Council election isn't until next November, but the city still reorganizes each November. The new mayor is Amy Belser. This is her fourth and likely last time at the helm. Her challenge will be getting the new police and fire headquarters construction off to an auspicious start. Belser will also help initiate "Imagine Sausalito," a process asking residents to envision their ideal future for the bayside city in 2028.

OCCASIONALLY, a write-in candidate actually wins an election. That just happened in San Anselmo. No one filed to run for the largely ceremonial $50 a month post of San Anselmo town treasurer. Only ballots cast for write-in candidates who state in writing that they are willing to serve if elected are counted. One resident, Bess Niemcewicz, took the simple step of filing a declaration making her an official write-in candidate. Of the 229 write-in ballots cast, 66 of them were for Niemcewicz, the Ross Valley School District's retired chief financial officer, making her the Hub City's new treasurer.
