Dear Judge Haakenson,
I just have a simple question to consider. At some point David’s money may run out and then what would happen? He will be 75 this year and is also suffering from Lyme. If there is any way to draw this whole situation to an end, for the benefit of his physical and financial health and have some peace in the later years of his life, that would be most helpful. As I’m sure the County wants to be done with this too.
Sincerely,
Jeanette Freudenberger
Thank you, Dxxxx. Here is a more prolix summary of what I told Dunker Donuts Sxxxx, based on reporting he sent me:
Jxxx
Pecked, Poorly Thumbed from iPhone of:
Jxxx Mxxx Cxxx
June 19, 2019
Hello Jxx,
1) I’m hearing the hearing was good news. Even the judge said I should be jumping up and down with joy. Yeah. Sure. Any good news must have resulted from your letter. Thanks to you and Duncan and a half dozen others who worked on it. So a big thanks and a pat on the back to us all. Yet another reprieve, albeit a short one, two months.
2) Maybe I’m a product of the sixties but I thought it was a good thing to deal with ones own shit. This could have many interpretations. Shit is an important link with sustainable living. It’s actually the backbone of all my biological systems – worms, or more specifically worm casts, is what powers them. Worm casts is a polite way of saying worm shit. Even Charles Darwin recognized their importance and wrote his last book on earthworms: The Formation of Vegetable Mould throughthe Action of Worms. “Vegetable mould” is another polite way of saying worm shit. I say…
Support Your Local Underground Movement!
Worms work. This has been my focus of my life for nearly a half a century. Worm casts is nature’s finest fertilizer and brings healthy life back to the soil. My tasty garden food is living proof of it’s magic. Yes I’m proud to “plant my flag atop Pooh Hill”.
Le Grand Pissoir
-a self-contained bio-digestive toilet system
I have built Le Grand Pissoir responsibly to guarantee that what goes on inside, stays inside, until harvest. It is completely self-contained and isolated from the environment beyond its footprint. Even another deluge as we had in ’82 would not cause the systems to spill into the environment. So bring out the lab folks in white coats with their testing vials before screaming environmental health hazard.
The mountains of paperwork that has been generated by the County over The Last Resort is staggering. One does not become more informed by reading their reports, rather you will be misinformed (example: they claim the lake where Titanic II is moored is “sewage water from the toilet” – in fact it is 100% rain water!) If any guest does not feel comfortable feeding our worms through Le Grand Pissoir, they are welcome to use the indoor conventional sanitized white porcelain toilet that is hooked up to a tested, inspected, and approved concrete septic tank (and all documentation is on file with the County).
3) Of course you’re not the first person to suggest I abandon my grey water systems and composting toilets, that Government and County Health would never never never ever condone such systems. Toilet and turds are taboo and best left to others who make protection of our lives their livelihood. Unfortunately septic tanks are archaic, obsolete, and can never be made sustainable. The whole concept is wrong. Annual inspection, pumping, disposal, and regulatory fees are all unnecessary expenses incurred by residents. Waste is not waste until its wasted.
I’ve never suggested others should live their lives like I do. Heaven forbid! But I am shouting out as loud as I can, that the way we’re currently living on earth has brought our planet into a major crisis. We are in the midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction (but unlike the other five, this one is human caused). Shouldn’t our government at least be having a discussion on some alternatives?
No Jim. I’m too old and too tired to start anew at another location. Besides it would set me back 45 years with only just an idea that I once believed in but failed miserably because I couldn’t convince the authorities its worth. When I sold my last business for a million dollars I thought I was on the road to retirement. Because I didn’t have a clever tax person, I ended up paying $450,000 in taxes to the government. Oh well I thought. Now that I’ve paid into the system at least that makes me a good citizen, right? (I resented that most of that money went to our war machine.) Mark Twain said it best, “patriotism is loving your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it!”
Our poop is a resource.
Our water is precious.
Our soil is sacred.
(and no one can scare me into believing otherwise.)
I have no compassion to help those who suffer from acute fecalphobia. My reaction to this is a question. Why do we shit into our drinking water and think its a good thing? It is so difficult and expensive to get it back to drinking water again (and why is flushing with grey water still illegal?)
No. I’m a dreamer. Le Grand Pissoir has far exceeded my original expectations. The results are quite remarkable. The system is easily scalable to service several homes or an entire community. My system could resolve the problems on the Woodacre Flats. It is said our minds are like parachutes; they only work when open. I have no desire to get involved with local politics over the failing septic tank issue.
Yes TLR is needing to be gussied up. I’m constantly working on that one.
4) When the County issues me an experimental permit for Le Grand Pissoir, we can change the conversation and focus on giving visitors new and creative ideas. May they return home with a little bit more hope for the future and may they plant their own seeds for a better tomorrow.
5) Shut down and document? Isn’t that the same principle they use with documenting species on the verge of extinction?
6) Jim, I certainly don’t have the political experience as you to draw on and I respect your perspective. I’m certainly not savvy with Washington politics and I’m really at a loss in how to proceed. Still, I have my dignity and I know I didn’t do a bad thing here. Isn’t it enough that I’m willing to give up ownership of the property and donate my life’s work to the San Geronimo Valley Community through The Lagunitas Project? Must I really come up with a million dollars as well for the County in order for my gift to be accepted?
I certainly can’t predict the future, nor change the past, but I certainly am not going limp away with my tail between my legs. I have to face my own reality that I’ve probably been scofflaw all my life, and at 75 I’m not to easily rehabilitated. I’m putting my hope with the non-profit The Lagunitas Project.
I’m still in disbelief that someone can simply sign a piece of paper and all of a sudden my home of 46 years is no longer my home. My last two attorneys kept telling me to remove all tea, art, and any valuables off the property; that the Receiver could show up any time with an empty 20 foot van and just start hauling stuff off the property. Really!! And all this just because I didn’t have a building permit? Cruel and unusual punishment? Elder abuse? Or just the way of the world?
