Mill Valley

Mill Valley is located on the western and northern shores of Richardson Bay, and the eastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais. The first people known to inhabit Marin County, the Coast Miwok, arrived approximately 6,500 years ago. More than 600 village sites have been identified, including 14 sites in the Mill Valley area. As of 2011 there are over 1,000 registered members of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, all of whom can date their ancestry back to the original tribal ancestors. The population was 14,231 at the 2020 census. The Mill Valley 94941 ZIP Code also includes the following adjacent unincorporated communities: Almonte, Alto, Homestead Valley, Tamal Pais Valley, and Strawberry. The Muir Woods National Monument is also located just outside the city limits. The city is located about 14 miles (23 km) north of San Francisco via the Golden Gate Bridge and 52 miles (84 km) from Napa Valley. It was originally awarded to Nicolas Galindo in 1835 after being transferred to William A. Richardson in 1838. Just west of Mill Valley, the first land grant in Marin County was awarded to John T. Reed in 1834. The land grant was later transferred to José Figueroa, José Corte Madera del Rio, and William Reed's son-in-law, Al Alonzo Reed, in 1839. The name Richardson was originally a well-connected woman from Europe.

History

The first people known to inhabit Marin County, the Coast Miwok, arrived approximately 6,500 years ago. More than 600 village sites have been identified, including 14 sites in the Mill Valley area. In Mill Valley, on Locust Avenue between Sycamore and Walnut Avenues, there is now a metal plaque set in the sidewalk in the area believed to be the birthplace of Chief Marin in 1781. As of 2011 there are over 1,000 registered members of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, which includes both the CoastMiwok and the Southern Pomo, all of whom can date their ancestry back to the original tribal ancestors. The pre-Missionization population of the Coast miwok may have been as high as 5,000. By 1834, the Mission era had ended and California was under the control of the Mexican government. The Miwoks who had not died or fled were often employed under a state of indentured servitude to the California land grant owners. The first land grant in Marin, Rancho Corte Madera del Presidio, was awarded to John T. Reed in 1838. The Richardson Bay area was later applied to an arm of the San Francisco Bay that brushes up against the eastern edge of Mill Valley. The other three borders encompassed what is now the former CorteMadera and Larkspur areas with the Pacific Ocean on one side and Richardson Bay on the other. In 1836, John Reed married Hilaria Sanchez, the daughter of the commandant of San Francisco.

Geography

Mill Valley has a mild Mediterranean climate which results in relatively wet winters and very dry summers. Winter lows rarely drop below freezing and summer highs rarely peak 90 °F (32 °C) with 90% of the annual rain falling in November through March. Wind speeds average lower than national averages in winter months and higher in summer, and often become quite gusty in the canyon regions of town. Mill Valley is surrounded by hundreds of acres (hectares) of state, federal, and county park lands. In addition, there are many municipally maintained open-space reserves, parks, and coastal habitats which, when taken together, ensconce Mill Valley in a natural wilderness. The Homestead Valley Land Trust maintains many minimally disturbed wildland areas and preserves which are open to the public from sunrise to dusk every day. Several nature trails allow access as well as providing gateway access to neighboring state and federal park lands, and the Mt. Tamalpais Watershed wildland. These are undeveloped natural areas and contain many species of wild animals, including some large predators like the coyote, the bobcat, and a cougar. The Coastal Redwood forests still cover much of the town and surrounding area, and have played such a pivotal role throughout the history of Mill Valley.Mill Valley is also affected by microclimate conditions in the several box canyons with steep north-facing slopes and dense forests which span the southern and western city limits. The wetter winter months tend to make for a more consistent daily relative humidity around 70-90% (slightly higher than US averages).

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Mill Valley had a population of 13,903. There were 6,084 households, out of which 1,887 (31.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them. At the 2000 census, there were 13,600 people, 6,147 households and 3,417 families residing in the city, not including those living in unincorporated territories. The racial makeup of the city in 2010 was 85.8% non-Hispanic White, 0.1% Native American, 5.3% Asian, 0,1% Pacific Islander, and 3.1%. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.5% of the population. The average household size was 2.94. The median income for the city was $90,794, and the family income was $119,669. The population was spread out, with 3,291 people (23.7%) under the Age of 18, 459 people (3.3%) aged 18 to 24, 2,816 people (20.3) aged 25 to 44, 4,714 people (33.9%) aged 45 to 64, and 2,623 people (18.9) who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there are 85.3 males. For each 100 females age 18 and over,there are 80.8 males. There are 6,534 housing units at an average density of 1,348.0 per square mile (520.5/km²), of which 3,974 were owner-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate is 1.2%; the rental vacancy rate was 4. 5%.

