Public Works and Ghilotti Bros team are planning to grind and overlay the pavement on Smith Ranch Road/ Lucas Valley Road. There will be a full road closure during the night construction next week. This includes off-ramp closures that will require detours for motorists. What: Road Closure during resurfacing operations Where: Lucas Valley Road at...
Although the building is a historical landmark and originally built as a residence, the City of San Rafael believes that the Boyd House can function as a museum, retail space, art gallery, or another commercial operation. The City is seeking any appropriate and a feasible business opportunity in the Boyd House since the downtown area...
PurpleAir is a real-time air quality sensor that feeds into a continuously updated, crowd sourced map at www.purpleair.com. Particularly useful for geographic-specific and realtime air quality readings, PurpleAir has become a go-to site for many during this fire season to check the air quality in their backyard or in the destination they’re heading. The City...
We were able to increase the on-street parking supply by approximately 24 spaces in East San Rafael. On Thursday August 29th, Bayside Striping and Seal striped on-street angled parking on the on the south side of Bellam Boulevard between Vista del Mar and Playa del Rey and on the west side of Kerner Boulevard south...
This past week Public Works Streets and Parks Maintenance staff installed 6 new outdoor dining areas in parking spaces in front of businesses along 4th Street. The barricades, planters, and plants were funded by TAM’s Quick Build Grant – a Measure AA funded grant program designed to aid local businesses during the pandemic by building...
Streets Supervisor John Shindelus with his crew of Jeremy Quintal and Arturo Tinoco work with some of our contracted labor to clear out a large homeless encampment in the City's storm drain system. This was an especially difficult clean up due to the location, type of debris and conditions within the storm drain. They hauled...
The Parks Division has had a very busy couple of weeks. The Parks crew devised a creative solution to beautify an empty planter bed in front of Johnny Doughnuts. The Parks Division also assisted the San Rafael Police Department with the clean up of another large homeless encampment. Parks Division crew members Valente Curiel, Jorge...
Garage Division vehicle mechanic Angel Lopez made quick work of this transmission replacement. With all maintenance personnel riding alone in vehicles, it was important to get this truck back into service as soon as possible.
The Francisco Blvd West multi-use path and one-way conversion is under construction. Over the last two week’s Francisco Blvd West was temporarily closed at Rice Drive as the contractor drove sheet piles along the creek. The majority of the new bike path will be installed within the previous southbound vehicle travel lane, but as the...
At the end of July, the City kicked off the multimillion-dollar upgrade of the sidewalk on Francisco Blvd East between Vivian and Grand Ave. The City’s contractor, Ghilotti Bros, continues to make progress replacing underground storm drainpipe. Concurrent with the City’s project is a cooperative effort with the San Rafael Sanitation District (SRSD). The project...
The Sidewalk Repair Program continues to make good progress in East San Rafael. The City and contractor have completed nearly 50 of the 110 properties signed up in the area. Green dots in the image above represent completed projects with blue dots to be completed. An impressive 42 properties on Riviera Drive alone have signed...
Francisco Boulevard West was recently converted to one-way southbound from Second Street to Rice Drive. This was done to improve safety at the SMART rail crossing at Second Street by diverting northbound traffic to Lindaro. It also allowed us to make room for a two-way protected cycle track on the west side of the street....
Streets crew members Ken Gatlin, Arturo Tinoco and Jeremy Quintal recently conducted the annual cleanup of the Freitas ditch ahead of the rains to come which could potentially clog the drainage ditch with debris or wash it out into the bay. The crews generally tend to haul about 20-30 tons of mostly organic material to the dump...
Maintenance crews were busy Monday after a windy weekend storm brought down numerous trees and branches around the City. Parks Division crew member Trevor Thomas is seen here helping to clear a large branch that was blocking a lane along the Miracle Mile.
This year has been hard on Parking Services buggies. The Vehicle Maintenance Division has had to take many out of service due to parts unavailability and high repair costs. The buggy in this photo has frame damage that cannot be repaired safely and therefor had to be taken out of service. Mechanic Jay Arieta is...
