New Plans, Goodbyes & NFTs

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The county of Marin made a little news in the sweltering closing days of summer, approving its first economic development plan. The plan is designed to move Marin away from a post-COVID economy to something with an accent on the future.

The product of a partnership between the Marin Economic Forum (MEF) and James Golub Associates, received the blessing of the county Board of Supes August 23. Given the catchy handle of the “Marin Economic Vitality Strategic Plan”, it calls for the county to focus its econ support on just few sectors that include biotech, hospitality-tourism, climate-related businesses, health care and aging, and info technology-multimedia.

The MEF said that while the plan follows behind Covid, its focus is how Marin can move toward a future more aligned with growing sectors developing jobs paying middle and higher wages.

Marin has never taken a formal path toward economic development. Aside from Napa, Marin is the only county without a department or office dedicated to keeping the local econ stoked. In the past, Marin was simply a bedroom community to San Francisco with an educated population that stocked the business sector across the Golden Gate Bridge. But in recent years, and certainly well before the coronavirus pandemic, Marin has become its own employment center.

There have always been unwritten rules when it comes to Marin and business. Smokestack/manufacturing businesses never gained a strong foothold, in part because of the cost of land and in part because the environment has always played a larger role in decision making. And large companies have often left when growth became hard, so small companies dominate the county.

It will be interesting to see how the plan is put to work. A federal government grant of just $133,000 paid for the project ,so it came cheap. With that price tag, the return on investment could be high.

Moving day  

Autodesk, the design software company that began in Marin in 1982, has told its employees—nearly 600—to clear out. The company said it’s leaving its McInnis Parkway office and its Marin employees will be able to work from home or from San Francisco, where the company has had offices on Market Street for years. The Market Street address has been used in the company’s filings with the SEC Since August 2022, foreshadowing its departure for San Francisco.

The company has more than 12,000 employees around the world, so the 578 leaving Marin are only a fraction. But despite the company’s global scale, Autodesk was always identified as a Marin business.

Autodesk’s flagship products were always tied to computer drawing and design and have often been the standard in construction and building as well as architecture. AutoCAD was considered to be a monster program.

The software company will continue to pay on the McInnis lease until 2024 unless it can sublease the space. Originally, the company was headquartered in Sausalito.

A personal note

I’ve been in the writing racket for more than three decades and have had many editors. Some great, some brutal, most in the middle. In my time at this magazine, I’ve been blessed with a trio of editors gifted with the written word and a feel for people, Julie Fadda, Alex Russell and Karen Hart.

And now Ms. Hart is on to her next chapter. Her departure leaves a gap in this periodical. Her edits were smart, and her touch was light. She had a sense of humor and common sense, two vital qualities in an editor.

I will miss talking stories over with her and her insights on this strange place called publishing. She has my warmest wishes for what comes next, and I’m in her debt for how she cared for my work. Karen, be well. Go forth and conquer. And don’t let the bastards get you down.

Your Marin moment

Sam’s Café has always been a colorful place. With an alleged history of running bootleg booze under a dock during prohibition and an outdoor patio that could double as the set for a moneyed Housewives of the Hamptons in the summer, it has always been a gathering place for the tanned and thirsty.

But now the eatery has another hook. For $2,000 you can purchase one of 244 Non-fungible tokens from Sam’s and get in on the cyber-rush. The NFT will have access to Sam’s annual Deckfest in August, airdropped gift cards and various clubby privileges. You say there is a line for Sunday brunch? Well maybe that NFT is going get you a walk on the queue so you can grab that extra spicy Bloody Mary extra fast.

Servino’s, another Tiburon restaurant, is installing their own NFT program with their wine cellar as a tie.

 

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