Government

Mill Valley is in California's 2nd congressional district, represented by Democrat Jared Huffman. Mill Valley has 10,189 registered voters. Of those, 6,270 are registered Democrats, 965 are registered Republicans, and 2,605 have declined to state a political party. From 2008 to 2012, Huffman represented Marin County in the California State Assembly. In the California Legislature, Mill Valley is located in the 10th Assembly District, 2nd Senate District, and 3rd Assembly District. The city is in the San Francisco Bay Area and the San Joaquin Valley, and is located near the San Diego County line. It has a population of about 10,000 people (as of February 10, 2019) and is in Marin County, California, which is in San Diego and the northern San Diego region of the Bay Area. The town has a median household income of about $30,000, and has a high school graduation rate of about 80%. The city has a low crime rate of less than 10% and a low unemployment rate of around 10%. The town is located on the California Bay Area Peninsula, in the northern part of Marin County. It is near the border with San Diego, California and the southern part of the San Luis Obispo County, where it is in Sonora and Imperial Counties. It also has a small percentage of residents who live in the Los Angeles County area, at about 10% of the city's total population. The area has a history of being heavily affected by the Great Recession.

Cityscape

Mill Valley is located beneath Mount Tamalpais. The median price for a single-family home was in excess of $1.5 million as of 2005. In 2007, MSN and Forbes magazine ranked Mill Valley seventy-third on its "Most expensive zip codes in America" list. Mill Valley has a costly but popular "steps, lanes, and paths program" that provides improved pedestrian access between many of the winding and twisting residential roads that cover the hillsides. Blue stencils on the roadway mark certain paths as potential emergency escape routes from the fire prone hills. The city maintains many recreational parks which often contain playgrounds, wooded trails and other designated areas specifically designed for playing various sports. Dogs are required to be on leashes in all but one of these parks, which is specifically designated a dog park to allow the option of off-leash exercise. For those who prefer to enjoy nature from the comfort of a chair, the city's public library is nestled in a serene and scenic location at the edge of Old Mill Park where visitors may relax indoors near the wood-burning fireplace and view the redwood forest through the library's multi-storied windows. In 2009 resident Matt Connelly threatened litigation alleging that some of the proposed paths represent a seizure of private property (even though some antique maps suggest that certain potential easements could be thought of as the justification for future steps, lanes and paths). This is the first time that the city has been listed as a city.

Education

Mill Valley has five elementary schools and one middle school. The public high school is part of the Tamalpais Union High School District. The municipal library overlooks Old Mill Park and provides many picturesque reading locations, as well as free computer and Internet access. Mill Valley Public Library is also home to the Lucretia Hanson Little History Room, which has thousands of books, photographs, newspapers, pamphlets, artifacts, and oral histories on the history of California, Marin County, and Mill Valley. Recently they have begun offering Museum Passes to 94941 residents for free entry to Bay Area museums. As part of Mill Valley's decision to "go Green", the library has a Sustainability Collection with books and DVDs with information about how to become more environmentally friendly. The library first digitized its vast holdings under the stewardship of Thelma Weber Percy, who was determined to see the Mill Valley public Library come into the computer age. The Mill Valley School District is a four-time winner of the California Distinguished School Award. The school district serves students in grades PK-8. Marin Horizon School is an independent school. Founded in 1977, the school enrolls approximately 285 students. Greenwood School is a independent school located in downtown Mill Valley, serving preschool-8th grade students. The district's high school, Tamal Pais High School, serves central and southern Marin County. The high school's five campuses serve central andSouthern Marin County and serve students in PK-12.