To ensure continued safe disposal of expired and unused medications, Facilities Department crew members Anthoney Heaven and Michael Reiser installed the drug drop off box, which was previously located at the old Police Department, in the lobby of the new Public Safety Center.
Facilities Division crew members Omar Garcia, Michael Reiser, and Anthoney Heaven built and mounted panels to the new Public Safety Center motorcycle parking garage. This will allow Officers to mount all necessary charging devices within easy reach of their motorcycles.
Diane Dillion, Senior Associate Engineer, is retiring after 35 years of service to the City of San Rafael Public Works Department. In her role, Diane oversees citywide Encroachment Permitting (any construction work in the right of way) including approvals and inspections, as well as implementation and participation in the mandated Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention...
Throughout the City, our staff have been working hard to update and maintain the marking and signage on the roadways. Recently, our striping contractor has been updating the crosswalks and other various striping along Fifth Avenue to make them safer for pedestrians and visible for motorists. Paint isn’t the only thing that helps with visibility...
Streets crew members Brendan Smith, Trevor Thomas, and Matthew Von Bima were at the new Public Safety Center adding some final touches to the area. This will not only bring a fresh look to the steps, but it will ensure and improve visibility of the steps. The staff were tasked to go around the building...
Arturo Tinoco and Kenny Gaitlin worked with and oversaw Ad-Lite clamming services to remove debris from the Kerner Boulevard ditch. The project happened over the course of three (3) days, and team removed more than 20 tons of vegetation and garbage from the drainage channel. During this time of the year, our crews inspect all...
The Parks Division and AmeriCorps worked together setting up the landscaping of Fire Station 57. Parks crew member Valente Curiel prepped the area by laying down the fabric layer for the group to start putting down the mulch. With the helping hands of AmeriCorps, we were able to complete the work at Fire Station 57...
The Parks Division is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the vegetation along the drainage ditch on Freitas Parkway. When the crews are ready to get to work, they follow the necessary safety protocols by setting up necessary traffic control in the area early in the morning before they commence work. The crews trimmed...
The Parks Division does not only deal with vegetation issues. Parks crew member Jim O’Hagan assists with checking the water quality of the pool. Jim regularly goes to the Terra Linda Community Center to check the pool’s sanitation balance and verify that the water is circulating properly. If there are any issues, Jim will correct...
Construction has started on Francisco Blvd East from Vivian to Grand Avenue. The City has coordinated with the San Rafael Sanitation District to complete a much-anticipated sidewalk widening project with a sewer replacement project. We are taking advantage of the decrease in traffic volume during the COVID pandemic to do construction during the day for...
When the City was looking at furloughs and budget cuts for FY 2020-21, the Parks Division revaluated their contracted support and offered to take two major contracted services in-house for this fiscal year: maintenance of the citywide parkettes and the Puerto Suello Bike Path. Together, cutting these two contracts and performing the work with our...
A little-known fact: The Parks Division has planted more than 70 new trees around the City as after all, we are a tree city. And with new trees comes more maintenance. Here we see Parks crew member Alexis Nacaspaca watering one of those many new trees. Alexis waters between 60-80 newly planted trees per week....
Parks crew member Jim Dunn has been doing an extraordinary job keeping up with the mowing needs of the City. Earlier in the month, Jim was seen doing some much needed mowing around City Hall. Once this task was complete, Jim moved on to complete his other tasks around the City, which included the parks...
Parks crew member Daniel Walzer is the go-to person for any irrigation issues. Here we see Daniel working on a leaking valve at one of the Spinnaker Parkettes. Daniel took on the role as the irrigation technician for the Parks Department last year and has been learning on the go. He has been working diligently...
Parks Department crew members Matthew Scales, Jose Tellez, and Alex Nacaspaca have been working diligently to clear vegetation along Lucas Valley Rd. They all worked on cutting back the vegetation away from the sidewalk to create safe walkway for pedestrians. After loading up the truck with vegetation debris, the crew makes several trips to the...
