Marin's top story of 2010 was the economy, period.
The anemic economy had far-reaching impacts -- curbing real estate sales, cutting home values, prompting public agencies to scale back and forcing businesses to scramble to stay afloat. Some, including Tamalpais Bank, went belly up.
As the real estate market continued to stagnate, the county assessor cut the assessed valuations of 20 percent of Marin's residences, providing tax breaks for homeowners. Foreclosures mounted, with a quarter of home sales in November involving distressed properties. For the year, foreclosures hit 403 the first week in December, up from 351 in 2009.
Marin's 8.2 percent jobless rate in November was down from 8.3 percent a year before, yet remained "historically speaking, a pretty high number," said Racy Ming, manager of the Marin Employment Connection.
As sales and property tax revenue dipped, local schools and municipal governments were forced to cut back, drop services and lay off employees.
As the year ended, Target proposed a new big-box store that would pump sales tax dollars into San Rafael city coffers, but smaller businesses clinging to thin margins were among those protesting.
Marin assessor-elect Rich Benson predicted a slow recovery over the next several years, saying "limited signs of improvement" leave room for hope.
"Nobody has a crystal ball," he noted.
And that includes editors at the Marin Independent Journal, who reviewed a host of important stories this year to come up with a top 10 list. Some stories that nearly made the cut: a new permit for the controversial San Rafael Rock Quarry; the prison slaying of repeat DUI offender and convicted murderer Edward Schaefer; a whooping cough epidemic in Marin; Supervisor Susan Adams' defeat of former assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni, in which Adams was backed by a record $125,000 in union spending in the county.
Here are the editors' picks for the other top stories of 2010:
No. 2 - Marin Energy Authority
In May, the Marin Energy Authority, a joint powers authority consisting of the county of Marin and six Marin municipalities, began supplying electricity to its first Marin customers, in competition with Pacific Gas and Electric Co.
Despite dogged efforts by PG&E to scuttle the effort, the authority became the first public entity in the state to utilize a state law passed in 2002 to launch a new, public model for providing electricity to residents. The authority's proponents, including Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan, said they are intent on reducing greenhouse gases by offering customers the chance to purchase electricity that comes from renewable sources and creating local jobs by building new local energy-producing projects.
There are some 9,000 customers participating in the first phase of the Marin Clean Energy program.
No. 3 - Marin General Hospital
At the stroke of midnight on June 30, the Marin Healthcare District regained management control of Marin General Hospital from Sutter Health, ending the hospital's stormy 15-year relationship with the not-for-profit corporation.
Nevertheless, the district and Sutter Health continue to battle in court over whether Sutter illegally transferred millions of dollars of profits from the hospital in the days and months leading up to the early termination of Sutter's lease. Local outrage regarding the cash transfers cost Sutter many of its Marin supporters, including members of the Alliance to Save Our Hospital, who had previously argued the hospital couldn't function without Sutter.
The transfer was completed without any major problems, and the new management, which includes an appointed operating board shielded from political pressure, began forging new alliances with local doctors and laying the grundwork for a bond issue to build a new hospital building, which would be earthquake safe.
No. 4 - SMART
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit plan came up short in 2010. The initial rail plan called for a 70-mile rail line and adjacent bike and pedestrian path to be built from Larkspur to Cloverdale. Voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax in November 2008 to fund it.
But that plan collapsed under the weight of the poor economy -- which weakened the sales tax base on which the system is fueled -- as well as projected cost overruns. Now the plan has an approximate $350 million shortfall and the latest plan has a shortened rail line going from downtown San Rafael to Santa Rosa. The balance of the project may not be built until voters are asked to renew the sales tax in 2018.
No. 5 - Desalination
Marin voters in November told officials to keep studying desalination, as dueling measures appeared on the ballot. Measure S required a vote of the public before the water district could proceed with construction of a desalination plant, but it still would allow the district to spend up to $700,000 to plan for the technology.
