Election watch: Letters to the Editor

Letters about Sebastopol's Measure U, the library's Measure W, and the ever-controversial Measure J

It’s that time of year…yellow leaves and election signs. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)

In the middle of October, we asked readers to send in Letters to the Editor about the election. Here’s what we got. Thanks to everyone who submitted something.

What's the story behind Measure U? How did we get here?

A letter from the Mayor

To the Editor:

Full disclosure: I believe in Measure U, the half-cent sales tax measure for Sebastopol. I’m not a big supporter of taxes in general, but I’m absolutely 100% certain that we need this sales tax. All of us who live here, shop here, have businesses here need Measure U. We need an infusion of funds to finally bring us out of the 2020 COVID disaster. The City limped along after COVID hit, making huge cuts, and using up one-time funds and reserves in the hopes the economy would recover.  

The City had reserves in 2020. The Hotel Sebastopol was on schedule to break ground that Spring. We all knew a new hotel could bring in close to $1,000,000 annually to Sebastopol. We really were sitting pretty. The future looked golden. 

Then we turned the calendar page to March of 2020. No one could have predicted what happened that month, and no one wants to think about COVID. It was a dark time. It’s easier to forget it, but it was truly awful. It hit everyone, all of us individually, in groups, and as a town. 

We all thought the economy would eventually recover. It hasn’t. Retail sales have not shifted back from online to our brick-and-mortar businesses, tourism is still down, the Hotel Sebastopol still hasn’t opened its doors, and….to make things worse, the cost of supplies and materials is still going up. These costs make running the City more expensive, and it also makes it more expensive for employees to live here…which makes it more expensive to recruit and retain quality employees. 

So here we sit in 2024 with a $700,000 projected deficit this year and over $2,000,000 in future years. Our reserves, plentiful before COVID, are projected to go to zero in 2026. They did their job to get us through the crisis, but they're almost gone now. 

Our City staff is working at max capacity, still answering the phones with smiles on their faces and in their voices, still processing building permits in record time, still responding with speed to calls about infrastructure concerns, law enforcement and emergency services needs, still running as fast as they can to meet the high service demands that we as a town have come to expect.  

Today I speak as your neighbor, acting as an individual who cares about this town. I speak from experience and knowledge. I’ve seen the inner and outer workings of Sebastopol—raising my children here, volunteering for SO many wonderful community-minded groups, running the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, and serving as a council member and now as the mayor.  

I’ve done my research and checked and double-checked the data. You know me as that person who “trusts but verifies.” 

And yes, I also speak from my heart. I love this town. Always and forever.  

Please, let’s support our town, our way of life, our neighbors and elders and children and visitors. Measure U will help us out of this fiscal disaster. Let’s do what we all do best: Come together to support one another and our town. Join the many people who have already endorsed Measure U. Please vote yes on Measure U for Sebastopol’s future. 

Diana Rich, Mayor
Sebastopol City Council

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Supporting Measure W

Editor,

Please support Measure W for the Sonoma County Library on November's ballot. Measure W, if passed, will continue the small, 1/8^thcent sales tax that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2016. This minimal sales tax has been a huge lifeline for our county library system.

As a library commissioner from 2011 - 2018 I had firsthand experience overseeing the library system both before and after the sales tax became effective. Prior to the increased tax revenue library hours were significantly reduced and programs and services were greatly curtailed; the library was in a downward spiral. With the sales tax augmenting the library budget by 40% the library has been able to open seven days a week and access to books, audio, e-editions and periodicals as well as music and movies has increased. Programs for children and teens have increased and partnerships with community organizations have expanded to provide more services for the entire community. Please vote YES on Measure W to ensure a healthy library system continues to serve Sonoma County.

Helena Whistler
Sebastopol

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Vote No on Measure J

By Congressman Jared Huffman

Our North Bay agricultural heritage is more than just the world-class wine industry.  It includes small-scale family farms, dairies and ranches that anchor our amazing farm-to-fork local food system.  These multi-generational food producers set a high bar for best practices in land stewardship, including trailblazing leadership in organic and biodynamic farming.  

Sonoma County dairies are among the smallest in California, orders of magnitude smaller than those in the Central Valley and other regions.  But price competition from distant mega-dairies is taking its toll.  Local milk production has declined for years and economic pressures have driven many local dairies out of business.  This in turn forces Sonoma consumers to buy more milk and cheese that is trucked in from industrial-scale producers in other regions.   

