Mayor Jill McLewis, Vice Mayor Sandra Maurer, Councilmember Phill Carter, Councilmember Neysa Hinton, and Councilmember Stephen Zollman were present in chambers for the Sept. 15 Sebastopol City Council meeting.

For the last year, the members of the Building the Commons Committee have thrown their hearts, minds and organizing prowess into the project of moving the library, the senior center, and city hall to more expansive digs somewhere in Sebastopol. Both the Senior Center and the Sebastopol Library (before the mold issue) were bursting at the seams, and, as the months went by, the committee honed in on a preferred option: the beautiful and long-empty O’Reilly buildings at the north end of town. Over the summer, they held three informational meetings for the public — two at O’Reilly and one at St. Stephen’s.

On Tuesday night, the Commons Committee submitted its final report and asked the city council to approve three requests:

• to authorize 40 hours of staff time, 10 hours of city attorney time, and $40,000-$50,000 for a fiscal and design review of the O’Reilly site.

• to send a formal written request to the Sonoma County Library Director seeking joint capital planning and potential cost participation.

• to dissolve the existing Building the Commons Committee and replace it with an advisory Ad Hoc committee that would continue to do the due diligence needed to firm up the concept.

There was a long council discussion and remarks from 20 public commenters who were evenly split pro and con on the O’Reilly site (as were the written public comments for that evening). In the end, the council declined on a 4 to 1 vote to grant any of the committee’s requests, agreeing merely to reconsider creating an ad hoc sometime in December before the midyear budget review. Mayor Jill McLewis, the sole dissenter, declined to agree even to that.

For many on the Commons Committee, it was a crushing blow and a harsh repudiation of the hundreds of volunteer hours they’d expended over the last year.

“The naysayers, on the Council and in the public, prevailed with force,” said former, longtime city councilperson Sarah Glade Gurney, who was a member of the Commons Committee. “To me, the council’s energy, their comments, and their decision, causing significant delay, feel damaging to our local community and to our wider community in the West County, upon which we rely. It was more than disappointing.”

Retired attorney Kent Jenkins, one of the driving forces behind the Commons Committee, wrote to the Sebastopol Times, “Because our committee was convened at the will of the Council, it was their right to accept or not accept our results and recommendations. I understand that’s how the system works … The Council is charged with looking at the whole health of the city, and we spent a year focused only on a part. What’s unacceptable was their deceit in claiming to have read our reports, listened to our presentation, and then to proceed to make points and ask questions which clearly demonstrated they did not have respect for or command of the material.”

Other Commons Committee members were more philosophical. Councilmember Phill Carter wrote that, though he still believed in the Commons project, he realized that some people in the community felt the committee may have pushed things too fast.

“The merits are real on both sides. The difference is which one you weigh more heavily. I weighed the possibility of something new. Most of the people I heard from weighed what we have, what it would cost to disrupt it, and what the risk would be to the City’s finances. For me it was about 80/20, never a sure thing. When that many neighbors tell me the downtown library is worth protecting, that outweighs my 80. That’s how this should work,” he wrote in an open letter to his fellow citizens. (See his full letter at the end of this article.)

Here’s how the council’s decision unfolded:

A history of the project and a plea to continue

RM Horrell, the CEO of Copperfield’s and the business community representative on the Commons Committee, began by giving a brief history of the project — how a nonprofit library group called LANTERN evolved into a city council committee to expand the library and then evolved again into the Building the Commons Committee, when it became clear that several other Sebastopol institutions, including the senior center, needed more space.

Until the recent mold issue, the Sebastopol Library was one of the busiest in the county. The current building is roughly 10,000 square feet. A 2019 Facilities Master Plan from Sonoma County Library stated, “Given the inadequacies of the existing building, it is strongly recommended that it be replaced with a larger branch of at least 20,000 square feet.” The Senior Center is similarly constrained; the Sebastopol Community Center is at a permanent risk of flooding, and city hall is small and due for a refresh.

As a result, early on in his term, Councilmember Stephen Zollman came up with the idea of a civic hub for all these organizations that ultimately became the Sebastopol Commons. Once it became a city committee, he was joined by Councilmember Phill Carter and a host of others who made up the Committee to Build the Commons: Senior Center representative Kent Jenkins; Sonoma County Library Foundation’s Naomi Hupert; Sebastopol’s representative on the Sonoma County Library Commission, Fred Engbarth; Sarah Glade Gurney, a member of Sonoma County Library’s Measure Y Oversight Committee; branch manager of the Sebastopol Library Deb Hoadley; Gravenstein Health Action Coalition’s Mary Lou Schmidt; and Copperfield’s CEO RM Horrell.

Together, they spent the last year figuring out how the Sebastopol Commons might work. They looked at properties all over the city and ultimately landed on the O’Reilly complex at the north end of town.

In his presentation to the city council on Tuesday, he said, “The way that the O’Reilly Building would solve all of our options is it provides for a library, a senior center, a city hall, a community cultural center, at a capital cost of about $18 million, which can be funded through long-term investments, through EIFD funds, through partnerships, through solicitation of donors throughout West County. And so therefore it is our unanimous agreement as this committee that the City Council perform a due diligence examination.” The project was also reliant on renting commercial space in the building.

He contrasted that $18 million (really $20 million with renovations) for a complex that would house the library, city hall, the senior center and other local nonprofits with the $36 million it would cost to do a total rebuild of the library alone in its current location.

The committee was not asking the council to buy the building but merely to do the kind of due diligence required before a purchase of this sort could be considered.

A skeptical council

Right out of the gate, the questions from several council members, even those that had been previously sympathetic to the project, had a vaguely prickly edge. Councilmember Maurer listed a number of items at O’Reilly that would need repair—ranging from the roof to the carpets. She asked if those repairs were included in that $18 million figure. They were not, Horrell said, though they were mentioned in the report, which added an additional $2 million for renovations, making the total $20 million.

Commenting on the committee plan to help pay for the complex by renting out portions to other businesses and nonprofits, Councilmember Hinton noted that there were rules around renting government-funded buildings to private entities. She turned to City Attorney Alex Mog to elaborate:

“The IRS has rules about how much private activity can be involved,” Mog said. “So generally, you’d think maybe 5 to 10% of the square footage overall.” He also said that if the city wanted to borrow money from a commercial bank for the project, “The city can’t take out any debt that is secured by the general fund without a vote of approval of the voters.”

Hinton also said she believed the hours of staff time involved in supporting this project was higher than reported.

Vice Mayor Maurer seemed to feel that the $36 million number to rebuild the library on its existing site was too high. Maurer asked whether the committee had explored the cost of an addition—perhaps in the area where the large cell tower, next to the library, is currently located. Horrell noted that the figure was based on the average cost of building per square foot and the number of additional square feet suggested by the 2019 Sonoma County Library Report.

McLewis also expressed dismay that the city was talking about selling existing city buildings — even before the issue had come to council — and she asked Mog to explain the requirements involved in that. According to California’s Surplus Land Act, municipal property must be offered first to housing developers, with a stipulation that 15-25% of the units must be affordable, which could affect the appraised value of the property.

Because municipally owned buildings don’t pay taxes, McLewis also noted that the city would lose the taxes the current O’Reilly building owners are paying, which Mog figured at around $26,000. At the same time, the city would be taking on the expense for a large building.

Horrell reminded the council that the reason the committee was asking for $40,000 to $50,000 for consultants was to explore financial and structural questions like these.

A divided public

In public comment, Martin Reed, re-emphasized Horrell’s point: “Tonight has surfaced important questions about building condition, renovation, financing, tax impacts, and community support. These aren’t reasons to reject the idea before examining it. They’re exactly what due diligence is for.”

Several people, including Lisa and Steve Pierce, Paul Fritz, and Jennifer Koelemeijer, objected to moving the library from the center of town, both in terms of walkability and downtown vitality.

“Take those everyday reasons to be here away, and you pull the energy and the people out of the heart of our community,” said Koelemeijer, who is both a Planning Commissioner and the owner of a small business, Gather, on Main Street. “You also make these services harder to reach,” she said, referring the Library and City Hall.
”The O’Reilly site is a place for most of us to get to only by car.”

Others said they simply believed that the town couldn’t afford it, either financially or in terms of staff time. Kate Haug, after mentioning the city’s $5.5 million debt to its water and sewer departments, said, “There is no way the city can handle a project of this magnitude. It simply does not have the resources.” Oliver Dick, echoed this sentiment, carrying a small sign that said, “The County should be paying for this.”

Craig Boblitt asked, “If the building is so cheap, why has it been on the market for so long? I own real estate here in town. I own an office building in town, and office space is difficult to manage, and the city should not be a landlord.”

But the project had an equal number of supporters. Several people from the Senior Center spoke in favor the Commons at the O’Reilly, all of them mentioning how desperate the senior center is for space, including long waitlists for classes and services.

Several speakers, including Craig Litwin and Dena Bliss, said thought it would be a pity to let all the work the committee has done thus far go to waste. “This is a pivotal moment and an opportunity, and I’d hate to see us throw it out at the very end after such hard work,” Litwin said.

Dena Bliss, after expressing her appreciation for the Commons Committee, said, “It seems to me that … they’ve looked at all kinds of opportunities downtown, found that there really weren’t great opportunities downtown. They have found something that might be workable, and I agree with the speakers that have said, “Let’s move forward and check out the last pieces of this to see if we can make this work in our lifetime.’”

Lawrence Jaffe supported exploring O’Reilly further. “What a great night of civic debate!” he began. “Speaking from my side, Henry Ford said, ‘If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have told me that they want faster horses.’ This is a transformational moment. This is as big as putting the train into Sebastopol and taking the train out. This is as big as adding Ragle Park or adding this whole section where we are now,” meaning the Youth Annex and, by extension, the Barlow. “We are at a transitional moment. We don’t yet have enough information to know yet if the risk is worth the reward.”

Carolyn Jenkins, whose husband Kent was on the Commons Committee, rose toward the end of public comment. “I had a chance to observe some of the methods and how much time and effort the entire committee put in to put this together. So I do wish people who like to be armchair quarterbacks would ask questions with an open mind. It’s really frustrating to see that people already have a decision in their head and they just want to say no to it, and that is very frustrating to watch.”

The council’s not-so-final decision

In the staff report, city staff recommended moving ahead with the O’Reilly project, which included the following:

To direct staff to proceed with formal lease-option negotiations, appraisal, legal review, and financing packages for the 1003–1007 Gravenstein Hwy N campus; direct that a formal request for partnership and consent be transmitted to the Sonoma County Library; authorize community outreach in advance of any final decision; convert the Committee to an advisory ad hoc committee; and appropriate funds for the professional services above — returning to Council within 60 days with scope, cost, and negotiation status, and with a final action plan no later than the date set by Council.

But the staff report also gave the council two additional options:

• Receive the committee’s final report and take no additional action.

• Receive the committee’s final report and choose instead to pursue a long-term new construction or reconstruction project on the current downtown city-owned block; and form a new standing committee to further develop that project.

In the end, the council chose a mixture of the above—each for their own reasons.

Councilmember Hinton said she thought the financial expectations from the EIFD were overstated and that the county should fund further exploration of this concept, since two of the main tenants—the library and the senior center— also serve West County more broadly. It also irked her to pay for tens of thousands of dollars for consultants for projects that may not work out.

“I want to pump this decision to the midyear review, which is our policy, and have the budget committee review it to see if we have enough money to fund this additional ask. So that’s not saying no, but it’s also not saying ‘right now’.”

Mayor McLewis said the feedback she’d gotten on the O’Reilly proposal had been overwhelmingly negative. Having attended the most recent meeting at O’Reilly, she could see its charms: “It’s beautiful. I mean, who wouldn’t want that?”

But she didn’t think the city should be the only one paying for it. “I grapple with the idea that it’s the responsibility of the city and our taxpayers,” she said. “Where’s the funding from the County? There’s only 7,500 people here in total—3,300 homes paying taxes here—and should the citizens living here within this city be responsible for paying for all the services for people [in the county] who are not actually paying into that? There’s only so much to go around.”

She also said she was concerned about downtown vitality and “the risk of destabilizing our city finances.”

Councilmember Maurer shared many of McLewis’s concerns about finances and the importance of keeping the downtown core strong, and she agreed that a small city of 7,500 couldn’t foot the bill for services for the 50,000 folks who live around it.

“Sebastopol is amazing and wonderful because of the West County,” Maurer said. “We could never have as many restaurants as we do, or as great services, as great of an art center, a senior center, a community center. All these services are great because we have so many people — 50,000 people [in greater West County] — surrounding us that are using them. So I have a lot of appreciation for the West County residents for that reason because they make our town really great. But we have budget constraints right now. We’re looking at an $850,000 deficit for this year. So the idea of saying, okay, well, we’ll give you $50,000 and a bunch more staff time, I just can’t do that.”

She liked Hinton’s suggestion of kicking the concept to midyear and requested that this include consideration of doing an addition to the library—something she felt the Commons Committee had overlooked.

Councilmember Carter began by thanking the Commons Committee members for all their hard work.

“I’m super impressed with the work that everybody’s been doing for the past year, and I’m grateful for the grace that everybody’s had as we’ve come out watching. You know, we were making the sausage. It’s not pretty when it’s getting made. It’s now out of the bag, and now it’s the time for the whole entire city to take a look at this.”

Although he still thought O’Reilly was the best solution, he said he was taking the concerns of its critics seriously—the financial concerns, the county’s contributions, downtown vitality. He agreed with Hinton and Maurer on the idea of possibly creating an ad hoc to review matters in December.

Throughout council comment, Councilmember Stephen Zollman sat still and utterly silent.

Before council moved to the vote, Mayor Lewis couldn’t resist scolding the Commons Committee about its approach. “It felt like a sales job, not an informational type of thing,” she said. “I had several people tell me … they felt like they were in a—what’s it called?— a timeshare thing. That’s what that was the analogy they used.” She also blamed the committee for creating the impression, even before it came to council, that the choice of O’Reilly was a done deal.

Ouch — and surprising, given that committee members repeatedly said during presentations that no decision had been made and nothing was set in stone.

The council voted 4 to 1 (Mayor McLewis dissenting) to direct staff to bring back at the second meeting in December consideration of creation of an ad hoc committee to reconsider both the O’Reilly site and city properties downtown (i.e., the library, city hall, and the parking lot).

A letter from Phill Carter

Next Saturday, West County will turn its attention to Graton, where the town will come alive with live music, parades, pie contests, zucchini races, food, farmers, and local beer and wine. The Town Square will be the focal point, still in its infancy but about to become a reality.

With all that will be happening throughout the winter to open the square, it seems like a good time to examine where our town is and where it will go. Let’s start with the Town Square, where I spoke with Joseph McIntyre, vice president of the board of the Graton Community Services District (GCSD), which owns the square.

Graton Community Services District charts a path to complete the Town Square

Joseph McIntyre has served on the GCSD board for nearly two years, joining after the decision to acquire the town square property — and the funding to do so, largely drawn from Sonoma County Ag+Open Space District grants, had already been made. What he inherited was a project already underway: a vision, championed by GCSD board members Jennifer Butler and Max Wilmarth, to transform the site into a true public gathering space for Graton.

That vision, McIntyre said, grew out of an organic partnership between local residents who saw an opportunity and a public agency — the GCSD — willing to help advance it. The district’s involvement opened doors to support from other government partners, including Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, a steady backer of rural communities like Graton.

But turning that opportunity into a finished town square has meant grappling with a challenge familiar to small districts everywhere: how to fund a large, capital-intensive project without a dedicated revenue source?

A Pay-As-You-Go approach

The remaining cost to complete the Square will be about $1 million, McIntyre said. The district has taken a pay-as-you-go approach, raising funds in stages rather than borrowing against future revenue. That approach is governed by a firm rule: by law, the GCSD cannot use its sewer funds to subsidize the Town Square. The park must support itself.

To maintain that separation, the district created a third budget “bucket” for Parks, which includes both the Town Square and the Graton Green, to track the revenues and expenses of these projects. Ratepayer fees fund sewer operations and cover repairs and maintenance; sewer capital comes largely from connection fees. The Parks bucket is similar: money raised for the Town Square is kept separate from the Sewer budgets. Under the county’s accounting rules, which govern the district’s finances, the account must come close to breaking even each year.

That structure protects the sewer system from being tapped to cover park costs, but it also means the district is constantly balancing cash flow — ensuring enough money is on hand to cover bills as they come due without dipping into funds set aside for utility operations.