Annual events

Mill Valley is the home of several annual events, many of which attract national and international followings. The Mountain Play, Fall Arts Festival, and Mill Valley Shakespeare in Old Mill Park Amphitheater are just a few of the events held in Mill Valley. Mill Valley is also home to the annual Dipsea Race and the Mill Valley Film Festival. The town is also the site of the annual Mill Valley Fall Arts festival and the Fall Valley Shakespeare Festival. It is home to a number of other festivals and events, including the Summer Film Festival and the Summer Shakespeare Festival, as well as the Fall Festival of the Arts and the Winter Film and Music Festival, which takes place in the Fall of each year. The city also hosts the annual Fall Valley Race, which is held every year in the summer. The Fall Valley Fall Festival is one of the largest races in the United States, with more than 1,000 participants. The fall festival also features the Fall Arts Film Festival, the Fall Fall Music Festival and a Fall Arts Music and Dance Festival, among other events. In the fall, Mill Valley also hosts a Fall Festival for the Performing Arts, which draws thousands of people to the town's Mill Valley Amphitheaters. The annual Fall Arts Arts Festival is held in the fall and runs until the end of the year. It also hosts an annual Fall Festival in the spring, which runs from September through October. The festival is known for its performances by Mill Valley actors and musicians. It has been held at Mill Valley for more than 50 years.

Arts and crafts

Mill Valley is known for being a village with a strong artistic heritage. A visitor to downtown Mill Valley will discover many art galleries, open-air coffee shops, and other hallmarks of a thriving artistic community. Mill Valley is also home for the Marin Theatre Company, and the Mountain Play Association which hosts annual musical productions in Mill Valley's neighboring Mount Tamalpais State Park. For several years the Curtain Theatre Group has also been performing annual free Shakespeare plays among the redwoods on the Old Mill Park Amphitheatre behind the Mill Valley Library. The Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival has been sponsored for over fifty years and also the Mill valley Film Festival for over thirty years. The Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the annual Gourmet Food and Wine Tasting in Lytton Square for many years. In addition to supporting the local 142 Throckmorton Theatre, which hosts theater of all levels, Mill Valley also supports the California Film Institute, which is part of the California Institute of the Arts.

In media

Mill Valley has been home to many artists, actors, authors, musicians, and TV personalities. It is the setting for or is mentioned in many artworks, and has been in the films of Woody Allen, Paul Verhoevens, Pete Sears, and Bob Weir. It was also the setting of Jack Finney's novel The Body Snatchers, although the film and subsequent movie versions of the book have been set elsewhere. It has also been the home of writer Jack Kerouac and beat poet Gary Snyder, who shared a cabin in 1955-56 while living in Marin County. The town has been featured in many films, including American Graffiti, Basic Instinct, and The Great Gatsby, among many other works of art and culture. It also has been the location of the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The U.N. World Cup has been held in Mill Valley since 1986. The city is home to the Marin County Museum of Art, which was founded in 1881. The Marin County Board of Supervisors has a museum dedicated to the history of Marin County and the California Golden Gate Bridge, which dates back to the 18th century. The San Francisco Bay Area has a long history of being home to artists, writers, and musicians, including Bob Weir, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bob Seger, John Lennon, and Hank Williams, Jr. John Lennon and Yoko Ono summered in the early 1970s, having left some of his own graffiti on the wall of the residence "The Maya the Merrier".

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Mill Valley, Marin County, California = 85. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 100. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Mill Valley = 5.2 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 14,231 individuals with a median age of 47.6 age the population dropped by -1.70% in Mill Valley, Marin County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 2,993.7 residents per square mile of area (1,155.88/km²). There are average 2.22 people per household in the 5,988 households with an average household income of $112,807 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 8.10% of the available work force and has dropped -5.75% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 20.40%. The number of physicians in Mill Valley per 100,000 population = 492.6.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Mill Valley = 37.4 inches and the annual snowfall = 0.1 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 82. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 255. 84 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 39.4 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 51, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Mill Valley, Marin County, California which are owned by the occupant = 63.10%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 48 years with median home cost = $849,820 and home appreciation of -21.73%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $6.29 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $6,319 per student. There are 18.6 students for each teacher in the school, 508 students for each Librarian and 1229 students for each Counselor. 3.76% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 37.78% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 32.76% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).