In an effort to incentivize the abundance of cinema lovers coming to Mill Valley Oct. 8–18 for the 38th Mill Valley Film Festival, the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce and the California Film Institute have created the "That's the Ticket" discount program, whereby festival attendees can receive a discount at more than 50 retail shops, restaurants and businesses throughout the 94941 by presenting a physical MVFF38 ticket.

The program comes on the heels of the Chamber's creation of the "Chamber Saver" discount program for Chamber Members and the "Art Lovers Save" program for attendees of the Mill Valley Fall Art Festival.

Go here or click the image below for the full list of participating merchants and their discounts.

With residents set to vote on Nov. 3 for who should fill three open seats on the Mill Valley City Council, dozens of local business owners packed into La Ginestra restaurant on October 6 to hear the five candidates vying for those slots dive into the issues most important to the economic vitality of our community. Equator Coffees & Teas provided delicious coffee and pastries and the League of Women Voters of Marin County moderated.

The discussion kicked off with a focus on economic vitality, with each candidate noting the strength and health of the local economy, particularly compared to the years after the recession.

“The Chamber is vibrant and active in supporting the business community,” Knauer said. “My role as a council member would be as a partner with the Chamber and City staff to promote the businesses. I will be a major proponent and advocate for business in our community.”

Brooks and Wickham emphasized the impact of the local business community on the City’s budget via sales tax revenue.

“Local business helps everything we do here in town,” Wickham said. He also lamented the loss of some resident-serving businesses over the years. “We’re not a full service community anymore – it would be nice to bring those businesses into our town.”

“I actually have a very optimistic view of the Mill Valley business landscape,” Brooks said. “Entrepreneurs are attracted to Mill Valley. I will be a strong advocate, in a sensible way, for local businesses.”

Moulton-Peters applauded local efforts to promote the arts in Mill Valley as one of the community’s greatest strengths and attractions to both residents and visitors, and suggested continuing to grow that effort.

Improving the Permitting Process
When asked about ways to improve the costs and delays that can come with commercial permit applications, the candidates said increasing efficiency and focusing on customer service is key.

“We can do more in the way in removing government impediments and streamlining commercial tenant improvements,” McEntee said. “We need to allow businesses to do their thing without being held back."

Moulton-Peters acknowledged the impact that the controversy around the surge in residential projects along Lovell Ave. had on the planning and building process. “We had to double down and see how we were managing things,” she said. “You have all lived through a slowdown. But now we’re taking steps to open up and streamline the permitting process. We are trying to be more responsive and there is more to do.”

Those steps have included bringing the vast majority of “plan checks” in-house, depending less on contracted assistance and adding clarity and predictability to the process.

“As a Councilman, I would simply tell the City Manager: Fix it,” Wickham said.

Brooks suggested that with the City in the midst of a residential renovation boom, we “need to look at increasing the size of the City’s resources in that department.”

McEntee also suggested a Marin Master Gardener-style program for building in Mill Valley, whereby those developers and architects with a proven track record for success and compliance in town could be leveraged to pass along that knowledge to others.

Miller Avenue Streetscape Project
With the Miller Avenue Streetscape Project set to kick off in 2016, candidates honed in on a variety of ways to manage the disruption to Miller businesses.

Wickham said the City and the Chamber should continue to work closely on reaching out to businesses, as evidence by the August forum for business owners that saw City officials and the project’s consultants unveil the schedule and implementation plan to minimize the impact on parking and access to businesses.

“City staff needs to be out there talking to businesses,” he said.

Brooks suggested that the impact on different businesses in terms of size and age will be different, as older and larger businesses can more easily manage the weeks of heaviest impact. “But I would have the City bind its contractors to a timeline,” he said.

Knauer said the hard work in terms of outreach to businesses and planning should be happening right now.

“It’s critical that all parties are involved in making sure that impact on businesses that this project has is minimized,” he said. “And the time to be working on that is now.”

“The communication with businesses is going to be absolutely critical,” McEntee added.  “It would be great for the Chamber to be an extension of staff.”

Moulton-Peters noted that City officials altered an initial plan of doing construction in the “Main Street” section of Miller where most of the businesses are located in the spring or fall after receiving feedback from business owners.

“The City is really committed to making this work for business,” she said.

Chamber of Commerce
Each of the candidates said they strongly supported the City’s professional services agreement with the Chamber and the tangible set of deliverables attached to it. Several also suggested that the agreement could be expanded for the Chamber to provide additional services.

"I strongly support the activities of the Chamber and the agreement itself," Knauer said. 

“The Chamber is a strong communications partner in a lot of things we do at the City,” McEntee said.

“There may be room to expand this agreement,” Moulton-Peters added.

Traffic
While the economy and business issues were the focus of much of the forum, candidates spent several minutes discussing the elephant in the room: traffic and, to a lesser but still significant degree, parking.

Moulton-Peters said she looks forward to the challenge.