Please excuse my rambling. I struggle with difficulty writing letters. The last time I looked there were some 1600 unanswered emails in my inbox. Well now I have one less. Thanks again for your support.
By the way, if you’re still willing to drop into Jared Huffman’s office, we can certainly use some high-powered catalyst to help sanity prevail…
Best,
David Lee Hoffman, CDO
The Last Resort
Marin County Superior Court Judge Paul Haakenson warned, however, that this might indeed be Hoffman’s last resort.
Hoffman, who gained notoriety as an importer of exotic teas, has been battling with Marin County for many years over some 36 buildings he constructed without proper permits on his property at 2 Alta Ave. and 230 Cintura Ave.
Hoffman settled on the property in 1973 and modified existing cabin-style residences that had been built in the early 1900s. He also added storage buildings, ponds, retaining walls and ornamental structures — including a full-size replica of a fishing boat suspended in a pond of rainwater — all without permits.
“It is a work of art; it is my life’s work,” Hoffman, who represented himself in court Friday, told Haakenson.
County health inspectors were not impressed, however, by Hoffman’s unpermitted outdoor composting toilet or his kitchen composting system that used worms and a series of open-air moats. They said the moats were a breeding ground for mosquitoes and the toilet threatened the aquifer and nearby streams with contamination from sewage.
Hoffman owes the county close to $1 million in unpaid taxes, fees and penalties, and the cost of retrofitting the structures to bring them into compliance with county code has been estimated at $2.2 million.
In 2015, Haakenson appointed a receiver to manage the property and make the necessary changes, including, if needed, demolishing the unpermitted structures and selling the property to recoup associated costs.
On Friday, Haakenson told Hoffman that a day of reckoning is swiftly approaching. He gave Hoffman 60 days to talk with the county about the possibility of dismissing the receiver and mapping out a plan for paying the money owed and making the necessary changes to make the structures legal.
Haakenson said no matter how sympathetic he might be to Hoffman’s plight he can’t ignore the outstanding violations.
“Unfortunately, this robe doesn’t give me that kind of power,” Haakenson said.
There is, however, a ray of hope for the Last Resort. Last fall, a group of Hoffman’s supporters created the Lagunitas Project, a nonprofit whose main mission is to preserve the Last Resort by transferring ownership of the property to a charitable trust. The Lagunitas Project would serve as trustee.
“We would hope the receiver would step down once the penalties and fees are resolved and the property goes into the trust,” said Paul Seaton, the Lagunitas Project’s executive director.
Seaton said the Lagunitas Project has raised $100,000 so far.
Deputy County Counsel Brian Case told Haakenson on Friday that the county is willing to discuss the possibility of dismissing the receiver and once again working directly with Hoffman on creating a plan to bring the property into compliance.
Haakenson told Hoffman he should appreciate the county’s generous offer to consider turning back the clock.
“If I were you, I’d by crying out in joy,” Haakenson told him.
Haakenson told Hoffman he should also be grateful for the efforts of the receiver, Eric Beatty, who has secured a tentative agreement with federal, state and local regulatory agencies to accept off-site mitigation, instead or requiring him to move his structures out of Cintura and Alta creeks.
To demonstrate that he is serious about negotiating, Hoffman took what he said was $60,000 in cash out of his briefcase and put it on the table in front of him. Hoffman said he has already spent half a million dollars on attorney fees.
Hoffman is hoping that Marin County will accept his bid to apply California Historical Building Code rules to his structures instead of the county’s more stringent building code. Last year, Haakenson rejected a request to validate the Marin County Architectural Commission’s determination in 2016 that all 36 of the Last Resort’s structures have “architectural significance.”
In his tentative ruling, Haakenson wrote that he was not opposed to allowing the restoration of the property under the less onerous regulatory requirements, but the county would have to sign off on such a plan.
While Case said the county is open to discussion of the matter, he said Hoffman has not presented it with any substantive proposal.
Case noted that in a June 7 court filing, the receiver, Beatty, wrote that “The Lagunitas Project does include any discussion of restoration of the altered watercourses across the properties or preservation of the water retention basins or retaining walls at the properties.”
Beatty also wrote in the filing that “The Lagunitas Project provides no offer of funding to the receivership estate for the receiver to complete any of the work needed to move forward with a plan of rehabilitation for any structures or improvements.”
He added, “It is not financially feasible for the receiver to undertake the complicated assessment and documentation process unless the delinquent property taxes are paid in full and the receivership estate is supplied with at least $425,000 in immediate funding.”
The Last Resort
June 3rd, 2019
Dear Supervisor Rodoni,
Thank you again for meeting with me. I greatly appreciated your making time for discussing the situation at the Last Resort and wanting to help us move to a resolution in the best interests of all concerned.
We both know the history of the situation, and agree that mistakes were made. And we both agree that the current situation with the Receiver will not take us to a satisfactory conclusion.
As Supervisor, you are in a position to help move us to a more positive path, and anything you can do to make that happen would be most welcome.
I implore you to write a letter to the Court making concrete suggestions on how the situation can best be resolved. Please use any of the points made below.
My next court date with Judge Haakenson is this Friday, June 7th at 9 a.m, Courtroom F. It would certainly help our situation to have a positive letter from you to show the judge. Many of our supporters are also anxious to hear your position.
While I respect the need for legal representation, after having nine attorneys represent me without success, I am representing myself. Having spent more than $500,000 onlegal fees, the situation is not resolved.
I am proposing a new approach:
We hope a commitment to the points above will settle all legal issues and ensure the continued existence of my life’s work!
Sincerely,
David Lee Hoffman, CDO