“That’s hard,” McIntyre said, “because it means the pace of the project is slower than I think lots of folks would prefer.” Still, he said, the board is committed to living within those limits.

This Year’s Goal: $260,000

To date, the District has raised more than $1,000,000 in donations and grants to purchase the land and complete the initial planning and permitting. Now the board — though it has not yet formally adopted the figure — is working toward a fundraising target of about $260,000 for the coming year, against expected spending of roughly $250,000.

That budget includes: the capital costs of building out the square and the district’s broader park operations, including maintenance of the Graton Green and an innovative landscaping job-training partnership with the Graton Day Labor Center. Roughly half of this year’s fundraising goal is earmarked for permanent construction, with the balance covering administrative and program costs, permitting and technical study fees, utilities, maintenance, and equipment rental.

The immediate priority, McIntyre said, is modest but essential: make the site accessible to the public, remove the perimeter fence, and comply with the district’s use permit. Only after that, he said, does the district expect to begin renting the space — generating the ongoing revenue that would help sustain it and bootstrap the next phase of site development.

“It’s not like our core competency is park development,” McIntyre said. The district’s five board members are unpaid, and while district manager Chad Davisson runs the sewer system day to day, the town square work is largely contracted to ReVillage, which is run by Matt Jorgensen and Tori Immel, who are also principals in the successful Graton Station development. Making that shift — from utility operator to a fundraising, placemaking organization — has been, in McIntyre’s words, “a stretch.”

Looking Ahead

McIntyre expects the capital campaign to wind down once the square is finished, with future costs limited to maintenance and covered largely by rentals and community events — weddings, festivals, and tree lighting.

“We need the thing working,” McIntyre said. “We need to be able to open it up and make it a public space to see what is really possible.”

Asked what he’d want Graton residents to know, McIntyre didn’t hesitate:

“This place matters. And the more beautiful we can make this, the more opportunities there are for us to come together, the more resilient we can be and the more joy we can have in our lives. That makes it a worthwhile place to make a small contribution, if you’re able.”

Paying it Forward

In checking in with me for this story, Jennifer Butler, president of the GCSD, wanted me to emphasize “that the board is working on fiscal sustainability for the Town Square and that it is available to rent for private events, and the rental fees will be used for the ongoing fiscal needs of the Town Square.”

Needless to say, fundraising is central to the effort because ratepayer funds cannot be used. So, open your wallets, Graton! The upcoming construction phases will include naming opportunities for everything from seating areas to the permanent stage and the terraced lawn amphitheater. This square will be a generational change for our little town.

Graton Day Festival Returns Sept. 26, 1 pm to 5 pm

Graton is gearing up for a day of music, food, and community spirit as the Graton Day Festival returns to Graton Town Square. Presented by the Graton Community Services District and the ReVillage Foundation, the free festival is both a celebration and a fundraiser — 100% of proceeds benefit the new Graton Town Square, a permanent gathering place for markets, music, and cultural events. All donations are welcome.

The music starts early and doesn’t let up, with local favorite Graton Grass kicking things off before handing the stage to 3 Acre Holler. ALMAS (Alianza de Mujeres Activas y Solidarias), the domestic worker organizing project of Centro Laboral de Graton, will provide food and drink.

True to Graton Day tradition, the festival’s signature contests are back: the zucchini races, where kids and adults alike build and decorate their own racers for a downhill run on a dedicated track, and the annual pie contest, judged on appearance and taste across the Apple, Other Fruit, Non-Fruit/Savory, and Youth Under 18 categories. Pies must be homemade, and after judging, they’re sold to the public, with proceeds benefiting the town square fund. Rounding out the day’s more offbeat entertainment: chicken bingo and a watermelon-eating contest.

Kids will have plenty to do beyond the races, including a second-annual Ceilume tile scavenger hunt, glitter temporary tattoos, a kiddo slackline, and pinwheel crafts. At 1 pm, longtime Graton resident and children’s author Jonathan London will read his beloved book, “Froggy Gets Dressed.” The first 20 families arriving will receive a signed copy.

Organizers credit a wide roster of sponsors for making the event possible, including Gold Benefactor Commons Partners North Coast Organic, Ceilume, and West Yost; Community Steward Sponsors Parliament Brewing Company and Sandborn Tree Services; and in-kind support from Lynmar Estate, Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary, Lodge at Marconi, Dawn Ranch, and Russian River Vineyards.

Organizers are still looking for volunteers and pie contestants — those interested can sign up online or contact Olivia at 707-395-7360 for the pie contest, or Keith Chamberlain for zucchini race details.

“It’s block party vibes and community celebration,” organizers said, describing the vision for the day. “We can’t wait to see you there.”

Volunteers needed

The effervescent and incredibly organized Lindsey Dyer is seeking volunteers for Graton Day setup. Volunteer to set up on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 5 pm to 7 pm:

• Move hay bales

• Hang banners

• Set up temporary fencing

• Organize Museum of the Future

Go to the Eventbrite page and scroll down to find the volunteer link.

Graton Community Club Fall Flower Show, Oct. 16-17

As if the excitement around the Square and Graton Day weren’t enough, our 112-year-old institution, the Graton Community Club, will host its annual Fall Flower Show + Plant Sale on Fri-Sat., Oct. 16-17, from 9 am to 4 pm. The theme, “Growing Our Future,” will honor children everywhere. Student messages and artwork from Oak Grove and Willowside schools will be a major part of the Flower Show. Check out their table at Graton Day to see how you can help.

Sunflower season is winding down in West County, but you can still see them in many yards and gardens, standing tall on their fibrous stalks and nodding their bright yellow heads in the September sun.

Historically, the sunflower was used by the Aztecs as a symbol of fertility, abundance, and an intermediary with the spirit world. The Chinese use the sunflower as a symbol for good luck and health. The sunflower is also the official flower of Ukraine and is being used as a symbol of resistance to Russia’s invasion of that country.

That’s a lot of symbolic weight for a big yellow flower, but if Jim Wilder has his way, the sunflower will carry yet another identity—as a symbol uniting all progressive causes under one bright yellow botanical umbrella.

Wilder, who has lived in Sonoma County for 20 years, is a former artisan and pond builder and current hobby farmer and activist. He is the founder of Sunflowers Across America, a project dedicated to creating a unified message of resistance to the erosion of democratic values, using the sunflower as a symbol of hope and joy. His short-term goal is to unite the various Sonoma County “resistance” groups under one recognizable symbol. After that — why not dream big — he hopes it might become a national symbol of progressive unity.

“Sunflowers Across America started as a promotion of the sunflower as a unifying symbol to unite everyone from Black Lives Matter, teachers, gay rights, and unions … under one symbol. If we can grow sunflowers and wear sunflowers, it would show solidarity among all the groups,” he said.

For Wilder, the sunflower embodies the spirit of joyful protest.

With our news and media being a constant barrage of negativity, Wilder said he hopes to “change from protesting what we don’t want, to protesting what we do. We want democracy, equality, and justice, and we want fairness, and to do all of that with love and joy. Otherwise, we are ceding to their game instead of our own. Being depressed isn’t going to help anybody,” he continued.

Wilder said he understands that it’s easy and understandable to become hopeless in the current political climate. He hopes that in using the symbol of a sunflower, progressives can remind themselves of earlier successes. He mentioned Gandhi’s successful stand against the British occupation in the 1930s and 1940s and America’s own civil rights movement of the 1960s.

He notes that once sunflowers are planted, they need little to no water and look towards the light, something he said is a perfect metaphor for our current moment.

Last year, Sunflowers Across America gave away roughly 15,000 sunflower starts at rallies or at his local farmstead off Fulton Avenue on the Santa Rosa side of the Laguna. This year, Wilder has had to step back due to health issues, but he hopes the project will gain momentum in the future. He said the project still has plenty of seeds to give away and is hoping to inspire other locals to get involved. There is also plenty of sunflower-themed swag available on their website.

“We have a little farmstead in front of my place, and we take donations. I don’t want to go through the bureaucracy of establishing a 501(c)(3). If someone wants to come on board or if somebody wants to take control and run with it, I’m fine with that.”

In addition to the Sunflower Across America project, Wilder is a master food preserver and teaches classes on pickling, canning, and dehydrating. He also donates his surplus sunflowers and produce to local senior centers.

“I never sell anything; I give it all away,” he said.

He sees himself as a sort of Johnny Appleseed.

“What I want to do a whole lot more of next year is what I call guerrilla gardening and just taking seeds around to landscaping that has a little bit of irrigation. Sunflowers don’t actually need much. The large ones may need staking, but the smaller ones, once you plant them and get them established, they really don’t need much. I have had some flowers at my place that I’ve never watered all summer. I want to take a trip to Washington, D.C., and spread them all over that town.”

Sunflowers Across America is not a membership-based organization but survives solely on individual donations. Baker Creek in Petaluma, along with other local seed stores, has donated sunflower seeds. Wilder has been reaching out to other local progressive groups in an attempt to get them to adopt the sunflower as a symbol. He invites people everywhere to plant, wear, and share sunflowers as a visible expression of hope, unity, and commitment to democratic ideals.

“It’s to get people to do their work. It’s so easy to fall into despair and depression; if we can do it with some liveliness in our hearts, it would be more productive and successful,” he said.

If you would like more information on this project or how to get involved, please visit sunflowers-across-america.org.

No, the suspect was not hit by the chief’s car or anybody else’s. It was the pole that was hit. The suspect ditched the bike at about that same time and ran away on foot another 250 feet or so before being caught.

And yes, the suspect had an extensive criminal record.

The article on the website has been altered to reflect this information.

Police Chief Sean McDonagh was grabbing a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in Safeway just after 5 pm on Tuesday, when, according to Police Lieutenant Andrew Bauer, “An employee ran up to him and told him, ‘Hey, that guy that is walking out behind you just stole a basketful of food,’ and so the chief went out, tried to make contact, and the guy took off on his bike.”

A brief chase followed, with the Chief of Police driving the wrong way up McKinley in front of Whole Foods at rush hour before knocking over a lamppost and giving chase on foot.

A witness, who asked not to be named, was sitting with a friend at Whole Foods when the whole thing went down. She saw two unmarked police cars pull into the plaza parking lot across the street. “And then, out of the blue, going up past Whole Foods, driving in the opposite direction, like making traffic veer to the left and veer to the right, is the police chief in a black SUV.”

That’s where things get murky.

This witness said she thought that Police Chief McDonagh’s car hit the back of the suspect’s bike—though a friend who was with her thought he missed the bike. Either way, the bike’s back wheel popped off, and the person on the bike (who the first witness mistook for a child) hopped off and took off running, as the chief’s car hit the pole and then the fence.

“It was a crazy scene,” she said.

“I called the non-emergency police line, and I’m like, ‘You guys need to come down here. Like, there’s like three unmarked cars, and like, they’re all swinging around the square, all driving fast, and one car just smashed into the lamppost and knocked it down, and you need to come out here because I think they just hit a kid.’”

It was not a kid——and, according to Lieutenant Bauer, “The suspect was not hit by the chief’s car or anybody else’s. It was the pole that was hit. The suspect ditched the bike at about that same time and ran away on foot.”

Another witness, Leah Wilmer, was walking up Brown Street — that little potholed street behind the empty lot that was supposed to be the Hotel Sebastopol.

“I started hearing police sirens and loud noises from the corner that Whole Foods is on, and then I hear shouts, and then I realized that there is a shorter Hispanic gentleman running down the road toward the Barlow.”

“So he is running down McKinley on the side of the empty lot, and he is first pursued by one police officer who honestly is also running extremely fast — I mean, kudos to him — and then another police officer parks their car — I don't know if he like hits the fence or what, but he like parks the car really suddenly, gets out, starts running after him as well.”

“They were obviously in pursuit of this guy, and they were telling him to stop. He obviously wasn’t stopping,” she said. “He was obviously trying to evade on foot.”

Wilmer said the suspect ran toward the Rialto but was cut off by another police officer coming up through the Rialto parking lot. “Then someone, like a police officer, got out, and then they were like, ‘Get down on the ground,’ and the guy got on the ground.”

And that was the end of that adventure.

Police arrested 48-year-old Juan Jose Gutierrez Lopez on a charge of shoplifting under $950 and resisting arrest, both of which are misdemeanors. Lieutenant Bauer reported the suspect has an extensive criminal record.

“The California Highway Patrol will be investigating the accident,” Gourley said. “The Chief was thankfully not hurt, and damage to the car was minor (headlight broken, scratches on the front bumper cover, and damage to the corner of the roof where the pole fell on the car). The pole itself will need to be replaced, per Public Works.”

Stipends restored and other highlights

Zachary Shuford, President of Analy Bandwagon, expressed his “heartfelt gratitude” to the District for restoring stipends to Drama, Band, Intramurals and Fine Arts programs, the second most contentious issue in the previous board meeting. He was grateful that Superintendent Chris Meredith personally told band program leader Casey Jones that he would get his stipend for the fall. Shuford, who at the previous meeting questioned whether the district was spending all of its Prop 28 funding, said he was satisfied with the presentation by Andrew Soliz on how much money is received and how it is spent. Both Shuford and Soliz agreed that the funding formula for Prop 28 is “endlessly complicated.” In the spirit of the evening, Shuford thanked the board and the administration for all that they do.

The administration recommended that the board approve a resolution to rescind last spring’s reduction of stipends for athletic coaches who were not district employees, putting them on a lower pay scale than employees who were coaches.

A mom of two Analy grads, Carolyn Hobbs, came to tell the board that both her sons had recently graduated from UCLA, one summa cum laude and the other, with an engineering degree, who had gone to work at SpaceX. She said: “I say this not to brag about my kids, but to thank Analy for being such a big part of their success.” Her sons were in choir and jazz band, and she was “thrilled to see the stipends restored.” She said that the music program, which attracts students to the school, is “all because of Casey Jones.”

Here are some of the highlights from the meeting:

“The best decision the board ever made was to install air conditioning in the main school building,” said Brian Miller, a math teacher and chief negotiator for the teachers’ union, who had been teaching a 7th grade class on an upper floor earlier in the day.

Miller’s comment followed Chief Business Officer Andrew Soliz’s presentation of the actual financials for the 2025-2026 school. Miller agreed that the District had a “pretty good financial picture,” with it only losing $660K last year, a much smaller deficit than had been projected.

Local treasure Mary Fricker warmly thanked Facilities Director Jennie Bruneman for the “El Molino Memories” display case in front of the gym on the El Molino Campus and the “El Molino Memories” area on the school website. She thanked Bruneman for doing this work because “it meant a lot to our community.” She gave Bruneman a stuffed lion in appreciation. Mary herself has done so much work to make sure that the records and honors that are part of El Molino High School’s history are preserved.

Nine proud members of Analy FFA were present for recognition of them and other members for the awards they won at the Sonoma County Fair in August, showing sheep, rabbits, chickens, steers, hogs, horses and goats. Trustee Linda Helton remarked on the impressive number of awards: “Did you leave any awards for anyone else?”

The most contentious topic from the previous meeting was the proposed early exit of the District from the West Sonoma County Consortium. Superintendent Chris Meredith addressed the issue by saying that the District “would put students first” and would not exit the Consortium until there was “a viable plan in place” for its future. Absent a plan, the District would stay through the existing contract’s end in 2028. He did say that he was working closely with Consortium director Sarah Zils on exploring options for its future. He mentioned that Sonoma County of Education (SCOE) was potentially interested in leading the Consortium.

Replacing a trustee

The most important business of the evening was the board deciding how to replace a trustee with two years remaining on their term. Trustee Rio Kuteira resigned last month because he is moving outside the district.

The two options were a special election or an appointment. The board agreed that a special election would take more time and money and chose to appoint a replacement from among interested applicants. The applicant must reside in Area 4 (the purple area in the map), which includes Graton and Forestville.

The Board agreed on a two-week deadline for applications; the deadline to apply is 4 pm on September 25, 2026. All eligible candidates will be considered in a special board meeting on September 30 during which a new trustee will be voted in and sworn in.

More information about the process is available on the school website here.

Start of a new school year

The overall picture for the start of the school year is looking positive. The drop in enrollment that was projected this year did not happen, and in fact, enrollment is slightly up. Some of the cuts and positions that were eliminated in the Spring are being reconsidered. Lily Smedshammer, President of the SCTA, made the case that the loss of a position in the technology department is being felt, as well as a loss of a position in the front office. She also said that the position of school librarian is critical and should be restored.

