A message for Marin residents who love the elephant fountain at Town Center mall

I agree with the sentiments expressed in this letter.  If you’re a Marin resident and agree too, think about sending an email or showing up at the June 17 meeting:

Hi all, The new Property Management firm of our Corte Madera Town Center is planning on making drastic changes to the Center. The firm is not located in the Bay Area so isn’t familiar with our Town and has hired architects to come up with a design, but they don’t understand the features that we value. To them, the clock tower at the Town Center is a “landmark,” and they want to make it even more prominent. Interestingly, if you ask people in Corte Madera about the clock tower, most will give you a puzzled look or will think you mean the tower at The Village shopping center across the freeway. What people do identify with in the CM Town Center is…..The Elephant Fountain! It has become a meeting place, a reference point, a familiar and enjoyed part of the center—it does ID the Town Center. Children and adults alike have been drawn to the charming sculpture of the elephant with the cute little mouse (look closely) on the elephant’s head holding an umbrella to protect itself from the water spraying from the elephant’s trunk. Now, it is to be no more!

The plan is to demolish, redesign and rebuild the clock tower, put a lighted face on it, and totally tear out the Elephant Fountain for more space. The area in front of the fountain is wide and flat and a perfect place for small tables and for musical gatherings as it is. On Sunday an Elvis impersonator was entertaining a crowd and helping people forget the heat. A welcome enhancement might be some shade for our very hot days.

The Elephant Fountain is an iconic landmark and a water feature—it’s the fun of water spraying from the elephant’s trunk plus the water in the base of the fountain—that attracts children who are accompanied by parents/grandparents (shoppers) to the Corte Madera Town Center. The Elephant Fountain’s central location draws people to the center of the Center. Destroying the Elephant Fountain and moving the elephant sculpture alone to another part of the Town Center is NOT acceptable.

Please share this email with friends, post on Big Tent, post on Facebook, post on your Nextdoor and join with us in sending an email to the CM Town Councilmembers asking them to Please save the Elephant Fountain for us and not to approve the proposed “design.” The CM Town Council is holding a Public Hearing at their meeting on Tuesday, June 17, at 7:30 p.m. and this is when the decisions are expected to be made. Please email the Mayor and each Councilmember by this weekend. I know this is short notice but I just learned about the meeting and we need to act quickly. If you care, if you can, please show up at the meeting—I’m planning on being there. Please feel free to copy any/all of this email.

Phyllis Galanis for
Friends of the Elephant Fountain

The Corte Madera Town Council members’ email addresses:

Mayor Michael Lappert [email protected]
Vice Mayor Carla Condon [email protected]
Councilmember Sloan Bailey [email protected]
Councilmember Diane Furst [email protected]
Councilmember Bob Ravasio [email protected]

You may want to send an email to Adam Wolff, our new Planning Director at:
[email protected]