Measure T -- an initiative placed on the ballot by desalination critics -- was similar to Measure S in that it also would require a vote of the public to proceed with construction of desalination, but it differed in that it would have prohibited the district from approving any contracts related to planning or building a plant. Both measures received majority approval, but by virtue of receiving more votes the water district's Measure S superseded Measure T.
No. 6 - Cal Park Hill Tunnel
More than 300 people gathered Dec. 10 to help open the revamped Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an 1,100-foot tube that funnels bicyclists, pedestrians and eventually trains between San Rafael and Larkspur in an area just east of Highway 101.
The $28 million project -- the cost split by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency and Marin County -- creates a direct way for bicyclists and pedestrians to get from Andersen Drive in San Rafael to near the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and vice-versa. Previously, circuitous routes that cross busy thoroughfares were the only way to make the trip.
No. 7 - Computer woes
Marin County supervisors, raising what one called the "white flag," pulled the plug on the county's $30 million computer debacle this year, then filed two lawsuits, seeking $105 million from consultants and a former employee for misconduct, fraud and racketeering.
The top-shelf SAP computer system launched in 2006 never worked right and is so costly to maintain that a study indicated it could cost taxpayers $24 million more over the next decade to fix, upgrade and maintain the old system than buying a more efficient program.
"Recognizing past mistakes is the right thing to do," Supervisor Judy Arnold said.
The county is suing computer consultants Deloitte Consulting LLP, SAP and former assistant auditor-controller Ernest Culver, the computer project manager who quit to become an SAP executive.
No. 8. - Sewage spills
While most people were preparing to celebrate the holidays, Ross Valley Sanitary District officials scrambled to contend with two massive sewage spills.
The first, an estimated 840,000-gallon spill, occurred on Dec. 17 in Kentfield. The second, which amounted to about 1.8 million gallons, happened on Dec. 22 in Larkspur near South Eliseo Drive and Bon Air Road. Most of the sewage flowed into Corte Madera Creek.
Members of the public complained they weren't notified of what was going on, several state and local officials also said they received late notices or were not notified.
District officials said the first spill was caused by debris that must have been placed in the pipeline, a possible "act of environmental terrorism." Some district employees, speaking anonymously, said the spill may have been caused by taking the Kentfield pump station off-line during rainy weather. District officials said the second spill was caused by faulty, Techite pipe that was scheduled for replacement in the near future.
No. 9 - Gunnar Sandberg
The dominant story in Marin high school sports centered as much off the field as on it after Marin Catholic High School junior Gunnar Sandberg was struck in the head by a line drive while pitching in a baseball scrimmage game last March. Sandberg suffered a fractured skull and was placed in a medically induced coma before beginning a long recovery period, which continues today.
The injury sparked a national debate about the safety of metal bats, and Marin County Athletic League baseball teams switched to wooden bats for their 2010 spring season, a policy which will remain in effect this spring. The California Interscholastic Federation has since adopted new guidelines for metal bats, with the aim being to slow the speed at which a batted ball travels.
Sandberg, despite short- and long-term memory issues, is now back in school. He plans to play baseball at Marin Catholic this spring -- though he won't pitch -- and is on pace to graduate in June with his senior class.
"We have a lot to be thankful for," said Bjorn Sandberg, who is Gunnar's dad. "But we look forward to 2011 and hope it's going to be uneventful."
No. 10 - Plastic bags
As the year ended, county supervisors embraced a plan banning plastic checkout counter bags and imposing a 5-cent charge on paper bags at grocery outlets in 2012, and scheduled adoption of the measure for early January 2011.
Although a a last-minute change dropped other retail outlets from the ban, supervisors said the ban could be extended to other unincorporated area retailers following "outreach" with them. Local cities are expected to use the measure as a model for their own programs. Plastic bags already are banned in Fairfax.
The crackdown on plastic is a political triumph for Supervisor Charles McGlashan, who has worked on a ban for five years.