Analy’s big three

Analy Principal Chuck Wade said that the new school brought three important changes this year. One was the formation of freshman teams in which several teachers work with a block of students across multiple subject areas. Wade said that the early feedback was encouraging, and he thought that first-year students now “had multiple levels of support.”

The second thing was the opening of the new CTE facility, which was exciting for students and teachers alike. There is a public grand opening ceremony for the new buildings on Tuesday, September 29, from 6 to 9 pm.

The third was the change to a phone-free campus. He said that getting students to use the Commons App had challenges, but he remarked that it is now rare to see a phone on campus now.

Later on, reviewing data on the school’s disciplinary actions during last school year, Wade noted that there was an uptick in suspensions. He said most were in the category for alcohol and drug use, but that it was mostly instances of vaping, which is prevalent among teens. He said the uptick was the result of “better campus coverage,” having a campus supervisor last year that led to better enforcement. He also mentioned that the school is cracking down on hate speech, not only taking action but also “focusing on the education component.” He said that “not all students understand the impact of the language they use.”

Laguna High School and Academy of Innovative Arts

Greg Alexander is principal for Laguna High School and the Academy of Innovative Arts, which are both on the El Molino campus. He’s been tasked with filling a few vacant teaching positions at Laguna, filling in himself for social studies and finding substitutes for the others. He was excited to find a new teacher recently. He’s also working on getting an internship program going, talking with the CTE Foundation about their Path to Purpose program.

The Academy of Innovative Arts has a new, enthusiastic first-year class and access to a newly painted wood and metal shop. A group of seven first-year students went with teacher Cole Smith to Bullfrog Pond Campground above Armstrong Woods in Guerneville to install five food lockers (aka “bear boxes”) that were built last year in the makerspace. The campground has been closed since a fire in 2019 but a ranger said that the campground is expected to re-open once water facilities are repaired. The work was funded by a grant from the North Coast Builders Exchange.

(For transparency’s sake, the author of this article is a volunteer and donor to the Academy of Innovative Arts.)

Alexander echoed Chuck Wade’s remarks on disciplinary actions on the campus, saying that vaping is also a “tricky” problem.

Improved Financial Picture

Perhaps the best news, as mentioned earlier, is that the school’s finances for 2025-26 were better than expected, due to some additional revenue and shifting in some expenses. Chief Business Officer, Andrew Soliz, presented the actuals from the 2025-26 school year budget.

• Last year’s deficit was estimated to be $3.1M, but in this final budget, the deficit is down to $900K — still not a balanced budget, but a big improvement.

• Its $36.8M in revenue was higher by $668,603 than estimated.

• Its $37.8M in expenditures came in less by $1.57M.

• The District’s general fund ending balance is at $11.4M, $2.2M better than estimated.

Here is a PDF of Soliz’s presentation. A complete set of financials is available off the board agenda.

2025 26 Unaudited Actuals Presentation 1706532msylaqgg2ixuf11rvcby1nlu

495KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Ahh — sometimes climate change can be good.

At the end of the Sept. 1 Sebastopol City Council Meeting, the council took on the troublesome question of what to do about the continued racial harassment behind Safeway. (See our earlier articles on this issue here and here.) Last month, the council asked City Attorney Alex Mog to research what options the city had to deal with this problem.

He began by explaining what the city couldn’t do, which was “mandating physical improvements at the site, whether it be a fence or cameras,” because it’s private property belonging to Safeway.

The list of things the city could do was quite short:

• City representatives could continue meeting with Safeway and Analy in an attempt to solve this and other problems with juveniles at the store.

• It could create a graffiti ordinance that would require businesses to remove graffiti within a given period of time or face a fine or pay the cost of having the city remove the graffiti.

• It could take part in some kind of restorative justice program.

Restorative Justice first evolved as a way to keep juveniles out of the criminal justice system. Mog described it this way: “Restorative justice is a process outside the traditional criminal justice system … where parties meet to discuss the incident, the harm, why it was caused, the reasons it occurred, and try to reach resolution or a path forward where everyone feels heard, and there are solutions.”

Mog described two pathways involving restorative justice: In the first, the local police cite or arrest a juvenile, hand them over to the county’s juvenile justice system, which offers different diversion programs, including a restorative justice process. The problem with this, according to Councilmember Zollman, is that it would create a permanent record, including fingerprints.

A city can also contract with a restorative justice practitioner and set up its own program as a first step before involving the County.

“Rather than being sent to the juvenile justice system, that person is referred to the [city’s] restorative justice program, which reports back to the police department,” Mog said. “And if the process is successful, you know that's sort of the end of the line. If the process is unsuccessful for whatever reason, the police department may then decide to move forward with referring that citation to the [County’s] probation department and juvenile justice system.”

Mog noted that Sebastopol used to participate in a County grant-funded program like this, but that the funding had ended, and Sebastopol was no longer involved. That program used the services of a local organization, Restorative Resources, which Councilmember Zollman said would be interested in providing this service for the city in the future.

On the graffiti front, during council questioning, it was revealed that the city already had two volunteers—Ted and Steve—who clean up graffiti. In addition, Police Chief Sean McDonagh said Safeway management was “very receptive to having an extended patrol of their own facility … where they’d walk around the entire premises in the morning and just sort of see what the status of things were.” He also said they’d agreed to remove graffiti within 24 hours.

In terms of the city meeting with the various parties involved, City Manager Mary Gourley said they’d had three meetings this spring, involving her, the police chief, Safeway, and Analy. Gourley met separately with the neighbors on Pitt Avenue, but when she attempted to arrange a meeting with everyone, including the neighbors, she hadn’t heard back from Analy or Safeway.

Councilmember Carter and Zollman both mentioned recent issues with racism at the elementary and middle school level and expressed a desire to include them in the mix.

The Pitt Avenue neighbors, who first brought the racial problem behind Safeway to the attention of the city, were present in the council chambers, but only one of them spoke during public comment, giving an update on the situation.

I’m one of the residents on Pitt Avenue who reported the racist graffiti to the police. And I wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone in the community that’s reached out and shown a lot of support for us. We’ve had a group of moms that hang out, a lot of chalk and artwork that have been there to help make these kids [the problematic Analy students] uncomfortable, but that being said, I mean, just today, 15 of them were here, and two of them being those boys that were involved in that incident. [the monkey sounds]. I feel like Safeway should have some kind of restriction from allowing them on the property, a restraining order from the back of the property … I just hope that everybody can kind of come together with a plan. I do think Safeway should be held more accountable for this, and I do think this does need to be addressed in the schools. It’s obviously a problem."

Twenty-two speakers during public comment expressed their dismay at the situation and their support for the neighbors involved, and many asked the city to take responsibility for coordinating a response.

“I’m asking the city to take leadership and convene regular meetings with Safeway, Analy, Parkside, Brookhaven, the charter school, and the other Waldorf schools, to discuss what steps the school and businesses are taking and can take to create a safe place for our students,” Margaret Howe said. “Our kids need our leadership to help them navigate this world where racism and discrimination continue to be baked into our country’s policies.”

Several speakers, including Linda Block and Christy Boblitt, spoke about the psychic pain of racial harassment. Boblitt also asked for the city to step up.

“There’s not a very coherent plan or communication between all the different agencies and leaders who are helping to protect the safety of our community,” she said. “We need to have the police chief aware of what happened at Brookhaven, and we need to have other community council members aware of what’s happening in other different areas and what’s happening to the families who live here, and centering those voices. This community has to become more comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations about race on a regular basis, and having people who are trained to have those conversations talking to our schools, talking to our community leaders and our businesses, so that we can actually continue an active conversation about how we can actually work against racism and not just sit in our privilege here in this community.”

Dena Bliss asked why the city couldn’t put up a camera on city property on Pitt if Safeway refused to do so.

Michelle Kelly suggested anti-racism training for city staff and the council.

Oliver Dick struck a different note: He suggested the residents on the street install Ring cameras themselves to film what’s happening across the street. He also noted a strange irony: Sebastopol residents are generally averse to using surveillance cameras to catch criminals, but seem eager to use them in this case.

“I’ve dealt with bullies in the past myself,” he said. “You ignore them, and you quietly clean up, and you quietly entrap them, and you move on. The more you make a huge, very expensive hullabaloo about this, I would argue, more and more kids will join in.”

Several speakers took issue with this proposal, arguing that racial harassment is more than simple bullying. Bronwen Shears, who is biracial and grew up in Sebastopol, also took issue with the Chief of Police mentioning in an article in this paper that there’s a careful line to tread here involving freedom of speech. “Framing this in terms of free speech,” she said, “can fuel young people’s thoughts that this is somewhat accepted. I know that was not your intention, but the way that it was phrased and the fact “free speech” was used … This was hate speech, and that idea that this was not a hate crime, I think that is absolutely incorrect.”

In council comment, Vice Mayor Maurer, glancing over the five pages of notes she’d taken during public comment, read off a comprehensive list of the public’s suggestions. She also offered to use part of her city council travel and education fund for anti-bias education for the council and called on other councilmembers to do the same.

Councilmember Zollman made a motion to have the staff bring back a proposal to create a city council ad hoc committee to deal with these issues, and Gourley restated the motion as follows: “to direct staff to return the agenda item to the October 6 City Council meeting for creation of an ad hoc committee in response to recommendations from tonight. The ad hoc committee will have staff time, a recommendation for staffing, scope of duties and hours, as well as a recommendation for training for racial bias for City Council and management. (Just as a side note, I will check in with CIRA [the city’s risk pool] to see if they have this program already.)”

All four council members—Vice Mayor Maurer and councilmembers Hinton, Carter and Zollman voted to approve this motion. (Mayor McLewis had left earlier in the evening because she had to have surgery the next day.)

One of the Pitt Avenue neighbors in attendance, who didn’t want her name used, said “I think it’s a step in the right direction, but there’s still a lot more that needs to be done.”

Pitt Avenue neighbor Althea Kai, who, with her daughter Dezi Rae Kai, first brought this issue to light, said, “It was very nice to hear from members of the community, and we appreciated all who showed up. We felt less alone.”

Dezi agreed: “It was nice to feel the support and the outrage from the community. I hope this is the start to finding solutions, and we can keep the momentum going.”

She noted that “There is a follow-up city council meeting on October 6th, and we hope people will attend that meeting as well.”

Speaking of City Council, there’s another council meeting tonight at 6 pm at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol. Topics include fee waivers for the Peacetown Summer Concert series ($5,000) and Many Moons Festival ($750); the Citywide Paving Improvement Plan, including which streets will get fixed over the next year; library reconstruction work in the amount of $74,250; and the Sebastopol Commons committee’s final report and their request for additional staff and attorney time ($40,000-$50,000) for a fiscal analysis of the City purchase of the O’Reilly buildings ($20 million). See the agenda and documentation here.

Sex After Sixty (or 50)
Monday, Sept. 14, from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, at Sebastopol Area Senior Center, 167 N. High St., Sebastopol. $10 members, $15 non-members.

Sex After Sixty (or 50!) is back with more time for reflection, discussion, and connection. This welcoming workshop offers an honest, stigma-free look at intimacy, desire, and pleasure in later life, with practical insights and space for your questions—whether you’re returning or joining for the first time. Participants will respond to a few prompts during the session; paper will be provided or bring an iPad or other device if you prefer. Call (707) 829-2440 to register.

Science Buzz Cafe — Wildlife Rescue In Action: Rescuing Orphaned Wildlife
Monday, Sept. 14, 6 pm, at HopMonk (in The Abbey), 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. $10.

Rescued, rehabilitated and returned to the wild! Doris Duncan, executive director of Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue, will share her 30 years’ experience with wildlife rescue and conservation in action.

Outdoor Traditional Pranayama

Tuesday, Sept. 15, from 9 am to 10 am, at Ragle Ranch Regional Park, 500 Ragle Road, Sebastopol. $20.
Join instructor Kara Weimer for a morning session of traditional yogic breathwork outdoors. RSVP is required, and certain health conditions may be contraindicated. More info

Intergenerational Conversations
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 11 am to 12:30 pm, at the Analy Library, and Wednesday, Sept. 16, 8:30 am to 10 am, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. Free.

Intergenerational Conversations, in collaboration with Gravenstein Health Action Coalition, Sebastopol Area Senior Center and Analy High School, brings together seniors and teens for discussions on varied topics. Sign up for this free event, and share your knowledge while also getting a fresh perspective. There will be two different sessions on two different days. Registration required. Call 707-829-2440 for details.

Sebastopol City Council Meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 6 pm, at the Sebastopol Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol. Free.

The council will discuss fee waivers for the Peacetown Summer Concert series ($5,000) and Many Moons Festival ($750). They will also consider approval of the Citywide Paving Improvement multi-year plan, including which streets will get fixed over the next year, and Library Reconstruction work in the amount of $74,250.They’ll also examine the work plans for various city commissions and committees. The hottest ticket of the evening will be the discussion of the Sebastopol Commons committee’s final report and their request for additional staff and attorney time ($40,000-$50,000) for a fiscal analysis of the City purchase of the O’Reilly buildings ($20 million dollars). See the agenda and documentation here.

Jewish Film Festival: The Stamp Thief

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 1 pm and 6:30 pm, at Rialto Cinemas, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. $16.

“The Stamp Thief” is part detective story, part heist film, and part untold history. The documentary investigates a tale dating back to the Holocaust: that a mysterious Nazi stole priceless stamp collections from concentration camp victims and buried the stolen stamps in a small town in Poland. Embarking on a real-life “Argo”-like adventure, one-time “Seinfeld” producer Gary Gilbert sets out to confirm the story and recover the stamps. His tactic: a fake movie shoot. His goal: to return the stamps to their rightful owners, hopefully delivering a small measure of justice more than 70 years after the Holocaust. Get tickets.

Luther Burbank Experiment Farm Work Day

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 9 am to 12 pm, at the Luther Burbank Experiment Farm, 7777 Bodega Ave, Sebastopol. Free.

Join the volunteer crew that helps preserve and maintain Luther Burbank’s historic experiment farm. Gardeners, tour guides, and gift-shop helpers of all skill levels are welcome.

SebTown Clay Club: Wednesday Afterschool Clay Club (Ages 6-12)
Wednesdays, 1 pm to 4:30 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. Varied prices.

In Sebastopol, some students are out of school early on Wednesdays, as early as 1 pm. Join SebArts on Wednesdays for a special Youth Clay Club, focused on fostering space for ceramics’ creative freedoms while exploring clay building techniques to make themed creations each week. Every three weeks, we have a new theme that allows students to explore their imaginations and create what they want to see. This can be purchased as a 9-session bundle, 3-session series, or a single-day drop-in. Learn more.

Peacetown at HopMonk: Honey Jam
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6 pm, at HopMonk Sebastopol, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. Free.

The Honey Jam at the Peacetown event at Hopmonk on Wednesday is an all-women’s collaboration, featuring acoustic music from Katie Schuch, Pamela Joyce, Dallis Craft, Loralee Christiansen, Sloan Irving, Addie Finch, Kozue Ikuusaki, and Faith Waligora. Get tickets.

College Planning Workshops
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6:30 p.m., at the Sebastopol Grange Hall, 6000 Sebastopol Ave., Hwy. 12. Free.

Two free college planning workshops will be held at the Sebastopol Grange Hall, conducted by a professional college counselor with decades of experience in college admissions and student counseling. The first focused on college admissions; this week’s session will focus on applications to the University of California and UC eligibility. Open to all West Sonoma County students and their families. Learn more.

Film: The Work in Progress
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 6:30 pm, at Rialto Cinemas, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. $16.

In early 2026, a team of filmmakers, including former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, wondered what it would be like to invite 30- and 80-year-olds to gather in conversation about America. The idea was to visit six states in six months, convening a wide variety of mostly strangers to play a simple game: pull up a chair; ask each other questions; take the time to listen. Get tickets.

Sonoma County Mycological Association meeting & potluck
Thursday, Sept. 17, 5:30 pm, at Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave. (Hwy. 12)

Welcome to official/unofficial mushroom season in Sonoma County! This month’s General Meeting will feature an assortment of brief presentations from SOMA’s Board members. We will give an overview to the start of mushroom season and also discuss our upcoming events, scholarships, getting more involved and more. Feel free to arrive early and bring any mushroom specimens you’d like to share or need help identifying. We encourage you to bring a potluck dish (gourmet encouraged & welcome!) to share during the potluck. Potluck at 5:30 pm, presentations at 6:30 pm. More info.

