Marin County and Beyond

Marin Transit has accepted a four-year contract with Golden Gate Transit. The dealwill result in lower costs for MT and a shift in supplemental bus service to an alternative vendor. MT plans to revisit the contract in two years to ensure its viable over the long term. (Marinscope)
Brett Richards has a new blog about the Ross Valley Sanitary District, and he wants to make sure everyone reads it. Richards, the former general manager of the RVSD, has fallen off the radar since quitting the agency under a cloud of scandal and bizarrely unprofessional behavior. (Patch)
Santa Rosa has rezoned part of Coddingtown Mall in preparation for the SMART station. The zone is a compromise between mall owners, who wanted to maintain their mall car-centered, and the city, who wanted the opposite. (PD)
Marin General Hospital is proceeding with its rebuilding efforts, and a draft EIR is now available for comment. The $500 million project would expand the hospital to 660,000 square feet and provide 919 parking spaces. (NBBJ)
Complaints of racial profiling, discrimination, and unprofessional behavior were aired in a Marin City meeting with the county sheriff's department. The county has pledged to work on the issues. (IJ)
To meet the environmental challenges facing Marin, from sea-level rise to car-dependency, we need to build where we've already built and strengthen our built and natural environments. (IJ)
Bikeshare got an official stamp of approval when the Federal Highway Administration released a guide of what makes a good bikeshare system. The burgeoning transportation mode isn't a bicycling panacea, and it's important for Marin and other cities to carefully weigh the costs and benefits. (Streetsblog)
And...: If the UN wants to herd us into public transit, it has a funny way of going about it. (Systemic Failure) ... Eliminating streetlights is an idea crazy enough to work. (Strong Towns) ... The Golden Gate Bridge will have an all-electronic tolling system by next year. (SFist)

The Toll

Five people were wounded on the road this week. Another two men died on the road, though both deaths could have been caused by medical events rather than the actual crashes that resulted.

A 68-year-old man crashed his SUV into a garage in Santa Rosa and died. It's not apparent whether the crash killed him or if he suffered a medical emergency, killing him and causing the crash. (PD)
Paul Borré died while driving in Petaluma on Monday, though it seems he suffered a "major medical event" that killed him, causing the crash. His daughter, who was in the car with him, survived uninjured. Paul was 41. (PD)
In Petaluma, a woman driving a car hit and injured Thomas Williams, who was walking his bike across the street in a crosswalk. She gave Thomas $60 for his bike, then sped off. Police are searching for the suspect. (PD)
A woman was seriously injured when a driver used an SUV to push her into a shop on Fourth Street in San Rafael during the Thursday farmer's market. The driver was taken in for questioning, and it's unclear whether it was an accident or not. (IJ)
Richard Marshall seriously injured himself by crashing his truck (perhaps while under the influence) into a tree in Novato. (Patch) ... A motorcyclist lost control of her bike and injured herself as a result on Highway 1. A driver injured another motorcyclist in the same area by making a U-turn into his path. (Marinscope) ...