Marin News

If you're a parent with small children in Novato, then you probably know all about Playtime Safari, the wonderful indoor children's playspace on Nave Drive at the south end of town. If you don't know about it, you can read about it here. Created and run by Marin mompreneur Yvonne Goodrich, Playtime Safari offers families a big 4,000-square-foot indoor playspace, as well as classes, workshops, concerts, birthday parties, and more. It's a great resource, and unfortunately it's about to go away. It seems Playtime Safari has been given a 60-day notice to terminate its lease, in an effort to get it to sign a long-term lease that will nearly triple its existing rent. So as of now, Playtime Safari will close its doors forever on November 5, 2008. If you would like to support the business and let the landlords know how you feel about Playtime Safari closing, please contact them at:

Kahl & Goveia Commercial Real Estate
c/o Bruce Kahl & Joe Goveia
250 Brooks Street
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
(949) 376-1100

There will be a signature drive at Playtime Safari, so you can stop by during opening hours and sign a letter along with other local parents. Attached below is a copy of the letter if you'd like to use it for the basis of your own message. Playtime Safari is located at 5470 Nave Drive in Novato, and is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:30 am to 3 pm and Wednesday from 9:30 am to 6 pm.

Starting tomorrow, July 22, 2008, the City of Novato will begin enforcing a strict secondhand smoke ordinance. Some will see it as a draconian assault on their rights; most will probably consider it a breath of fresh air. Either way, it prohibits smoking within 20 feet of operable doors or windows of buildings, bus stops, ATMs, and ticket lines, as well as at any park, public event, restaurant, bar, and even within apartment buildings. Exceptions are inside private residences and tobacco shops. (Is there a tobacconist in Novato? Telford's Pipe and Cigar in Mill Valley is the only one I can think of in the county, although as a non-smoker, I admittedly don't know really have a need to know much about them.)

Fines range from $100 to $500, depending on the number of violations.

Forbes has named Marin County number 15 on its list of the top 20 places in the country to raise a family. Rankings are largely based on school quality, followed by other factors like cost of living, air quality, crime rate, and commute time. One thing they ding us for is the astronomical media home price, but of course we know that this factors in things like $25 million-dollar estates in Belvedere as well as less costly homes in perfectly fine communities like Novato and San Rafael.

Read the article here on Forbes.com.

Forbes also declared last year that Marin had the best schools in the nation.

Apparently more and more parents in Marin are sending their children to pricey private summer day camps like Camp Galileo and Steve and Kate's Camp. Of course these camps often offer innovative features and activities made possible by the higher prices. Read what local towns are doing to compete the Marin IJ:

Towns' summer camps try to compete with private programs - Worried about competition from an increasing number of private day camps, San Anselmo Recreation Coordinator Dana Gibson decided to make the town's programs more