Chamber Mixer
Thursday, Sept. 17, 5:30 pm to 7 pm, at Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center, 265 S. Main St., Sebastopol. Free.

Join them for a networking mixer at the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce. Come connect with the community and meet fellow business owners. Learn more here.

Mixed Media Collage Class
Thursdays, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, Oct. 8, from 6 to 9 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. $285

In this four-session series, students will explore the art of creating mixed-media art with multiple techniques. Teacher Marion Ruta Segal will guide you through the basics of composition, color theory and image selection. This workshop is designed for people of all creative levels who wish to learn collage and mixed media skills, connect with the community, and engage in meaningful self-expression. Part of the “Art as Self-Discovery” series, this four-week course (running through October 8) invites students to explore mixed-media collage as a tool for creative self-exploration. Reserve your spot.

Understanding your Medicare
Friday, Sept. 18, 1 pm to 2:30 pm, at Sebastopol Area Senior Center, 167 N. High St., Sebastopol. Free.

Learn about Medicare basics, important timelines, and more. This program is being offered by HICAP, a Medicare advocacy and education non-profit organization. Space is limited. Pre-registration is required. Call the Senior Center at 707-829-2440.

Kids and Tweens Hangout and Collage Making
Friday, Sept. 18, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm, at the Sebastopol Community Center Youth Annex, 425 Morris St., Sebastopol. Free.

At this Sebastopol Library-sponsored event, get creative and make your own unique collage! Cut, paste, and mix your favorite images, words, and colors to create something totally your own. All materials provided. For grades 7–12.

Film: The Oldest Person in the World
Starts Friday, Sept. 18, times TBA, at Rialto Cinemas, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. $16.

“The Oldest Person in the World” is a decade-long odyssey chronicling the ever-changing record holders of the title of oldest person alive. As the title inevitably passes from one supercentenarian to the next, acclaimed filmmaker Sam Green traverses the globe to meet each new record holder, his personal fascination with what the title means becoming entangled with events and milestones in his own life. What begins as a portrait of longevity becomes a poignant meditation on the passage of time, the randomness of fate, and the joy and profound human experience of being alive. Get tickets.

Michelle Masters Book Event
Friday, Sept. 18, at 7 pm, at Copperfield’s Books, 138 N. Main St., Sebastopol. Free, $21 with book.

Local author Michelle Masters comes to Sebastopol to celebrate her new book Wired for Money with a reading, discussion, Q&A and book signing! This book teaches you how to reveal and revise the invisible blocks that keep you from the life, money and happiness you want. Registration is recommended for seating.
RSVP here.

The Anton Collection + Joe Marcinek Band
Friday, Sept. 18, 8 pm, at HopMonk Sebastopol, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. $30.57.

Greg Anton (of The Heart of Gold Band & Zero) will be performing his catalogue of songs co-written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, including rare Hunter lyrics that address the political and cultural upheaval in America today. 21 and up. Get tickets.

Heirloom Apple Festival
Saturday, Sept. 19, 10 am to 3 pm, at Gold Ridge Organic Farms, 3387 Canfield Road, Sebastopol. $10-$25.

The farm’s fifth annual Heirloom Apple Festival celebrates the diversity and history of heirloom apple varieties with a family-friendly day of activities. Featuring curated tastes of a handful of our 70+ heirloom apple varieties grown onsite in Gold Ridge’s organic orchards and our organic extra virgin olive oils. Plus, enjoy local cheese and apple pairings, our award-winning apple cider balsamic vinegar and apple cider syrup. Spark your curiosity with culinary adventures and cooking demos. Kids can win a prize on an apple-themed scavenger hunt. Get tickets.

Bug Discovery Day: Learning, Exploring and Discovering the Small Wonders
Saturday, Sept. 19, from 11 am to 2 pm, at Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation, 900 Sanford Road, Santa Rosa. Free.

Environmental educator Suzanne Bontempo will explain how to attract beneficial insects — which make up more than 90% of the bugs found in most gardens — to help control pests naturally. The talk will be followed by family-friendly activities, including exploring the foundation’s native plant garden, “Pest or Pal” activity boards, and other bug-themed games. Attendees are invited to bring snacks to enjoy at the picnic tables. Register here.

Bookbinding Date Nights
Saturday, Sept. 19, from 6 pm to 8:30 pm, at North Bay Letterpress Arts, 925d Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol. $65.

A drop-in book lab for anyone curious about bookbinding. This is an easygoing, affordable way to try the craft. Learn more.

Billy Bob’s Fish Fry
Saturday, Sept. 19, 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm, at the Sebastopol Masonic Center, 373 N. Main St., Sebastopol. $12.51 to $25.

Sebastopol Royal Arch Masons Chapter presents our 20th Annual Billy Bob’s Fish Fry. Enjoy some great fried fish and sides at this fundraiser for the Sebastopol Royal Arch Masonic Chapter. Fried fish, French fries, and coleslaw provided, with drinks and desserts available for purchase. Bring the whole family. Adults: $25; children 8-10 yrs: $15; children under 8: free. Get tickets.

Pole Dance, Burlesque, & Vinyl
Saturday, Sept. 19, from 7 pm to 11 pm, at 104 N. Main St., Sebastopol. $25.

Thought-tea Mc-not-tea’s monthly revue features burlesque and variety acts in an intimate setting at The Main Street Theater in Sebastopol. September’s show includes Manila Sunrise, Shiree Amour, Lucky Lex, and Cha Cha Hoops. Get tickets.

The Sebastopol Jewish Community gathers for Rosh Hashanah in Ragle Park

By Steve Einstein

Rosh Hashanah came to Ragle Park on Saturday for the 29th time. Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year and is celebrated by Jews in all sorts of ways. On the Jewish calendar, it’s now 5787, so ever since 5759, the Sebastopol Jewish Community, sometimes called the West County Jewish Community, has gathered under some redwoods in Ragle for a ceremony that is both creative and alternative, though infused with traditional prayers and melodies. Rosh Hashanah, followed ten days later by the fast day of Yom Kippur, are the two most observed and significant holidays in the Jewish year. It marks a time of reflection and repentance, with prayers that both celebrate the birth of the world and encourages followers to consider where they may have “missed the mark” in their own behavior, and to seek forgiveness from whomever they may have wronged.

The Ragle ceremony, led by Gary Weiner, featured poetry, music (accordion), and insights from community members. This year Myozen Barton Stone and Rabbi Deborah Newbrun spoke of coping with a world that is full of turmoil and discord, and how to look inward and find worthiness in ourselves, in the course of repentance. Time was also spent sending strength and prayers to those who are sick and remembering family and friends who have died in the past year.

The gathering concluded with a kiddish, with blessings over wine and traditional Rosh Hashanah challah. Two other traditions were also observed—the eating of apples dipped in honey to symbolize a wish for a sweet year ahead and much extended schmoozing time.

Vietnam memorial dedication at Analy High School

The Analy Alumni Association dedicated a Vietnam memorial to honor Analy soldiers who were killed during the Vietnam War at the first home football game on Friday, Sept. 11. The plaque is mounted on a large rock beneath the Redwood tree on Karlson Field. The band played the National Anthem, the VFW provided an Honor Guard, and the announcer read the inscription. Thirty family members of the fallen soldiers were also in attendance.

The project was spearheaded by Loretta Castleberry.

“Several of us—we graduated in 1965, which was the height of the war—and you know we had several classmates who served and a few who didn’t make it home, and so we talked about that there should be something [to honor them]. So the alumni association decided that we would like to make a plaque,” she said.

Castleberry did a presentation before the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). They approved the idea, as did the Analy High School administration.

Castleberry also did research to discover the names of Analy students who had been killed in the war. They include:

• William Blessman, Sebastopol, Class of 1965

• Ronald Marcum, Monte Rio, Class of 1965

• Dennis Purcell, Sebastopol & Tulare, Class of 1966

• Gerald Parmeter, Cazadero, Class of 1965

• Edward Rainford, Sebastopol, Class of 1963

• John Mills, Sebastopol, Class of 1965

• Thomas Bowen, Forestville, Class of 1968

“It was long overdue,” Castleberry said. “They didn’t get what they deserved when they came home, and even though it’s 50 years or 60 years later, it just seemed like the thing to do,” she said.

Friday Night Lights

Analy High’s Tigers beat the Petaluma Trojans with a score of 48-28 on Friday night. The Tigers are now 3-0 in the season. With talented players at the skill positions, Analy scored seven touchdowns. Seniors quarterback Matthew Medina, running back Kaleb Jacobs and wide receiver Clayton Graham led the offense. The key to the game, however, was the kickoff team for Analy, as a succession of onside kicks were fumbled by Petaluma and recovered on four occasions by Analy, prompting the game announcer to say, “That’s incredible!”

The Analy Band played in the stands, the Analy cheerleaders performed at halftime, and the student section was cheering in unison during the game. At one point in the second half, students began waving phone flashlights, creating a firefly effect in the stands.

Want to help shape the future of West County?

The unincorporated towns of West Sonoma County—like those along the Russian River and the Sonoma Coast—don’t have city councils. But they do have representation to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors through two local municipal advisory councils, called MACs — which Supervisor Lynda Hopkins worked to create.

Right now, the Lower Russian River and Sonoma Coast municipal advisory councils are accepting applications for new local representatives. Here’s the word from Supervisor Hopkins’ newsletter, which is a fount of timely information about West County. (Sign up for her newsletter here.)

MACs are an important way for community members to have a direct voice in County government. Members engage with residents, learn about community priorities, and provide input and recommendations to County decision-makers.

Serving on a MAC is a great way to get involved, learn more about County government, and advocate for the place you call home. You don’t need to arrive knowing all the ins and outs of County government — members learn along the way, bringing their own experiences, perspectives, and knowledge of the community to the table.

If you live in the Lower Russian River or Sonoma Coast area and have ever thought, “Someone should get involved with this!”… maybe that someone is you.

Thoughtful, engaged community members who care about West County are encouraged to apply.

We are currently recruiting applicants from the following areas, for terms running from January 1, 2027 - December 31, 2028.

Lower Russian River MAC: Forestville, West Forestville (Hacienda on map), Rio Nido, Guerneville, Guerneville South /Pocket Canyon, Monte Rio / Villa Grande, and Cazadero/Duncans Mills. Apply to the River MAC.

Sonoma Coast MAC: The Sea Ranch / Annapolis, Fort Ross / West Cazadero, Jenner, Bodega Bay, and Bodega / Valley Ford. Apply to the Coast MAC.

Use this interactive map to see if you live within one of the areas.

Today is the last day to submit your nominations for the 50th Annual Community Awards

Know someone who’s doing wonderful things in the community and deserves some recognition for their work? Nominate them for the Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Community Awards. Anyone can make a nomination, and today is the last day to do so. Categories include:

• Citizen of the Year

• Non-profit of the Year

• Service to Animals

• Business of the Year

• New Business of The Year

• Volunteer of the Year

• Public Servant (elected, appointed or government)

• Service to Seniors

• Service to Youth

• Outstanding Youth of the Year

Submit your nominations here!

CORRECTION: Council did not vote to bring the Good Neighbor Policy back in the future after all

We made an error this week in our city council recap article called “Gravenstein Commons, a Good Neighbor Policy and two homeless outreach contracts.” The Good Neighbor Policy did not get moved to a future date after all. Here’s what really happened. The website has been updated to reflect this:

At first, Vice Mayor Maurer suggested bringing the ordinance back in the future after the Gravenstein Commons providers had a chance to review it.

“If we want Saint Vincent de Paul [and COTS] to actually sign on, we should ask them to collaborate to make edits that make sense because we want their buy-in,” she argued.

Mayor Zollman made a motion to that effect. Councilmembers Hinton and Carter declined to support this motion, which made Vice Mayor Maurer reconsider her support for bringing the measure back.

In the end, the Good Neighbor Policy did not move forward. Zollman’s motion to bring it back at a future date failed on a 3-2 vote, with Zollman and McLewis in favor and Hinton, Carter and Maurer opposed.

Now, that was a sunset!

We get a lot of nice sunsets in West County, but the one that happened on Thursday this week was one for the record books. Photographer Ken Cabeen captured this video on the Sonoma Coast.

The week of September Sept. 7-12

A New Library in an Underutilized Space

At the June 3 Sonoma County Library Commission meeting, when the fiscal year 2026-27 budget was approved, commission members voted to move Occidental’s public library from its current location to the Occidental Community Center to “give West County the full-service library it deserves.”

“It was universally supported,” said Erika Thibault, Sonoma County library director. “I don’t believe I received a single comment in opposition to it.”

Occidental resident Sarah Wieland, representing Occidental Community Council, spoke before the Library Commission on June 3 and noted that many members of the community are in favor of relocating the Occidental Library to the community center.

While the cozy 655-square-foot space of the current library, tucked alongside Howard’s Station restaurant, doesn’t have room for programs or multiple computer stations, the approximate 2,500-square-foot Occidental Community Center offers much more flexibility, Thibault said. It means space for an expanded collection, programs for seniors and kids and multiple computer stations with Wi-Fi.

Occidental’s Mary Koski commented in support of the library relocation. “We were very excited to hear about the prospect of our local library branch moving into the Occidental Community Center, which is currently underutilized,” she wrote in a public comment, identifying herself and her husband as frequent library patrons. Alexandra Matthews, another Occidental resident, said in her public comment that the library move would provide a boost to the north end of town. Additional public comments pointed out the increased space could house programs as well as more shelving for physical books, which would benefit older patrons who may prefer reading on paper.

Yet there will be quite a bit of work to repurpose the community center into a functional library — and the Sonoma County Library has budgeted $1 million for the task. Refreshes would include electrical work, the addition of Wi-Fi, painting, moving walls, new flooring and furniture and adding lockers so patrons can pick up books after hours. Thibault said the existing programs at the recreation center would not be impacted, including the winter craft market.

“The building is owned by Parks and Recreation,” Thibault said. “And we’re very close to finalizing a MOU [memorandum of understanding] with the county for the project.” The MOU is necessary before the project can arrive at a firmer timeline and design plan. While the library director originally hoped the MOU would be in place by October, she now estimates it will be firmed up by the November commission meeting.

“Supervisor Hopkins has been in meetings with the community, and she is very supportive of this,” Thibault said. “I don’t expect any opposition on the Board of Supervisors.”

Yet that does not mean everyone in Occidental unanimously agrees about the project. Linda Hall, a frequent library patron, is not happy about the proposal.

“That building is made for basketball,” she said, referring to the Community Center. “It has no windows. It has no charm.” The current location, on the other hand, is easy to navigate, with wisteria that blooms in the spring, she said.

Hall said they could have author talks on an as-needed basis at the community center, and that everything they need they already have in the easy-to-navigate current location that is now open five days a week and full of atmosphere—and windows. “Who wants to sit in a block?” she asked.

Yet Thibault said it can’t be ruled out that windows might be added as part of the upgrades to the Occidental Community Center.

“Once we have a MOU in place, we can start working on interior improvement,” she said.

The Nursery at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center

Head Gardener Nicolas Whitaker was busy preparing two nurseries in April of this year. Two days after the garden shop at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) flung open its gates after a year-long closure for a complete overhaul, Whitaker and his wife welcomed a baby boy into their family.

“Everyone thought I was talking about a different kind of nursery,” Whitaker said, when he had been referencing his plans for reopening the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center.

The previous head gardener Doug Gosling retired two years ago, and Whitaker said he held Gosling’s work as a “north star vision” as he planned updates for the horticultural outpost of West County.

His efforts include expanding the native plant selection, selling veggie starts again and expanding their hours to Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm. They will also be open year round, though with reduced winter hours.

“We want to be the first stop for locals,” he said.

“It might take people a long time to find out about us,” he said. “A lot of people know about OAEC,” he said, referring to the center, “but not about the nursery.”

The nursery has also become a destination for plant lovers of all kinds. Whitaker said there are customers who come up from Los Angeles with OAEC as their destination, and that he can tell a garden has plants from their nursery just by looking at it.

“We’re a labor of love,” he said. “And we bring a lot of experience to the table.”

The OAEC nursery is located at 15290 Coleman Valley Road. Learn more at nursery.oaec.org.

