When Our Waterfront Thrives, Sausalito Thrives
Our waterfront is struggling. You can see it with your own eyes: vacant lots, rusting RV storage, dilapidated empty buildings, flooded streets and deteriorating infrastructure.
Behind what you see are 40-year-old laws written for a different time.
They hold our waterfront businesses back from adapting, innovating and reinvesting. Many can't start or stay here, and end up putting their creativity and investment elsewhere.
Measure X changes that. It updates outdated laws so our small businesses can thrive.
It helps existing businesses stay and makes room for more small businesses we love.
Measure X helps bring our neglected spaces back to life.
It generates more tax revenue to mitigate sea-level rise and fix Sausalito’s aging infrastructure—reducing the pressure for higher taxes on residents.
Vote YES on Measure X • November 3
Measure X — on the the Nov 3, 2026 ballot
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Measure X — the Arts, Industrial & Maritime Preservation and Improvement (AIM) Initiative — is a citizen-led measure on Sausalito’s November 3, 2026 ballot.
It updates 40-year-old laws written for a different time, giving our waterfront businesses a fighting chance to adapt, innovate, reinvest and thrive—while helping generate more tax revenue to fix aging infrastructure and invest in Sausalito’s future.
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Because a thriving waterfront works for all of us.
When our waterfront businesses succeed, they invest, create jobs and generate more tax revenue to help fix aging infrastructure, support city services and reduce the pressure for higher taxes on residents.
It also means more of the things we'd love to see on our waterfront—local businesses, maker spaces, cafés, coffee shops, public docks and places to gather and enjoy the water.
Measure X lets our waterfront work for all of Sausalito.
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The problems we see today don't go away. They will just get worse. Aging buildings and infrastructure will continue to deteriorate, while flooding and sea-level rise become more costly to address.
Many of the businesses we love may leave. And businesses we'd love to have may never come—taking their ideas, creativity and investment somewhere else.
Without a stronger tax base to help pay for our growing needs and aging infrastructure, the pressure for higher taxes on residents only increases.
That's the cost of doing nothing.
Let Our Waterfront Work Better for All of Us
Vote YES on Measure X on November 3, 2026
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For the first time in 40 years, Sausalito voters have a choice:
Let the waterfront continue to decline—leaving residents to foot the bill —or let local businesses grow and reinvest, generating more tax revenue to build sea walls, fix our roads and secure our hillsides. There is a cost to doing nothing. It’s time to do something.
Measure X is on the Ballot this November. It will fix what’s broken. Protect What We Love. Build a Better Future for All of Us.
Vote YES on Measure X on November 3, 2026
Quotes from Businesses, Community Leaders, & Residents
“My family owns Sausalito Yacht Harbor. We have a significant investment in the future of our waterfront. We would never support anything that harms our businesses or the character of Sausalito. The reality is our waterfront infrastructure is aging and deteriorating because current rules have made reinvestment extremely difficult. AIM will help create a path to rebuild infrastructure, address sea-level rise, and support a vibrant working waterfront."
— Jim Madden, Sausalito Yacht Harbor
“The waterfront’s infrastructure has been eroding for the past 40 years because there has not been the money to repair it. The Marinship generates about $10,000 per acre in tax revenue — compare that to about $70,000 per acre in our downtown commercial district. The AIM Initiative is the first real chance in decades to unlock the full economic potential of the Waterfront, without sacrificing what makes this place special.”
— Ray Withy, former two-term Mayor of Sausalito & AIM Initiative Proponent
"Having lived and worked in Sausalito for over 60 years I have seen what the effect of doing nothing has been; a major portion of our waterfront continues to slowly decay, the ark paddle wheel is almost 'dust' again and the businesses that managed to stay are not able to improve their operations. Let's get fresh eyes on this and make this area as great as the rest of our town."
— Michael Lappert
“Our floating homes community sits directly adjacent to the Marinship Working Waterfront — and we've seen firsthand what happens when residents invest in the infrastructure of a place they love. That's historic preservation of the best kind. This ballot measure is how Sausalito protects what makes it singular. I'm proud to support it."
— Kathryn Soter, Board Member - Floating Homes Association
The Way Forward
The Vision
Measure X — The Arts, Industrial & Maritime Preservation and Improvement (AIM) Initiative
Our waterfront is special — where Liberty Ships were built during WWII and artists, makers, and creators still work alongside boat builders and skilled tradespeople.
Measure X is designed to water these creative roots to cultivate a dynamic ecosystem where artists, makers and maritime businesses, as well as the whole community can thrive.
Other working waterfront towns similar in size to Sausalito like Port Townsend, Washington; Newport, Oregon; and Belfast Harbor, Maine, have shown that this kind of vision can succeed.
Of course, Sausalito is one of a kind — and AIM gives our waterfront the creative freedom to evolve, innovate and thrive in its own salty way.
"Maybe it's time to focus on what can happen at Marinship instead of what can't.”
— Marin IJ Editorial Board, "Sausalito Seems Ready for Marinship Changes”; May 28, 2026
