Canal Area, San Rafael, California

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Demographics and housing

Most of San Rafael's low-income residents live in the Canal Area, along with many well-to-do residents. There is at least one concern (on Harbor Way) that rents slips for boats that people can live aboard legally. The more affluent residents live in the houses constructed in the 1960s right on the Canal and in two housing developments in the eastern part of the Canal's residential area: Baypoint Lagoons (constructed in the late 1990s) and Spinnaker Point (constructed earlier). Some real-estate agents refer to these two developments as being in "East San Rafael", to avoid the stigma of the name "Canal Area". The low-income homes (almost all of which are apartments) are inhabited mainly by immigrants (legal and illegal), from a variety of countries. Seventy percent are Latinos (mainly Mexican), 11 percent Asian, 10 percent Caucasian, 5 percent African-American and 4 percent are of other ethnic groups. This area is similar to East Palo Alto in that it provides a location for workers who hold low-income jobs that are essential to the functioning of the community to live close to their place of employment.

Parks and public facilities

Between the newer housing developments and the Bay is a paved path called Shoreline Park, which is a scenic place to take a walk or a bike ride. Along with a bike path owned by the Spinnaker Point Homeowner's Association (which forms the West side of the square), Shoreline Park forms a square 0.25 miles (400 m) long and 0.25 miles (400 m) wide. The easiest way to visit Shoreline Park is to visit Pickleweed Park, then to walk east along the north side of the square. Pickleweed Park is home to a large community center and to soccer fields and a playground.

There are many dozen, perhaps hundreds, of stores, shops, offices and other commercial operations in the West and the South of the area (including most of San Rafael's auto-body shops). Country Club Bowl, Marin County's only surviving bowling center, is located here.

Large land users

Industrial Light and Magic occupied many tens of thousands of square feet of office space here and in 1997 built a "main stage" here for the production of movie special effects. The main stage is still in use, but most of the office space was moved to San Francisco in 2005.

Transportation and waste processing facilities

The southeastern portion of the Canal Area, between I-580 and San Quentin Ridge, is the base for several transportation and waste processing facilities serving large portions of Marin County. They include:
* [http://www.cmsa.us/ Central Marin Sanitation Agency] , 1301 Anderson Drive [ [http://www.cmsa.us/ Central Marin Sanitation Agency official site] accessed December 30, 2006]
* Golden Gate Transit bus yard and maintenance facility [ [http://goldengatetransit.org/ Golden Gate Transit official site] accessed December 30, 2006]
* Marin Recycling Center
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-AA-0005&OUT=HTML Marin Resource Recovery Center]
* Marin Sanitary Service and its transfer station
* United Parcel Service

Closed landfills

The "East San Rafael" area (the eastern portion of the Canal Area between the Bay and San Quentin Ridge), was home to most of the garbage disposal sites in central Marin County, including the following (links are to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, Solid Waste Information System, which is continuously updated):
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-AA-0004&OUT=HTML Ghilotti Brothers Disposal Site] , Morphew Street, closed
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-AA-0003&OUT=HTML San Quentin Disposal Site] , 1615 Francisco Boulevard, closed 1988
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-AA-0047&OUT=HTML Horst Hanf Landfill/Bayview Park] , Francisco Boulevard, closed
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-AA-0048&OUT=HTML Bellam Blvd Landfill AKA San Rafael Landfill] , closed 1988
* [http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/SWIS/detail.asp?PG=DET&SITESCH=21-CR-0017&OUT=HTML Francisco Landfill] , Pelican Way at Kerner Boulevard, unpermitted

Notes

External links

* [http://www.canalalliance.org Canal Alliance, a local community organization]