Two Trees Tea House

Tucked among the redwoods for which it’s named, the Two Trees Tea House has been brewing a range of carefully sourced caffeinated and herbal teas for a year and a half. For their pay-it-forward tea service, no one is turned away for lack of funds.

“There’s a lot of hidden poverty in Sonoma County,” said owner Chris Lewis. “I want to create a space for everyone.” He spoke of an unhoused person who comes in daily to warm up with a pot of tea and a baked good. “People need to feel they have a community that loves them.”

Lewis has lived in Occidental for 10 years, and similar to the owners of the nearby Hazel restaurant, he was committed to finding a space in the town he loves. “Everyone is taken care of here,” he said.

His tea room is a space of care, a sanctuary. For sale in the entryway is secondhand teaware, encouraging people to breathe new life into old things and in so doing reject the hamster wheel of consumerism. There are cozy nooks—both inside and out—to enjoy your pot of tea, all of them unique: cushions under the tree branches, an antique brown leather arm chair. There’s also single origin tea flights and loose tea for sale.

Lewis previously worked as a creative director for the British brand Harrod’s, where he worked out of Asia for more than 25 years. He had to see firsthand the impact of colonial aftermath on tea plantations, the displacement of indigenous people and the pernicious effects of pesticides.

When he opened his Occidental tea room with his husband, who he met in Tokyo, he wanted to do things differently. “I wanted to get back into tea, but I wanted to do it on my own terms,” he said. The teahouse owner spoke of young women in countries who never had access to education that are now growing tea and starting businesses. “That’s what I think about when I pull a caddy of their tea down to sell it,” he said. “It’s what gets me up in the morning.”

In the marriage of two great tea cultures—British and Chinese—the Two Trees Tea House offers authenticity alongside compassion. “Tea is what pulls people together,” Lewis said. Whether you’re celebrating or commiserating in British culture, you put the kettle on. “Tea helps you slow down.”

Two Trees Tea House is located at 3597 Bohemian Highway, Occidental. Learn more at twotreesteahouse.com.

Here’s what’s really happened. The website has been updated to reflect this:

At first, Vice Mayor Maurer suggested bringing the ordinance back in the future after the Gravenstein Commons providers had a chance to review it.

“If we want Saint Vincent de Paul [and COTS] to actually sign on, we should ask them to collaborate to make edits that make sense because we want their buy-in,” she argued.

Mayor Zollman made a motion to that effect. Councilmembers Hinton and Carter declined to support this motion, which made Vice Mayor Maurer reconsider her support for bringing the measure back.

In the end, the Good Neighbor Policy did not move forward. Zollman’s motion to bring it back at a future date failed on a 3-2 vote, with Zollman and McLewis in favor and Hinton, Carter and Maurer opposed.

This is Part 2 of a two-part article. You can read Part 1 here.

At the last city council meeting, the council discussed three agenda items related to homelessness: Gravenstein Commons, a Good Neighbor Policy for homeless housing, and the city’s homeless outreach contracts.

Who will be chosen for Gravenstein Commons?

After St. Vincent de Paul and COTS gave their presentation on Gravenstein Commons, the council moved into question and Councilmember Zollman was first out of the gate, pressing the speakers on how the city could be involved in the choice of residents for Gravenstein Commons.

COTS Executive Director Chris Cabral explained that all of the residents for Gravenstein Commons will ultimately have to be approved through Coordinated Entry, a complex rating system designed to match homeless individuals to available supportive housing programs. (See our in-depth article from 2025 on the Coordinated Entry system.)

“There will be an opportunity, when the project is set up for Coordinated Entry referrals, for the providers (St. Vincent de Paul, Coordinated Entry, City of Sebastopol, all the partners) to come together to discuss eligibility factors and criteria … It would be at that point, when setting up resident criteria for selection through Coordinated Entry, that the city would have input.”

Kaitlin Johnson-Carney, the Coordinated Entry Director for HomeFirst (the contractor that runs Coordinated Entry for the county) noted that one of the criteria could be that individuals would have to come from the West County By Names List — a list of homeless people known to live in the West County.

“In terms of the West County By Name List, it is fully up to COTS or Saint Vincent de Paul to make the eligibility criteria that is allowed for their funding, and part of that can definitely be that folks need to be on the West County By Names List in order to qualify for a referral in the first place.”

She emphasized that while city representatives could help draw up the criteria, they could not choose individual people for housing at Gravenstein Commons.

“In terms of selecting individual households to move in, that would be incredibly unusual,” Johnson-Carney said, noting this involves personal, protected information. “We don’t have any other projects that jurisdictions they’re located within do that.”

Most of the councilmembers seemed pleased with the presentation, but Mayor Jill McLewis remained skeptical, noting her experience as a business neighbor with the permanent supportive housing residents from Elderberry.

A Good Neighbor Policy

At its Sept. 2 council meeting last year, the council gave direction to City Attorney Alex Mog to prepare a “Good Neighbor Policy” ordinance to help foster positive relationships between homeless housing providers and the Sebastopol community. He returned last week with a policy modelled after policies adopted by the city of San Francisco, Catholic Charities and the Sonoma County Homeless Coalition.

The policy had three parts:

• Establishing tenant rules and expectations and training the tenants on those rules.

• Mandatory neighborhood patrols to address tenant behavioral issues as well as physical conditions (such as trash removal)

• Community engagement, including posted contact information, procedures for responding to complaints, and quarterly community meetings.

Mayor Zollman asked for reactions to these rules from St. Vincent de Paul Executive Director Lauren Taylor and COTS ED Chris Cabral. Both disliked the provision that providers walk the surrounding neighborhoods to pick up trash or Gravenstein Commons residents sleeping on the sidewalk.

“A lot of language in here, like under residents and rules and expectations, is just standard stuff that’s in a lease. I don’t have a problem with that,” Chris Cabral of COTS said. “I do think patrolling the surrounding neighborhood—I understand the intent—but there’s not enough funding in projects to do that.”

Here is the full section of the ordinance they objected to:

The housing provider, or a security agency hired by the housing provider, shall conduct patrols of surrounding neighborhood during both the daytime and nighttime hours to ensure that participants are not:

1. Obstructing access to sidewalks or storefronts or creating repeated neighborhood disruption;

2. Engaging in public drug use, excessive noise, intimidation, and other disruptive behavior in the vicinity of the project site; or

3. otherwise violating program rules. The patrols shall provide reminders and coaching to program participants regarding community expectations.

Cabral noted the lack of specificity in the word “neighborhood.”

“I don’t know what that means: a block, six blocks, a mile?” she said. “That makes a big difference. I would say 300 feet of the site frontage, removing litter and debris. It [Gravenstein Commons] is right next door to a liquor store. Not every piece of debris that comes from an area like that is going to be from residents that live at this site.”

She also noted that permanent supportive housing facilities could simply not afford the 24/7 security this “day and night” wording would require.

Vice Mayor Maurer asked, on behalf of a constituent, if this level of oversight didn’t smack of surveillance.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a surveillance of the residents at all,” Mog said. “I think it’s expectations for the housing providers about how they will operate with regard to the community. There’s nothing in here about them having to track what residents are doing 24/7. It’s about expectations about how the operators will engage with the broader community, especially in the vicinity.”

Mayor McLewis’ comment on the previous presentation seems germane here: Speaking of Elderberry Commons, which is close to her business, she said, “I have had a front-row seat to what has gone on there. And when you ask about, like, ‘Why are we worried about people lying around?’ That’s because a woman has laid in the parking lot and on the sidewalk on fentanyl for days on end, and the people who managed that property said it’s not their problem. We should not treat human beings like that. Everyone else was calling and trying to take care of it, but the people who were running that site were not taking care of those people, and that is not how we should treat people.”

At first, Vice Mayor Maurer suggested bringing the ordinance back in the future after the Gravenstein Commons providers had a chance to review it.

“If we want Saint Vincent de Paul [and COTS] to actually sign on, we should ask them to collaborate to make edits that make sense because we want their buy-in,” she argued.

Mayor Zollman made a motion to that effect. Councilmembers Hinton and Carter declined to support this motion, which made Vice Mayor Maurer reconsider her support for bringing the measure back.

In the end, the Good Neighbor Policy did not move forward. Zollman’s motion to bring it back at a future date failed on a 3-2 vote, with Zollman and McLewis in favor and Hinton, Carter and Maurer opposed.

City renews contracts with its two current homeless outreach providers

The city has two Homeless Outreach providers: West County Community Services and, more recently, a county program called HEART. Each gave a presentation about their services.

• Christy Davila opened with a history of the long relationship between WCCS and Sebastopol, noting that their homeless outreach services started with the massive encampment on Joe Rodota in 2018-2020 and the RV parking problem on Morris Street. “The city was looking for a response and contracted for a full-time outreach person in the first year with us, and then in the four years following, we continued to provide services.” They then dropped to half-time. Their contract with the city ended in June. Davila was unable to provide statistics due to both a spreadsheet formula error and over-reporting by an outreach worker. She apologized for the errors and lack of oversight that allowed that to happen.

• Hunter Scott, the new Deputy Division Director of Homelessness Services for the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, gave a report on the HEART program, a county pilot program that provides a half-time outreach person for the Sebastopol area. It is currently paid for by the county. “So in December of last year, we started a wonderful new outreach pilot with the city of Sebastopol and the police department, where they are pairing outreach with law enforcement response—and more accurately to really replace a law enforcement response where that’s appropriate—and create pathways to services with a goal of increasing coordination around homelessness and helping people move from contact to meaningful service.” He credited HEART’s outreach worker, Julian Sanchez, saying, “He’s engaged 67 people (30 of those are active in Coordinated Entry), made 12 shelter placements, and moved three folks into housing. It does take time to build relationships with folks, and so we expect those numbers to increase over time.” He noted the importance of coordinating better with the WCCS outreach worker to ensure there weren’t duplications. He also noted that the DHS had recently broken down the county into subregions (including West County), with a manager for each subregion, with the goal of creating a ‘By Names List’ for each subregion and action plans for every homeless person on those lists.

Councilmember Hinton said she was disappointed in the report from WCCS. “I want to send a really clear message that I heard apologies about lack of oversight, and that’s hard to hear actually when we’re paying for services. And I think I would be remiss if I didn’t say it out loud because we’re going into another contract tonight.”

Mayor McLewis echoed these thoughts. “I’m just disappointed to hear that we’ve been receiving all these reports all this time, and they’re not accurate.” She expressed a desire to take the $40,000 slated for the WCCS contract and use it for something that might be more effective. “I expect more for our taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.

Although Hinton looked torn, the council voted 4 to 1 (McLewis dissenting) to approve both the contract with WCCS and the extension of the MOU with the county for HEART.

This is Part 1 of a two-part article.

At last week’s Sebastopol City Council meeting, Lauren Taylor, the new director of Saint Vincent de Paul Sonoma County (SVdP), gave a brief update on the status of Gravenstein Commons, Sebastopol’s second permanent supportive housing complex, which is due to open in November.

Taylor replaced former SVdP director Jack Tibbetts, who has reinvented himself as a Republican rancher running for supervisor in Oregon. (Tibbetts’ disenchantment with homeless housing was clear in a Sebastopol Times interview from last year, where he said the constraints of federal homeless housing rules made him feel that he was just in the “people-storing” business.)

Taylor previously served as director of Permanent Supportive Housing and Resident Services at Burbank Housing for nine years, where she oversaw the opening of Elderberry Commons. She also serves on the board of directors for Generation Housing.

Taylor knows that many people in Sebastopol—including some on the council—are nervous about another permanent supportive housing (PSH) complex opening up in town.

“I know there’s been a lot about the project and your previous experience with another PSH community down the street, of which I’m deeply familiar,” she said.

Taylor also said she realized there was some concern about the financing of Gravenstein Commons.

“The biggest concerns that I’ve heard are just around the financial gap that we had to complete the project,” she said.

SVdP originally expected to receive $3 million from the County for the construction of Gravenstein Commons. That, alas, hasn’t come to pass.

“We did receive a million-dollar Measure O funding from the Department of Health Services, so we’re very excited and grateful for that,” she told the council. “We have another $200,000 coming in from the Sonoma County Community Development Commission, and [for] the remaining funds to complete the project we will be using our line of credit.”

According to a report on the project that SVdP turned in to the city, “The County has taken the position that the prior $3 million commitment made by former DHS Director Tina Rivera would not be honored.”

“I’ve met with Linda Hopkins and Tracy Lyons [Hopkins’ Chief of Staff] about that,” Taylor told the council. “I’ve also met with Michelle Whitman of the Sonoma County Community Development Commission. I’ve met with Nolan Sullivan and Hunter Scott at DHS. So we have been exploring possibilities around what we can retrieve or capture from that $3 million that was committed—knowing that it was committed by a previous director and not through a legitimate notice of funding opportunity. So yeah, it’s been a bit of a struggle, but we’re committed to finishing the project regardless.”

COTS to run operations at Gravenstein Commons

The other big change in plans involved who will be the operating agency for Gravenstein Commons. While SVDP will retain ownership of the project, it has turned the running of Gravenstein Commons over to Petaluma-based COTS (Committee on the Shelterless), an experienced provider of permanent supportive housing in Sonoma County.

The two groups are happy to be working together, but it was also a marriage of necessity because that $1.8 million construction gap was only one of the financial challenges Taylor faced when she joined SVdP as director 11 weeks ago.

“There was a construction financial gap … and no long-term financial operating plan,” she wrote the Sebastopol Times this week. “Since coming on board, my top priority has been determining a successful path forward for the Gravenstein Commons project.”

That meant coming up with money for operations. Although SVdP has an operating reserve of $671,215 for Gravenstein Commons — that’s really more of an emergency fund. What it lacked — because of cuts to permanent supportive housing at the federal level — was money to pay for the daily expenses of running a PSH complex.

“Permanent Supportive Housing projects are most successful when they have Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) — funding attached to the project/units, not individuals/residents. They are nearly impossible to operate otherwise,” Taylor explained. “Gravenstein Commons does not have PBVs. We were told by Sonoma County Housing Authority it was unlikely there would be a NOFA for PBVs until 2028. This is a longer story, but housing authorities are struggling to absorb the EHVs [emergency housing vouchers] that are being terminated earlier than initially planned thanks to the current federal administration.” (Funding for EHVs is expected to run out of funding by the end of this year, rather than lasting through 2030 as initially planned.)

According to a letter to the city dated 7/26/2024, SVdP had intended to apply for Project Based Vouchers in the amount of $1,572,480. The loss of these vouchers was another big hit to the project.

And that’s where COTS comes in.

“COTS has access to two funding streams that will allow them to operate without Project Based Vouchers (for the time being),” Taylor wrote. “Those two funding streams are “Continuum of Care HUD” funding (administered by our local Continuum of Care) and “CoC Consolidated NOFO” from our local Continuum of Care. They will also be able to offset support services costs by utilizing CalAIM, which offers Medi-Cal reimbursement to support case management services.”

Taylor said SVdP plans to apply for Project Based Vouchers if and when Sonoma County Housing Authority issues a NOFO for them, “But we understand those are by no means guaranteed to the project,” she said.

(In case you’re wondering, NOFO and NOFA are basically the same thing: official public notices that a funding competition is open. NOFO stands for Notice of Funding Opportunity, while NOFA stands for Notice of Funding Availability.)

COTS Executive Director Chris Cabral explained how the partnership with SVdP would work.

“So our plan, because St. Vincent de Paul doesn’t have operating money to operate the project, COTS does have money to operate the project. However, the way that that’s going to be done is by us eliminating some of our existing master leases, right? And so folks that have been living in PSH [permanent supportive housing] already for some time, who are already stable, they already have access to clinical services … those are the folks that are going to be moving in first.”

This would begin to happen within a week or two after construction finishes, she said.

Cabral said the people moving in initially would be a more stable population than those moving in directly from the street. “They already have a relationship with a case manager. They already know what it’s like to live in PSH and live in their own home, and they’re already adjusted to that.”

Cabral said they planned to move people in slowly. “It’s a lot better for the surrounding community to take your time with leasing,” she said.

“When you put somebody in a situation that’s brand new to them—all of their neighbors are new, the community is new, they don’t know where anything is … they have to kind of learn where they are and learn their neighbors. Giving them time to do that without overwhelming them with 21 people moving in all at the same time is a whole lot better for the community. Even if it means that lease-up at 90% isn’t done until March, there’s a whole lot less disruption to the surrounding community if we move in two people, and then two people, and then two people.”

