Will Dittmar’s
priorities for San Anselmo.

Flooding is part of San Anselmo's lived history, and wildfire remains an ever-present concern. As another winter approaches, preparedness cannot wait until a major storm is on the way. We need steady investment and long-term coordination to protect our neighborhoods, downtown, and essential infrastructure.

Through my professional experience in emergency preparedness and response, I have seen how much advance planning, clear communication, and strong coordination matter when a crisis strikes. San Anselmo should continue strengthening its flood and wildfire preparedness while investing in practical, lasting solutions that make our town more resilient.

• Prepare before storms: inspect drains and culverts, confirm equipment and sandbag supplies, and review the Town's response plan with county, police, and fire partners.
• Set clear triggers for warnings, road closures, and rapid response, with accessible information and help for residents who need assistance.
• Explore a Town-guided adopt-a-drain program and coordinate regional flood solutions using evidence about drainage and upstream bottlenecks.
• Support reliable fire protection, wildfire preparedness, and infrastructure maintenance through regional coordination and careful review of service needs and costs.

Read my winter preparedness proposals for more on preparation, rapid response, and recovery.

Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is both San Anselmo's main thoroughfare and a regional route carrying traffic toward West Marin. Recent signal improvements have helped traffic move more efficiently, but neighborhood streets are still sometimes used as shortcuts. With funding for several school crossing guards also being eliminated, we need to pay close attention to the streets and crossings children use every day.

As a parent, pedestrian, and cyclist, I know how vulnerable people can feel when a crossing is difficult or a vehicle moves too quickly through a residential neighborhood. I support expanding Safe Routes to School, improving crossings and sidewalks, using sensible traffic-calming measures, and pursuing ways to maintain crossing-guard coverage where it is most needed. We can keep regional traffic moving while making our neighborhoods safer for children, families, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Downtown San Anselmo should be both a thriving place to do business and an exceptional place for our community to come together. Live on the Avenue and the vision behind Creek Park show what is possible when the Town, local businesses, and residents work together to create welcoming public spaces and memorable community experiences.

I want to build on those successes—supporting the events and public spaces that bring people downtown, while making Town Hall a practical partner to businesses, homeowners, and residents through clear requirements, predictable timelines, and responsive permitting.

• Build on Live on the Avenue and Creek Park to support welcoming public spaces and community events.
• Make permitting more predictable with clear requirements, realistic timelines, and timely responses to local businesses and residents.

San Anselmo's public spaces and programs are where community becomes real. My family spends time at Memorial Park and Creek Park, attends Live on the Avenue, participates in recreation leagues, and has had two children at Parkside Preschool. One of the first things I did after establishing a San Anselmo address was get a library card. These places and programs helped make the town feel like home.

I want our parks, library, recreation programs, and gathering places to be safe, welcoming, and open to everyone. That means maintaining them well, supporting the programs that bring neighbors together, and realizing the exciting future of Creek Park. It also means looking for practical ways the Town can support access to childcare and after-school programs, recognizing the pressure their cost and limited availability place on working families. Our shared public spaces and programs should be every bit as remarkable as the community they serve.

San Anselmo should be a community where longtime residents can remain as their needs change and where the people who serve our town can afford to belong. Seniors should not have to leave the community they love simply because they need a smaller or more accessible home. Teachers, first responders, public employees, and service workers should have a meaningful opportunity to live near the people and places they serve.

I support expanding housing choices while respecting the qualities and constraints that make San Anselmo unique. That means pursuing affordability, making sensible residential projects easier to navigate, and planning responsibly around our valleys, open hillsides, flood risks, and wildfire exposure. We can welcome new neighbors and meet our housing responsibilities without losing sight of safety, community character, or the people we want San Anselmo to serve.

• Use clear, consistent standards so applicants and neighbors understand what is allowed before a project begins.
• Review permitting steps and fees, reduce avoidable delays, and make sensible residential projects easier to navigate.
• Expand housing options for seniors, working families, and the people who serve our town while planning around flood and wildfire risks.

Local government has the opportunity to make the most immediate and meaningful difference in people's daily lives. From the condition of our streets and parks to permitting, public safety, and the vitality of downtown, Town Hall's decisions shape how San Anselmo feels and functions every day. I believe those decisions should be practical, pragmatic, and focused on improving residents' quality of life.

Effective government must also be accessible to the people it serves. Residents deserve clear information, meaningful opportunities to provide input, and timely responses from both town staff and their elected representatives. I will listen carefully, communicate openly, and work toward solutions that produce positive, tangible results for our community.