Fairfax
4 ideas shared
Protect the small independent businesses already here instead of letting redevelopment price them out. Whatever gets built should keep affordable commercial space for local food and makers — not turn into another row of bank branches and chain storefronts.
Fairfax is the antidote to a polished day out. Coffee at the Coffee Roastery, browse the used books at the bookstore, a pint at Iron Springs, and the Sunday market on the parkade. If your visitor wants to see the Marin that is more flannel than fleece-vest, this is it.
There's a small creative streak in the junction already — a framer, a couple of studios. Live/work units would let artists and small fabricators afford to both live and run a shop in the same spot, which keeps the area textured instead of turning it into another bedroom block.
The shops at the junction now — the deli, the cleaners, the little counter spots — are why some of us stop at all. A relocation guarantee and right-of-return at reachable rent during construction would mean redevelopment improves the junction instead of erasing the businesses that give it character.