In terms of staffing, according to the staff report, there will be a full-time live-in property manager; two care managers (one full-time and one half-time); a part-time resident services manager; a part-time clinician; a part-time maintenance person; and security personnel seven days a week (though not 24-7).

According to the staff report, COTS will provide residents with case management, employment readiness, benefits advocacy, tenant dispute resolution, healthcare navigation, behavioral-health groups/individual support, AA groups, transportation assistance, and appointment coordination. Residents don’t have to accept any of these services, however.

“Currently, COTS has the infrastructure, knowledge and experience to operate Gravenstein Commons successfully. Chris Cabral and I have a great working relationship and friendship; I am very confident that this partnership is the best path forward,” Taylor said.

Some on the council also welcomed this change—though this was their first time hearing about it.

“I am pleasantly surprised—shocked—but pleasantly surprised that COTS was selected as the operator. I have a lot of confidence in Chris in particular,” Councilmember Stephen Zollman said. “I really do feel hopeful overall with this project.”

The council did have lots of questions, however, about how people would be selected for the project and whether Sebastopol could have any say in that matter. The next item on the agenda that night was a “Good Neighbor Policy” for homeless housing — a kind of ‘rules for the road’ meant to prevent the kind of problems that plagued Elderberry Commons early on.

Learn more in Part 2 of this article.

The Gravenstein Apple Fair may be over, but apple season continues in yards and orchards around Sebastopol, and the hearts of many in town are holding true to the fruit that has defined Sebastopol for so long. Though fewer in number, apples are still here, and that’s reason enough to celebrate.

Slow Food Russian River and the Sebastopol Grange invite you to a new event honoring Sebastopol's favorite fruit, “Celebrate Sonoma Apples,” on Sunday, Sept. 13, from 1 pm to 4 pm at the Sebastopol Grange Hall on Highway 12, just east of town.

This all-things-apple event will feature delicious treats to tantalize your taste buds with a wide variety of samples and cooking demonstrations — both sweet and savory. Taste different heirloom apples, take some home, and try out new recipes. Gather ideas on what all you can do with apples. There will be caramel apples, pie and ice cream, ciders and spirits.

Hands-on activities include beloved rural traditions, such as making fresh cider with a manual hand-crank apple press and satisfying apple chips with that classic kitchen tool, a peeler-corer-slicer.

There will also be experts on hand to answer any questions you have about how to keep the apple trees in your yard or on your property healthy and productive, offering advice about common problems like scab, codling moths or this year’s plague, fire blight. The Sonoma County Bee Association is also bringing its popular interactive display, and children will be entertained with face painting and games.

Though the focus is apples, there will be some treasured local musical guests, including Clementine Darling and Diego Jameau, recognized famously as “The Whistler.” The Apple Tree Morris Dancers will also share their celebratory dancing to festive folk songs.

A promise to an old friend

The event is being organized by Slow Food Russian River’s Carole Flaherty, a “Jill of all trades,” who gardens, sews, weaves, paints and more. Most recently, she has become a prominent voice for apple research and representation.

Earlier this year, Flaherty brought local apple farmers together for a conversation and to ask what support they needed. The farmers all said the same thing: they want people to buy more local apples.

That meeting was where the idea for “Celebrate Sonoma Apples” first surfaced. The goal: bring people together for an event built around our local apple varieties.

Part of the funding for this year’s event comes from grant money that Slow Food Russian River received for outreach and education from Sebastopol West 100.

Flaherty hopes “Celebrate Sonoma Apples” will become an annual event. She sees it as a way to both support local apple growers and fulfill a promise she made to an old friend.

In her last days, Paula Downing, the former longtime manager of the Sebastopol Farmer’s Market, told Flaherty that her big regret in life was not doing more to save the local apple orchards. Downing passed the torch to Flaherty, who’s taking the job seriously.

Flaherty remembers, “She [Downing] was one of those people, when she came up to you and said, ‘Will you do something?’ You didn’t hear it as ‘Will you,’ you heard it as ‘you will do this.’”

A history and industry worth preserving

According to Farm Trails, a Sebastopol-based organization that promotes local farming and educates the public about the importance of supporting local agriculture, there is not a 100% consensus on the exact origins of Sebastopol’s signature apple, the Gravenstein.

According to its website, “One story is that Russian fur trappers planted the first Gravensteins in 1812. Another version is that Spaniards planted Gravensteins in a part of California they referred to as New Spain. The most likely explanation is that this mighty apple was imported from the East Coast by a nurseryman who brought apple trees and other plants across the country in a covered wagon.”

Flaherty is partial to the Russian origin story.

Along with hops and prune trees, Gravensteins and other apple varieties were planted in West County in large numbers in the 1800s. The apple industry reached its peak during WWII.

According to an article on the California Ag Network by local apple grower Steve Dutton, “At the beginning of World War II in 1940, Sebastopol had its high point of 13,875 acres of apples with 9,750 acres planted in Gravenstein. By 1950, the apple acreage was in decline with 10,874 planted acres, 7,465 of which were Gravensteins. In 1980, the acreage fell to 7,747 with Gravensteins accounting for 3,234 acres. Fast forward to 2015 and there were only 2,229 acres left of Sonoma County apples with 704 acres in Gravensteins.”

By 2024, according to that year’s Sonoma County Crop Report, the number of acres planted to Gravensteins had dropped to 614.

Thanks to the work of Occidental’s Paula Shatkin and others, Slow Food USA acknowledged the Gravenstein apple as an endangered heritage fruit in 2005, adding it to the “Ark of Taste,” a catalog of endangered heritage foods in America.

Slow Food Russian River applied to the international Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity over 20 years ago, “to make the Sebastopol Gravenstein the first Presidia [‘fortress’] in California, and one of only six Presidia projects in the US,” reports Shatkin.

Since 2003, Slow Food Russian River and a dedicated “Apple Core” team have put out great effort for the Gravensteins. They support a free community press every apple season at Luther Burbank’s Experimental Farm in Sebastopol, where they also host weekly school tours. This impressive collaborative effort requires countless volunteers and a few regular organizers. (They’re looking for volunteers—see their sidebar at the end of this article.)

This is a pivotal time for the future of apples in West County, as apple processor Manzana moves up to Washington state and other farms try to fill the gap. At Celebrate Sonoma Apples, you can talk to Gold Ridge Organic Farms’ Brooke Hazen about the new 20,000-square-foot apple processing facility he just bought in Santa Rosa. (And don’t miss Gold Ridge’s fifth annual Heirloom Apple Festival on Saturday, Sept. 19, 10 am - 3 pm at 3387 Canfield Road.)

This Sunday’s inaugural “Celebrate Sonoma Apples” is all hands on deck. Countless local advocates, farmers, apple-y businesses, community volunteers, agricultural groups and more will be there. Come out, celebrate, bring your families and friends. Enjoy the first event of its kind and hop aboard for what’s next.

Celebrate Sonoma Apples happens this weekend, on Sunday, Sept. 13, from 1 pm to 4 pm at the Sebastopol Grange Hall, 6000 Sebastopol Ave. (Hwy. 12), just east of town.

Volunteers needed at Sebastopol Community Apple Press

Slow Food operates a community apple press at the Luther Burbank Experiment Farm at 7777 Bodega Avenue. On weekends, members of the public can bring their apples and, for free, make delicious apple juice to drink fresh or to make hard cider. Slow Food also operates the press for primary schools on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Each day, 5 or 6 volunteers are needed to set up the press, supervise its safe operation, and clean it up at the end of the day. Volunteer shifts are four hours, starting at either 8:30 or noon. No experience is needed. An experienced leader will be there to show you the ropes. Slow Food cannot maintain this service without help from the community. If you can help, go to https://slowfoodrr.org/volunteer-at-the-apple-press/ and sign up.

The apple press is open from August through October.

You can cash in your volunteer hours for other things you need via the Time Bank

David Gill, the administrative coordinator of the Sebastopol Area Time Bank, adds that since Slow Food Russian River is a nonprofit collaborator with Sebastopol Area Time Bank, volunteers for the apple press, who are in or join the Time Bank, can claim Time Bank hours for their apple press work. Then they can use those hours to get other services they need from other Time Bank members. See our article on the Time Bank here.

The city council’s ‘Building The Commons’ Committee has announced that it is holding another open house at the O'Reilly complex on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 5 pm. The O’Reilly complex is located at 1003-1007 Gravenstein Hwy. North.

This meeting will follow the same agenda as the last meeting at O’Reilly, which we covered in depth here, except this time there will be an open public comment session after the presentation. (See the agenda for the Open House at the end of this article.)

After the last meeting at O’Reilly, the vast majority of attendees seemed excited by the prospect of moving the library, the senior center and city hall to O’Reilly as part of the Sebastopol Commons.

Franny Minervini-Zick was particularly enthusiastic.

“It sounded like it was totally doable. I think there’s a lot of excitement, and I hope it happens,” she said, though she noted she was going to take the information from the meeting back to her finance-minded husband, Glenn Minervini-Zick, so he could kick the tires.

Kick the tires, he did. In fact, he wrote a letter to the city council about his thoughts, and we felt it was worth reprinting.

The council is scheduled to make its decision about what to do next with the Sebastopol Commons at its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15, when the ‘Building the Commons’ Committee will give its final report.

Here’s Glenn’s letter:

Hello Sebastopol City Council Members,

In a recent Sebastopol Times article regarding the Commons proposal, my wife, Franny Minervini-Zick, volunteered me to “kick the tires” on the proposal.

As the proposal itself acknowledges, many of the assumptions underlying the presentation have not yet been researched, calculated, or verified. I therefore reviewed the materials at a high level and will be happy to help with further review as additional information becomes available.

In the meantime, I believe there are several important questions that can—and should—be addressed before the City commits to a more extensive and costly due-diligence process.

Please see my preliminary review below. I hope it contributes constructively to the discussion.

Best,
Glenn Minervini-Zick
CPA, retired

Preliminary Viability Review

Creating the Commons Proposal

To: City Council
Subject: Recommended Preliminary Review Before Authorizing Full Due Diligence

The Creating the Commons proposal has opened an important discussion about how Sebastopol (“the City”) might address the space needs of the library, City Hall, Senior Center, and potentially other nonprofits. The O’Reilly property may ultimately prove to be an excellent opportunity.

At the same time, several of the assumptions that make the proposal financially attractive have not yet been tested, as noted in the slide deck. Fully investigating them could require substantial expenditures for consultants, architects, engineers, and financial and legal advisors.

I suggest that the City Council take a preliminary step before committing to that level of expense.

Rather than trying to answer every question about O’Reilly now, the City should first determine whether the basic concept appears viable. I believe four questions can provide that initial reality check.

1. Are there financially sound and eligible tenants who can pay the proposed rent for the O’Reilly space?

The proposal depends in part on rental income from space in the O’Reilly building that would not be used for City functions. The assumed rent of approximately $1.75 per square foot should therefore be tested before it becomes a foundation of the financial plan.

The City should talk directly with the proposed tenants and determine whether they are genuinely interested, financially capable of paying the proposed rent, and willing to make a meaningful commitment.

Currently, the three major proposed tenants—the library, City Hall, and the Senior Center—pay between $1 per year and no rent. If 42,000 square feet is required for these uses, their combined monthly rent at O’Reilly would be approximately $74,000 per month.

There is an additional consideration: tax-exempt financing may restrict the type and amount of private use of the building. The City should establish, at least preliminarily, whether potential tenants and their proposed uses are compatible with those restrictions.

2. Is there a realistic market for the remaining space?

Even if the proposed tenants are viable, the City could still be left with a substantial amount of space to rent. The proposal assumes a break-even budget at approximately 50% occupancy. Renting additional space beyond that level would either create surplus cash or help cover expenses that have not yet been fully determined.

The City Council should therefore ask a simple question: Who would actually occupy the remaining space, and is there a realistic market for it?

This can initially be explored through existing market information and conversations with local real-estate professionals, rather than commissioning a formal market study.

There appear to be conflicting indications regarding potential demand. I have heard that there may be interest from significant enterprises in the Santa Rosa area. At the same time, the Council should determine whether the O’Reilly building’s recent history of remaining substantially unrented indicates a meaningful challenge in attracting tenants.

The objective is not to prove that every square foot can be rented. It is to determine whether the rental assumptions are based on a plausible market or primarily on an assumption that the space will eventually find tenants.

3. Does the project still make sense if the assumptions are less favorable?

The City Council should ask what happens if the project does not achieve the proposed rent or full occupancy.

A simple analysis of the existing financial model could show what happens if rents are lower, occupancy takes longer to reach its expected level, or the project costs more than currently estimated.

The purpose is simply to determine whether the proposal is financially resilient or dependent on optimistic assumptions.

4. Is the City prepared to become a major commercial landlord?

If the City purchases O’Reilly and rents a substantial portion of the building, it will take on responsibilities that go well beyond those associated with owning a conventional civic facility.

Before moving forward, the City Council should have a preliminary understanding of who would manage the property, how leases and tenants would be handled, and what responsibilities and risks the City would be assuming.

Just as important, the Council should consider whether becoming a major commercial landlord is something the City wants to undertake.

Public Engagement

The publicity surrounding the O’Reilly proposal appears to have awakened broader public interest in the City’s long-term facility needs. Conversations around town suggest that residents want a greater voice in deciding how the City’s space needs should ultimately be addressed, rather than simply responding to a decision about one particular property.

The City Council should take advantage of that interest by holding additional Town Hall sessions during this preliminary phase. These meetings could explain what is currently known, identify the major questions still being considered, and, most importantly, give residents, nonprofits, and other interested parties an opportunity to suggest alternatives and express their priorities. Engaging the community while the range of possibilities is still open would make the eventual decision both better informed and more broadly supported.

Recommended Approach

I recommend that the City Council treat these four questions as a preliminary viability review, not as a substitute for due diligence.

If the answers are encouraging, the City Council would then have a stronger basis for authorizing the more expensive work necessary to evaluate O’Reilly fully and compare it with other alternatives.

If the answers are not encouraging, the City can reconsider the proposal before spending substantial public resources.

This approach does not reject the Commons proposal. It simply asks the City to test the fundamental assumptions before investing heavily in proving them.

The central question is: Is there enough evidence that the Commons concept can work to justify spending the time and money necessary to determine exactly how it would work?

Invitation and agenda for the O’Reilly Open House on Sept. 10

The Council’s Committee “Building The Commons” is holding another Open House at O’Reilly at 5 pm, tomorrow, Sept. 10, at 1003-1005 Gravenstein Hwy. North.

Come see the buildings with your own eyes and learn about this past year’s work to find a location for a community services hub. Info attached and in the link below. Ask questions, give feedback!

The first Open House in August was held in the mid-afternoon. This one will be held in the early evening so more folks or new folks can attend. Be there and bring your friends and neighbors!

1. Open House: 5 pm

   • Freely walk around the O’Reilly Building

2. Public Presentation: 5:30 pm (ITEM B-Slideshow & Summary Page)

   • Community Needs Assessment (5 min)

   • SWOT Analysis of Potential Locations (10 min)

   • Financial Viability of O’Reilly (15 min)

   • Presentation Summary

3. Community Engagement

   • Public Comment (See comment card below)

4. Following the presentation, there will be additional time to tour one of the O’Reilly buildings.

Comment Card

180KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Commons Open House Agenda 09

150KB ∙ PDF file

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Download

Commons Open House Handouts

3.41MB ∙ PDF file

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Last October, the WSCUHSD school board received a presentation on how to use a marketing campaign to increase enrollment. Now, a year later, these campaigns have become a vital part of the district’s constant struggle to keep enrollment numbers up.

Nearly a year ago, Jessica Albavera, WSCUHSD’s communications specialist, created a plan to use social media, district newsletters, and countywide advertisements to give families everything they need to send their child to one of the district’s schools. Though common among private schools, marketing and advertising is a bit of a new frontier when it comes to public education. Albavera is spearheading a movement to bring local schools in front of the eyes of prospective families.

At a board meeting last October, District Superintendent Chris Meredith explained that the district gets about $14,000 per student, so if this program could bring in a few new students with relatively low cost, it would be worth it.

“You can see the work that we are doing, exploring uncharted territories for this district,” he said, explaining the novelty and uncertainty of this marketing strategy. Later that evening, the board approved $15,000 for the pilot marketing and advertising program.