“I’m not afraid of our traffic problem,” she said. “We have a real chance at reducing our traffic by 15-20 percent with a variety of solutions, including school buses. Mill Valley is posed to use them if we have the poltical will to fund them. That will pull a lot of traffic off our main arteries.”

All of the candidates suppoeted the idea of testing the viability and success of school buses, particularly for students at Strawberry Point and Edna Maguire elementary schools on ether side of the heavily congested Hwy. 101.

The candidates closed the forum by reminding the crowd about why they were running for Council.

"The course of the City is going to be defined in the next four years and beyond," Knauer said.

“Mill Valley – the words themselves evoke this ethereal, fantasy unrealistic place,” Brooks said. “That was the case when I moved here 20 years ago and it still is true today. We have a vibrant art and business community, highly effect governmentt and services.”

“Mill Valley is a place worth fighting for,” McEntee added.

Tripta Dhillon’s life changed irrevocably for the better a year ago, though it certainly felt like quite the opposite at the time.

Dhillon, who owns Prabh Indian Kitchen restaurant in downtown Mill Valley with her husband Raghbir Dhindsa, was at home with her two-year-old son Rajveer, helping him put his Halloween costume on before they went to a party. As they got set to leave the house, Rajveer collapsed. The family dashed over to the emergency room at Marin General. He was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes soon thereafter.

“I was just so devastated,” Dhillon says.

But for Dhillon, within the trauma of that moment came the resolve to help others who’ve gone through a similar experience. She immediately went into action, researching the wide range of supporting organizations and identifying ways to help.

On November 14, Prabh is hosting its 2nd annual benefit for the Bionic Pancreas Team at Boston University. The “Bollywood Night” event will feature a 7-course dinner and an array of live entertainment, including Bollywood dance music.

“I now feel that god has a message for me,” she says of Rajveer’s diagnosis. “I now have more compassion.  It has opened many doors in my heart and it has opened me up to the community.”

Dhillon, who grew up in northern India, moved to the United States in 1986 with her first husband, with whom she has a now-23-year-old son. She’s lived most of the past two decades in Marin.

“Once you move here, you don’t want to live anywhere else,” she says with a laugh.

While Dhillon was living in San Anselmo, she met Dhindsa through mutual friends and they married soon after. In late 2013, they bought Prabh from their friends Harjeet and Joti Singh, and moved to Mill Valley.

“For the parents of children living with any serious medical condition, it is extremely hard,” she adds. “We are a working family struggling to run our business. But now I see that we can help others go through it like we are.”

The 411: Prabh Indian Kitchen’s “Bollywood Night” fundraiser for Type I Diabetes is November 14 at 6:30pm at 24 Sunnyside Avenue. Call 415.384.8421 for more info. GO HERE to buy tickets.

Ged Robertson has spent the bulk of his time and attention since he bought Shoreline Coffee Shop in 2011 on admittedly "un-sexy" work: updating the "bones" of one of the oldest restaurants in southern Marin.

That meant new infrastructure, new kitchen equipment, a new HVAC system, new plumbing and electrical systems, a new ADA-compliant bathroom, a modest but much-needed patio. But with much of that heavy lifting in the rearview mirror in 2015, Robertson set his sights on a less structural but still vital component of the restaurant.

"It was time to to give the Shoreline Coffee Shop an identity, its unique signature," he says of his decision to revamp the 53-year-old restaurant's branding and signage. "It had to represent what we are doing now with organics and using local farms, but also be true to the time period and the authentic place that has been enjoyed by our community since 1962."

Robertson reached out to widely known designer Robert Van Horne, whose work for restaurants like Molina, which Robertson co-owns, and San Francisco stalwarts like Delfina, Locanda and Tosca Cafe has drawn acclaim.  

In a serendipitous twist, Van Horne directed Robertson to a man he already knew, but not for his work: Mill Valley resident James Van Kriedt. 

"I was immediately energized by James' passion, his detail for authenticity in typography and the love for his craft was very refreshing," Robertson says. "We quickly aligned on vision and landed on colors of our turquoise coffee mugs and our coffee shop hot sauce. The rest was back at his studio."

"I’d driven by the place for years and was very excited when I got the call to contribute to this community gem," Vam Kriedt says. "Researching vintage menus and matchbooks led to the visual solution which features appropriate colors, textures and typefaces. Including hand drawn illustrations, inspired by those of that time period, adds a touch of modernism and character that really allow the brand to stand on its own today. This was a very fun project, and it being in Mill Valley was a bonus for me to also enjoy it."

Robertson, one of the major investors in the Sweetwater Music Hall whose popular downtown restaurant Small Shed Flatbreads morphed into Molina from chef Todd Shoberg in 2014, bought Shoreline in late 2011 from Tam Valley resident and longtime owner Santiago Ojeda. Robertson shifted the menu with an eye on local and organic ingredients like eggs from Woolly Egg Ranch on Tennessee Valley Road and bread from Green Gulch Farm off Hwy. 1.

What do you think of Shoreline Coffee Shop's new look?