Now, nearly a year and $12,000 later, Albavera presented a slew of good news at the board meeting on August 19th. Among the many other items discussed, Albavera shared the results of her hard work, including multitudes of statistics and the numerous strategies she had employed in her quest to get the word out. She still has roughly $2,600 left to work with and did not request additional funds for the marketing program at this time.

One of the most important ways of advertising—a partnership with the Amaturo Sonoma Media Group (AMSG)—was discussed last October and put into place in November.

“We had reached out to them originally to inquire about radio advertising,” Albavera said. “When we met with them, they told us the other things that they do, which included digital advertising as well as email marketing.”

AMSG’s digital marketing incorporated placing advertisements online in many local news sites, including the Press Democrat, Yahoo News, SFGATE, and CNN. These advertisements fared extremely well, acquiring over 250,000 impressions and 58 post-impression conversions, meaning that the user interacted with the page—such as filling out a form or submitting their email—after clicking on the ad.

Similarly, ASMG’s email marketing campaigns proved effective in getting engagement with users. Over the course of two email deployments, the campaign received 39,000 impressions and over 9,000 email opens.

Albavera also employed sponsored content in the Press Democrat. Instead of static ads placed on the page, which readers often skim, these were full articles that viewers could read. These pages held valuable information about the various schools in the WSCUHSD district. Albavera ran two such stories in June. Viewers spent on average over a minute reading the posts, and the stories each got over 100,000 views.

“With the sponsored content we did with [the Press Democrat], they also posted about it on socials. And I think that was what was really successful,” Albavera said, describing how important it was to get a publication like the Press Democrat to post on their official social media about WSCUHSD.

In the realm of social media, Albavera had also been hard at work with the school’s official social accounts.

“Posting on Instagram and Facebook is a little bit more relaxed, and it’s something we can do more frequently,” she explained. With these posts, she often used the “boost” feature on Facebook and Instagram, which displays the post more often for a fee.

“You can choose how much you spend on that, so sometimes I just do five dollars a day and just run it for a week and see what happens,” she said.

She also made sure that these posts were being marketed to the best audience. “What I do with any Facebook and Meta [the company that owns Facebook and Instagram] stuff is an age range that would be people who have high school-age children, or even grandparent-age too,” she explained.

Posts on the Analy High School Instagram account got around 1,500 views. Perhaps even more importantly, Albavera’s posts were often viewed by non-followers (meaning people who didn’t already follow Analy’s Instagram) nearly as much as followers, so the posts were landing in the eyes of people who didn’t necessarily already have a connection with Analy.

Other social accounts, such as the district Instagram account or the respective accounts for the Academy of Innovative Arts or Laguna High School, got fewer views but a higher non-follower-to-follower ratio. Some of the posts on these accounts were viewed by over 90% non-followers.

While promising, it is difficult to tell the true effect of this marketing campaign. “Thus far we have not found a way to know what that conversion rate is between people interacting with our ads and students enrolling in the schools,” Albavera acknowledged.

She mentioned that although many Sonoma County residents might already be considering Analy, the district’s other schools, such as Laguna High School and the Academy of Innovative Arts, were more under the radar.

“A lot of people don’t know enough about the Academy of Innovative Arts to even begin looking into it,” she said.

In terms of future marketing work, Albavera was clear that nothing was certain yet. “We don’t have any concrete plans to continue with any kind of advertising. We probably will. It’s just a matter of determining how often we want to do it so that we can go back and ask for a specific amount of money or whatever we need to make that happen.”

If the district decides to continue with the marketing, they will likely request further funds from the board at a future meeting.

With the remaining $3,000, Albavera is continuing her social media work and is considering another advertising campaign. In particular, she is working to showcase the work of the district's teachers.

“I started reaching out to folks on who to go visit and when they’re doing fun projects … I really want to highlight the teachers and the work that they’re doing,” she said.

Familiarizing prospective students and families with the work of WSCUHSD teachers and students is key, said Albavera, who talked about wanting to spend more time on campus and interacting with everyone there.

“For me it’s not so much a marketing strategy as it is a relationship-building strategy,” she said.

Lawson Gaylord is an Analy student and publisher of the West County World, Analy’s student newspaper.

It’s hard to draw a big crowd for an hour-long disquisition on water and sewer rates, but that’s exactly what Kate Haug managed to do at the end of August, with her Ratepayer Town Hall at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. The Town Hall was the final event for her month-long exhibit at SebArts, a retrospective of her work as a conceptual artist.

The event was an interesting combination of an art history lecture followed by a detailed breakdown of how the city of Sebastopol has mishandled its water and sewer funds over the last several years—a debacle that has led to rising rates and water and sewer infrastructure badly in need of repair.

When politics becomes art

The first part of her presentation began with a reasonable observation: “You might be wondering why you’re gathered together with an artist to discuss your town’s water and sewer administration. Here are some reasons: artists are not politicians trying to get votes. Artists are not employees trying to keep their jobs. Artists are comfortable with dead ends. Artists create new objects, experiences, situations, and representations. Artists change the framing of ideas, traditions, and practices, generating new perspectives. Artists see connections that might otherwise be hidden and articulate them in their artwork.”

She also mentioned that she was a member of the city’s Enterprise Funds Oversight Committee (EFOC), but noted that this Town Hall performance was not a part of her work with the EFOC or condoned by the city.

Kicking off on a heady note, she quoted performance artist Alan Kaprow’s description of art-like art and life-like art:

“The root message of all art-like art is separateness and specialness, and the corresponding one of life-like art is connectedness and wide-angle awareness. Art-like art sends a message on a one-way street from the artist to us. Life-like art’s message is sent on a feedback loop from the artist to us, including machines, animals, nature, and around to the artist. You can’t ‘talk back’ and thus change an art-like artwork. The ‘conversation’ is the very means of lifelike art, which is always changing.”

“Lifelike art is what will transpire tonight,” she said, “ and what I’ve been embarking on with Ratepayer Town Hall is more like Reality TV than a museum piece.”

As examples of artists stepping into politics—or making politics their medium—Kaug mentioned her own work “We hold democracy together,” in which she hired a plane to send a message of unity into the skies above New York City the day after the election of Donald Trump in 2024.

She said she was also inspired by the work of Susannah Dakin, who ran for president as an artist in 1984, with the slogan, “The nation is the artwork; we are the artists” and the work of Lowell Darling, who among other things, ran for governor of California in 1978 to 2010. (No, Haug isn’t planning to run for office any time soon.)

A third inspiration she mentioned was Ravio Puusemp, a conceptual artist, who ran for Mayor of Rosendale, a village in upstate New York, and won his election. “Rosendale, much like Sebastopol, was in the financial crisis and had a failing sewer system,” Haug said. “Puusemp realized the small village could not afford to fix its massive infrastructure problems on its own. He subtly guided the divided community—longtime conservative residents and newly arrived hippies—to realize that their best option was to disincorporate.”

Haug’s husband, Kurt Noble, has suggested in the past on social media that Sebastopol should disincorporate, effectively moving its financial woes from the City to the County. In her presentation, Haug did not directly endorse this idea—which would involve dissolving the Sebastopol city government.

She did suggest later in her talk that one possible solution would be to take management of water and sewer out of the hands of the city and create a separate water and sewer district.

“The question is,” she asked, “Can direct action by an artist change bureaucracy?”

Understanding the landscape

Readers of the Sebastopol Times are probably familiar with the outlines of Haug’s case against the city and its management of its water and sewer department. The Sonoma County Grand Jury released its damning report on Sebastopol’s water and sewer funds this spring, arguing that the city needs to reimburse its water and sewer funds for over $5.5 million. The EFOC’s finance subcommittee, of which Haug is part, produced its own long and detailed report soon after—the result of Haug’s three-year deep dive into the subject.

At a city council meeting on June 2, Haug was given just five minutes to explain this complex 45-page report, with its 13 detailed recommendations.

Like many political revolutions in America, Haug’s began with her pocketbook.

“The council’s proposed rate increases in 2023 were excessive in my mind,” she said. “Water and sewer rates had risen dramatically over the last 15 years. Why? Water prices rose 240 percent, even though the cost of water—zero— had remained the same.” She noted that Sebastopol sits on a large aquifer, and that Sebastopol, unlike some other cities, doesn’t have to purchase water from elsewhere.

“All rate increases were based on increased funding for capital improvements,” she said. “Yet there was no evidence of significant capital improvements. The radical increase in rates for water, which the city received for free, made me suspicious.”

Haug’s first task on Friday night was to get everyone in her audience up to speed about how the system works.

The money paid by Sebastopol’s water and sewer customers goes into the city of Sebastopol’s Water and Sewer Funds. These are called Enterprise Funds because they operate like a private business within the government, relying on user fees for service instead of general tax dollars. Unlike a private business, however, they are not allowed to charge more than it costs to deliver water and sewer to the ratepayers.

The money in the city’s Enterprise Funds is kept separate from the city’s General Fund, which relies on a combination of sales taxes (39%), property taxes (24%) and a variety of smaller taxes and fees and other things (37%).

The only chink in this wall of separation is that the city is allowed to charge its Enterprise Funds for the cost of city services—like billing, administration, legal and public works—required to run the city’s water and sewer system. The amount of that cost is determined by a Cost Allocation Plan. This Cost Allocation Plan is in turn incorporated into a Water and Sewer Rate study that determines how much ratepayers are charged.

And this, according to Haug and the Grand Jury, is where the city of Sebastopol got into trouble.

Sebastopol’s Cost Allocation Plan, which was supposed to be updated every 3-5 years, hadn’t been updated in 25 years.

Haug acknowledged that the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978 meant that cities around the state, particularly small towns, are perennially strapped for cash—and that the constant unfunded mandates being handed down from the state and federal government exacerbate this problem.

The creators of Proposition 13 realized that it would be tempting for financially strapped cities to raid their Enterprise Funds by having a Cost Allocation Plan that overestimates how much it costs to run their water and sewer systems.

To prevent this, the same people who brought you Proposition 13 also brought you Prop. 218 in 1996, which mandates that local water and sewer rate increases cannot exceed the cost of providing services. It also prohibits cities from using Enterprise Fund revenue for general government use. This was followed in 2010 with Prop. 26, which redefined many local fees and charges as taxes and reiterated that charges for service should not exceed the cost of delivering those services.

Haug summarized this situation like so:

Like the professor she once was, Haug then gave the audience a couple of exercises to reinforce their understanding of these concepts.

What she found

In her investigations, Haug identified a number of irregularities, many of which will be familiar to Sebastopol Times readers from previous stories.

• Although the number of water and sewer connections and services provided remained consistent, there was a dramatic increase in Cost Allocation expenses from 2014 to 2019:

  • Total Allocation Costs for Water in 2014 were $609,619, which jumped to $1,013,422 in 2019 — an increase of 66%.

  • Total Allocation Costs for Sewer in 2014 were $476,690, which jumped to $837,433 in 2019 — a 75% increase.

• FINANCIAL/ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES for Water and Sewer tripled over nine years, going from $306,248 in 2015 to $944,971 in 2024, despite the fact that the number of accounts remained stable. (Though she didn’t mention in her lecture, the reason for this increase was that the old cost allocation was based in part on a percentage of expenses, and as the Finance Department added employees, the cost allocation increased accordingly, even though the number of people needed to serve water and sewer ratepayers stayed the same.)

• LEGAL EXPENSES: Ratepayers were charged $184,587 for legal fees in FY 24/25, while records show that only $13,850 were actually billed by attorneys — an overcharge of $170,737. For FY 25/26, $189,263 was charged, but city records show attorneys only billed $9,651.50 in billing. Haug noted that, under pressure, the council switched legal costs to direct billing rather than cost allocation this summer.

• CITY MANAGER AND CITY COUNCIL: A new cost allocation plan, approved by the city council this year, continues what Haug views as the overcharging for City Manager and City Council oversight.

• THE SYSERCO LOAN. The Council took out a $5,000,000 loan for SmartMeters for all ratepayers in the city in 2021, under the impression that it would save money in the end. Haug contends that the money would have been better spent fixing water and sewer’s ailing infrastructure. She would like to shift the burden of repaying this loan from the Water and Sewer funds to the city’s General Fund.

These revelations had a powerful effect on her audience. Throughout her presentation, the hall was filled with gasps of shock, surprise and angry muttering.

It was a tour de force performance.

Haug wrapped up by noting that the EFOC had made 16 recommendations to the council but that they had only acted on one so far. She asked, “Why did the Council only use 1/16 of the EFOC’s recommendations and what does that do? If you attempt to build a table and only follow 1 out of 16 steps, do you have a table?”

Looking back at the EFOC’s recommendations from Haug’s report at the June 2 city council meeting, this seems to overstate the case. Her original report had just 13 recommendations, of which five have been finished or started:

• Remove tiered water pricing and do not raise water prices (DONE)

• Recommended that all financial decisions [related to water and sewer] be presented to Enterprise Oversight Committee prior to council and that Enterprise Oversight members represent ratepayers in council meetings. (DONE)

• Implement Time Tracking Software for Employees to Record Time (IN THE WORKS)

• Refund Enterprise Funds $350,354 for excessive Attorney Fees for 24/25 and 25/26. (DONE)

• Recommended forgiveness of the $1.2M Sewer Enterprise “loan” to the General Fund. (DONE)

“In my talk, I was giving that as an example of instructions that have multiple steps to complete a functioning object,” Haug wrote to the Sebastopol Times after the event. “I should have maybe been more specific to my recommendations.”

Haug admits she’s impatient with the pace of change in the city.

“The City has a tendency to slot items into the CIP [Capital Improvement Plan] and never complete them,” she wrote. “That’s why there is such a backlog on infrastructure. Roads and sidewalks are other examples. How long has the ADA pathway in Ives been discussed? Four years? Five years? And that's a pretty straightforward project that requires much less capital than water and sewer items.”

She had some practical next steps for her audience:

1. Attend council meetings, speak in public comment and say you want the Council to adopt the EFOC recommendations, including the CAP reforms and the Syserco Loan transfer.

2. Let the Council know that if they don’t spend 50% of the meeting talking about Water and Sewer, they are in Prop. 218 violation. You can do this every meeting.

3. Make sure City Council candidates know about this issue. What is their position? It is a serious issue impacting affordability and public safety.

She also invited interested citizens to attend EFOC and city council meetings.

But the real kicker of the evening was this series of questions:

1. Does our civil bureaucracy feel like democracy in action?

2. Do you have more or less trust in your local government? Why?

3. Does our bureaucratic form fulfill its democratic function?

4. Do you think government is working for your basic needs? Is that important?

5. Does our local system work?

6. Do you think it is odd that you’re getting this information from a conceptual artist?

Everyone laughed at that last line.

Haug closed with a video of Kyle Falbo’s amazing performance as “a humble pirate of the municipal seas” from the June 2 Sebastopol City Council meeting. This is both one of my favorite and least favorite city council performances I’ve seen in 40 years of reporting. Favorite because it was funny and audacious—he even handed out pirate hats to the council members. Least favorite because, in this soliloquy, he suggests (in full pirate brogue) that city staff and members of the city council saw their opportunity, then planned and carried out a purposeful theft of public resources.

Even Kate Haug did not suggest that. When someone in the audience asked who was “lining their pockets” with these misallocated funds, Haug demurred.

“I think this is a case of ignorance is bliss,” she said. “As I said before, the council members are not trained in Prop 218. They’re not trained in Prop 26…I don’t think there’s like a nefarious conspiracy. I think there was just an unawareness of how much it had escalated.”

What the listeners thought

After Haug wrapped up her presentation, the room was abuzz with conversation.

Carly Quaglio said, “I think it’s surprising in the ways that, wow, the mismanagement just runs so much deeper than I thought. I don’t think it’s malicious. Like I don’t think anybody on the city council is intentionally doing this. I think it’s just incompetence, lack of resources to dedicate to fixing anything. But I think the impacts are the same. Like, this isn’t good for the city. It’s not good for us as ratepayers. I’m sympathetic because Prop 13 really limits our ability to raise revenue. I was shocked to see that 19 cents of every dollar is all the city gets [from property taxes]. So I just feel like we’re in this crunch of our own making, and I don’t know what the solution is.”

George Noel said he really admired the work Haug put into this project. “It was most informative…and I hope the council actually pays attention to what she’s trying to say.”

Sue Corbaley said she hoped people would follow Haug’s recommendation to start attending city council meetings and paying attention to what is happening in the city.

“What really surprised me was the surprise in people’s comments about what they were hearing for possibly the first time, and I do think that Kate’s advice that people start to attend city council meetings and provide comment to our council is well worth following.”

The Senior Center, City Hall and the Sebastopol Library are closed Monday for Labor Day.

The Art of Visible Mending: Mend & Patch
Tuesday, Sept. 8, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, at Gather Sebastopol, 122 N. Main St., Sebastopol. $90.

Visible mending is both a practical repair method and a meaningful way to celebrate the stories held in well-worn clothing. In this introductory workshop, you’ll learn the foundational skills needed to mend non-stretch woven fabrics using simple hand-sewing techniques and decorative patching methods. Reserve your spot.

Star Trek 60th Anniversary Celebration
Tuesday, Sept. 8, various times, at Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. $10.

Finishing up the Rialto’s 5-day celebration of Star Trek’s 60th anniversary with Star Trek Day on Sept. 8, featuring a marathon of all four Star Trek films and episodes. Get tickets.

Produce Exchange
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 5 pm to 5:45 pm, at Sebastopol Grange Hall, 6000 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. Free.

Bring extra garden produce to share and take home some of what others bring; leftovers are donated. Master Food Preservers will be on hand to answer food-preservation questions. Held on the second and fourth Tuesdays. Learn more.

Second Nature: Gender & Sexuality in the Animal World
Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 1 pm and 6:30 pm, at Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol, 6868 McKinley St., Sebastopol. $14-$16.

Narrated by Elliot Page, this 82-minute documentary follows evolutionary biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden as she explores the 1,500-plus animal species that engage in same-sex behavior, parenting, sex change, and matriarchy—upending old assumptions about what’s “natural.” A Q&A with Santa Rosa biologist and author Joan Roughgarden and editor Jennifer Steinman Sternin follows both screenings. Get tickets.

Peacetown at Ives — the final week
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 5 pm to 8 pm, at Ives Park in Sebastopol.

Here’s the word from Mr. Peacetown himself, Jim Corbett:

Local music legend, Eric Lindell, and the Westside Summer League, will close the season with original rock and blues, featuring our Peacetown emcee, Johnny Campbell on drums, and an all-star cast of Sonoma County musicians. Eric will perform from 6:30 pm to 8 pm.

Opening the show (5 pm to 6 pm) will be Delta Blues fingerpicker, Tony Magee, who is also the founder of Lagunitas Brewery. Tony built a loyal fan base for his beer, by donating to every non-profit organization that requested beer donations. Although he sold the company to Heiniken, he still loves to give beer away. Show up early to catch Tony’s masterful picking.

Bob Culbertson, the Master of the Chapman Stick, will be playing a tweener set at 6 pm.

Peacetown, also will be honoring the City of Sebastopol for being a sponsor and supporter of our Summer Concert Series for these many years.

Friends of the Library Book Sale
Wednesday to Saturday, Sept. 9, see times below, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. Free to browse, but bring money to buy books.

Sale includes adult/children/teen books and is open to all. Most books are bargain-priced at $1, even the newest fiction. Most children and teen books are 25-50 cents. Proceeds help the Sebastopol Library continue its mission of providing great reading, wonderful free programs and fantastic services to West County. Cash or check, please. Opening night is Wednesday, Sept. 9, 5 pm to 8 pm; all-day bargains, Thursday, Sept. 10, 10 am to 6 pm; half-price day, Friday, Sept. 11, 10 am to 6 pm. $5 per bag day, Saturday, Sept. 12, 10 am to 2 pm.

The Bluebyrds (Peacetown at Hopmonk)
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 6 pm, at HopMonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. Free.

A Peacetown live-music night featuring The Bluebyrds, a Sonoma County group that plays tribute not just to a single artist or band but to an entire music genre: folk rock. The same evening also brings HopMonk’s weekly North Bay Trivia.

Art Trails Opening Reception
Friday, Sept 11, 2 pm to 4 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. Free.

Art Trails is a free, self-guided, countywide art tour presented by Sebastopol Center for the Arts for two weekends in October, but the exhibition for this event starts this week, with an opening reception on Friday. The exhibition runs from September 10 to October 18. Learn more.

The Occasionals + The Aux Cajunals
Friday, Sept. 11, 8 pm, at HopMonk Sebastopol, 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. $26.42.

A Friday-night double bill at HopMonk featuring The Occasionals with The Aux Cajunals. The Occasionals play great urban blues, swing jazz, classic country, pop, rock and gypsy jazz. This is a congregation of top-shelf talent. Made of players from many well-known North Bay bands, including The Familiar Strangers, Back Porchestra, The Gypsy Trio, Shana Morrison, Jesse DeNatale and more. The Aux Cajunals, featuring the fiddle and vocals of Suzy Thompson, are a six-piece band that mixes old-fashioned Cajun and Creole dancehall music with a bit of old-style blues for a down-home Southern-style roadhouse sound. Get tickets.

Benefit for Walker Creek Music Camp: An Evening of American Roots Music
Friday, Sept. 11, from 7 pm to 9 pm, at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, 390 Morris St., Sebastopol. $35–$100 (VIP tickets for premium seating).

Walker Creek Music Camp presents Teacher Concert Series V – Benefit Concert celebrating the rich traditions and exciting future of American roots music. Proceeds from the concert support Walker Creek Music Camp’s mission to provide world-class music education and access to traditional American roots music for students of all ages. Audience members can look forward to an inspiring evening of live music featuring celebrated WCMC faculty alumni showcasing bluegrass, old-time, jazz, swing and other forms of American roots music. Get tickets.

Alexander von Humboldt Day
Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm, at Harmony Farm Supply & Nursery, 3244 Gravenstein Hwy. N., Sebastopol. Free.

Harmony Farm celebrates the birthday of Alexander von Humboldt—the pioneering scientist often called the forgotten father of environmentalism—with a day honoring his legacy and its modern-day practitioners. Expect guest speakers, games, prizes, giveaways, and more. See the full event page here. (Read our article from last year on Von Humboldt.)

Succulent and Ceramics Garden Art Sale
Saturday, Sept. 12, from 10 am to 2 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. Free to browse, but bring cash or check to buy.

Presented by the UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, this sale pairs handmade ceramics from SebArts’ ceramic artists with succulent arrangements created by the Master Gardeners. Cash or check only.

The Art of Floral Arranging with California Sister
Saturday, Sept. 12, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, at Gather Sebastopol, 122 N. Main St., Sebastopol. $175.

Bring your love of flowers and discover the art of floral design with Nichole Skalski of California Sister in a setting that celebrates both creativity and craftsmanship. In this immersive workshop, you’ll learn to combine intuition with solid technique, creating arrangements that are as expressive as they are beautiful. Reserve your spot.

See other Gather workshops here.

3rd Annual PORCHFEST Sebastopol
Saturday, Sept. 12, 12 pm to 6 pm, in the Belmont Terrace neighborhood of Sebastopol. Free.

PORCHFEST returns to the porches of Sebastopol this Saturday from noon to 6 pm in the Belmont Terrace neighborhood — Danmar Drive, Norlee Street, Dorthell Street, Tocchini Street, Bella Vista Drive, and Daniel Street. There will be a great lineup of local bands on 10 (!) stages to entertain you all day. Free event for all ages. See the full schedule.

Find Your Vision: Creative iPhone Photography
Saturday, Sept. 12, from 12 pm to 4 pm, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol. $85.

A hands-on workshop with husband-and-wife photography team Susan and Neil Silverman on getting the most out of your iPhone camera. You’ll cover settings and controls, exposure, focus and filters, using each lens, and techniques for panoramas, macro, close-ups, and portraits—plus the artistic side of seeing light and composing stronger images. All experience levels welcome. Android users can attend, though demos are on an iPhone. Bring a charged phone and eat lunch beforehand. Reserve your spot.

See more classes and events at Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

Dawn Dolan Meet & Greet at Copperfield’s
Sunday, Sept. 13, 10:30 am, at Copperfield’s Books, 138 N. Main St., Sebastopol. Free.

A meet-and-greet with goat farmer, grandmother, and children’s author Dawn Dolan, celebrating her picture book “Maybelline Has a Very Big Dream.” More info here.

Meditation in the Orchard with Joy Jacobsen
Sunday, Sept. 13, from 8 am to 9:30 am, at Gold Ridge Organic Farms, 3387 Canfield Road, Sebastopol. $25.

Begin your Sunday with a gentle introduction to meditation in Gold Ridge’s olive orchard, led by registered yoga teacher Joy Jacobsen. After a stroll out from the Farm Shop, the session moves through standing stretches and mindful breathing into a 20-minute meditation, opened and closed with a singing bowl. It wraps back at the farm shop with fresh apple cider and sliced heirloom apples. Mats are provided, or bring your own. Get tickets.

Celebrate Sonoma Apples
Sunday, Sept. 13, from 1 pm to 4 pm, at Sebastopol Grange Hall, 6000 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. Free.

Celebrate our delicious, local apples, our apple farmers, and all our apple trees and orchards, large and small. Come, taste local apple pie and ice cream, taste a wide variety of heirloom apples, and watch children hand-press apples into rich, fresh juice. There will be educational displays, activities for children, and experts on hand to help you to plant and grow healthy apple trees. Have you tasted local apple cider and spirits? There will be plenty of opportunities for you to taste and compare. It is a free public event. Bring your friends! Learn more.

Emergency Preparedness Workshop for Seniors
Sundays, Sept. 13 and 27, 2 pm to 4 pm, at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, 390 Morris St., Sebastopol. Free.

Come join a free two-part emergency preparedness workshop, tailored to older adults, put on by Emergency Prep Help (EPH). Participants learn about: making a personalized emergency plan, fire and evacuation safety, emergency go-bags, earthquake readiness, supplies to keep at home, car preparations, securing important documents, pet safety in evacuation, 2-1-1 resources, and more. It’s a 2-part workshop: Part 1: 9/13/26 and Part 2: 9/27/26. Attendees come to both sessions for the full curriculum. Learn more.

Myth & Archetype as Seen Through Poetry & Astrology
Sunday, Sept. 13, 3 pm to 5 pm, at the Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Court, Occidental. Free, donations welcome.

An afternoon with Sebastopol author-astrologer Diana Badger, discussing her book “Dance of the Archetypes: How Astrology Informs Our Lives and Connects Us to the Earth,” and author-poet-storyteller Brian R. Martens, presenting his mythic poetry collection “Merlin’s Wing.” The pair explore the insights myth and archetype offer through the lenses of astrology and poetry, with selected readings, storytelling, a Q&A, and book sales and signing. Refreshments available for purchase; the venue is wheelchair accessible. Learn more.

Want us to feature your event in “What’s happening this week in Sebastopol?” Submit your events to the Sebastopol Community Calendar. This is one of the many resources we use to put this column together. Submitting your event to the community calendar doesn’t guarantee that your event will make it into “What’s Happening this Week,” but it means that we will see it and consider it.

There was a big celebration at the police department on Wednesday for the swearing-in of several new officers and dispatchers. Here’s the word from Police Chief Sean McDonagh:

We are very pleased to be approaching full staffing at the Sebastopol Police Department for the first time in many years,“We currently have a certified police officer completing the final stages of the recruitment process, whom we hope to have starting on September 28, and our final officer position is filled by a recruit currently attending the police academy in Windsor, with graduation anticipated in early December.”

Lieutenant Andy Bauer, Police Support Services Manager Emily Threadgill, and I have worked tirelessly since I joined the department in March 2025 to attract and recruit high-quality candidates to Sebastopol. That work is now coming to fruition.

I’m extremely grateful for Andy and Emily’s leadership, administration, and support of the department throughout this process. It has very much been a team effort, and I’m proud that the results of that work will ultimately benefit the citizens of Sebastopol.

Motorcyclist takes Police Chief on high-speed pursuit through town

Also, in other police news this week, the Sebastopol Police Department reported on Facebook that a motorcyclist led Chief McDonagh on a high-speed pursuit through town. The motorcyclist was headed northbound on South Gravenstein Highway, then went north on Petaluma Avenue, then to McKinley Street, and south on Morris Street, before heading west on Bodega Avenue; he turned onto Ferguson Road, and went down Mill Station Road.

“The pursuit ended at the intersection of Mill Station Road and Occidental Road,” the post said. “Due to his high rate of speed, the motorcyclist was unable to negotiate a bend in the roadway immediately before the intersection with Occidental Road, causing him to crash and be ejected from the motorcycle.”

The rider was identified as Jesse Kruszynski, a 45-year-old male from unincorporated Sebastopol. He was taken into custody and taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Volunteers are needed at Sebastopol Community Apple Press

By Robert Burke

Do a Google search for “community apple press,” and you will find a few in Canada, several in England, but only one in the United States....right here in Sebastopol.

Slow Food operates a community apple press at the Luther Burbank Experiment Farm at 7777 Bodega Avenue. On weekends, members of the public can bring their apples and, for free, make delicious apple juice to drink fresh or to make hard cider. Slow Food also operates the press for primary schools on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Each day, 5 or 6 volunteers are needed to set up the press, supervise its safe operation, and clean it up at the end of the day. Volunteer shifts are four hours, starting at either 8:30 or noon. No experience is needed. An experienced leader will be there to show you the ropes. Slow Food cannot maintain this service without help from the community. If you can help, go to https://slowfoodrr.org/volunteer-at-the-apple-press/ and sign up.

The apple press is open from August through October.

Correction: The Occidental Jazz Festival is September 18 and 19

The opening line of yesterday’s article about the Occidental Jazz Festival made it sound like the festival was this week or next. It’s the week after: Sept. 18 and 19. Find out more here.

New Maria Isabel Lopez exhibit

Sebastopol mosaic artist Maria Isabel Lopez has a new solo exhibition, “Illumination in Glass,” at Usher Gallery in Petaluma, Sept. 8 to Oct. 19, with an opening reception on Sept. 12, from 5 to 8 pm.

Lopez is a former Miss Philippines, an actress and a political activist. The art in the exhibit features both religious and secular-yet-spiritual subjects (nature, the body, etc.). Her luminous mosaics, crafted from stained glass, natural stone, and mixed media, explore faith, resilience, cultural heritage, nature, and hope.

Lopez, who has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines, began focusing on art as something to do between acting assignments.

“I've been a mosaic artist since 2012, back in the Philippines, starting with found materials, like shells, coral, pebbles,” Lopez said.

She said there isn’t a tradition of stained glass art in the Philippines, but she learned about glass mosaic at a workshop at the Chicago Institute of Mosaic and then at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Berkeley. “Then I kind of leveled up my materials using glass and mixed media,” she said.

Describing the work in her new exhibit, she said, “The works are in relation to light, illumination, and awakening. It's not all religious pieces. I have nature. I have nudes, because I believe the body is a vessel of the Holy Spirit. I relate all this to illumination, to awakening.”

An Album Art Collection at Retrograde

If there’s one thing we really miss from the vinyl era, it’s the record covers themselves, usually with interesting art on the front and liner notes on the back.

Jim Wheaton has organized a collection of record-album art on display at Retrograde in Sebastopol. He says: “I started collecting albums for their artwork a few years ago, when they were much easier to find for cheap at Goodwill. I started building the Triptych and Quadtych album frames using the laser cutter at Chimera Art Space, so I could curate selected albums that ‘went together’ in some way.”

Sebastopol Times covered the clever Bell Clock that Jim created in 2022, which has since been moved to a new location at the back of Toy Works, so it rings out over the downtown plaza.

What happened to the Sebastopol Police Logs?

They’re back, and we have some catching up to do. Here’s the most recent one:

In the future, we will link to new police logs in the Sunday Roundup, but we will not be sending them out as a separate email.

The bounty that is the giant chestnut tree at Burbank Heights is happening again

Lauralee Aho reports that Burbank Heights is again selling chestnuts from the giant four-trunk chestnut tree on the property.

“The nuts are dropping now,” she said, “so the harvest should last for the rest of September, but ya never really know. If you want some, call soon.”

Call Lauralee at 707-696-0572 to purchase nuts. $2.50 per lb.

Thank you!

This week's appeal to our free subscribers, The Kind of September, generated 30 new paid subscribers! We are grateful to all of you who have become backers of Sebastopol Times. Two new subscribers shared their thoughts about why they became paid subscribers:

The week of August 31 to Sept. 5

Sebastopol Police responded to incidents involving suspicious activity, theft, disturbances, welfare checks, medical assists, code violations, vehicle collisions and arrests during this reporting period. Routine security checks…

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