Our local poultry producers are feeling similar economic pressures.  Sonoma egg producers compete with massive corporate factory farms in the Midwest.  When I was in the Assembly, I authored a law that codified the nation’s highest animal welfare and food safety standards for eggs sold in California.  Our Sonoma County egg producers not only supported this legislation, they worked with me – and shoulder-to-shoulder with the Humane Society -- to pass this law, raising the bar on themselves and their out-of-state competitors.  

Last year was a cautionary tale about the importance of local poultry farms.  When a prolonged avian flu outbreak devastated the national supply chain for eggs, grocery stores that sold local eggs remained well stocked, but those that relied on imported eggs had empty shelves and frustrated customers.  We should never take our sustainable, nutritious, local food system for granted.  

That’s why I urge you to vote No on Measure J.  This poorly drafted measure maligns the character and quality of local agriculture, misrepresenting our small-scale food producers as “CAFOs” and “factory farms.”  If passed, it would devastate our agricultural economy, putting family farmers and their employees out of work.  It would force Sonoma residents to pay higher food costs and rely more on imported dairy, poultry, beef, and other products from distant industrial-scale producers who don’t always reflect our high standards.  The damage to our local food system would be profound and likely irreversible.

Multi-generational family farming operations are part of our local infrastructure.  Amazingly, Sonoma County dairies still produce nearly 50% of California’s organic milk thanks to cherished local companies like Clover Sonoma and Straus Family Creamery.  By driving local dairies and family farms out of business, Measure J would vastly reduce local production of milk, eggs and many other products.  

And to what end?  The stated goal of Measure J is to shut down mega-dairies and factory farms.  We don’t have those in Sonoma County.  We have small-scale farming operations.  By mischaracterizing and banning them, Measure J would not only inflict tremendous economic losses (nearly a half-billion dollars according to a recent independent study), it would add insult to injury by forcing Sonoma residents to buy more food products trucked in from real mega-dairies and factory farms.  Measure J is counterproductive even by its own stated objective.  

Finally, the economic fallout from Measure J includes eliminating jobs for hundreds of farm workers without any compensation or mitigation.  The text of the measure tacitly acknowledges these job losses but offers only an unfunded directive for Sonoma County to find a way to “retrain” them.  Hundreds of struggling working families count on these jobs, including many in disadvantaged communities.  They deserve better than the cold comfort of Measure J’s vague and unfunded reference to retraining.  

Thankfully, community leaders across the political spectrum have come together to oppose this wrongheaded measure.  The “No on Measure J” coalition includes leading conservation groups, organized labor, business groups, the local food and farming community, and dozens of local elected officials.  We all want Sonoma County to continue leading on environmental protection, land stewardship, sustainable and nutritious local food systems, animal welfare, and other important values.  But we should do that in partnership with our agricultural community -- not through a poorly drafted, counterproductive measure that devastates our economy, puts hundreds of farmworkers out of work, increases food prices, and forces us to import more food from distant factory farms.  

Please join me in opposing Measure J.    

Jared Huffman
US Congress

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Opposed to Measure J

Editor: Don’t be fooled by those behind Measure J. Adults don’t need to be told what to eat. Measure J is hiding behind a thin veil of ‘animal welfare.’ It is outlined so clearly in their mission statement that they hope to convert the whole world to becoming vegan. Although they may feel this is a noble goal, attempting to regulate what people eat, and where they get their food, is a slippery slope.

The residents of Sonoma County are privileged to have an abundance of local suppliers of milk, cheese, eggs and poultry meat. These animals are protected by Proposition 2 and Proposition 12, the nation’s strongest animal welfare laws. Measure J seeks to lean in on those virtues, but has nothing to do with animal welfare. Instead, it’s about upending an entire industry…at the expense of farmworkers, consumers, and farm families.

A recently-released county report cited a half-billion impact to Sonoma County’s economy, and a loss of millions of farm animals should Measure J pass. We can’t afford the detrimental impacts of Measure J.

Sincerely,
Joseph Stefenoni
Petaluma

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In support of Measure J

Reader Taylor Lampson sent a letter he’d written Lynda Hopkins' as his letter to the editor.

Dear Lynda Hopkins~

I’ve loved all of the work you have done in our county — especially with the homeless issue.  And so far I’ve been on the same page with you on every issue and have voted for you since you’ve been on the ballot.  But I’m having trouble getting feedback from the dairies and chicken farms where the animals are clearly not in a humane environment. I’ve also contacted Farm Trails and Community Farms for Food & Family Farms.  So far no response.  The website for Sonoma County Factory Farms gives some actual photos and facts about the facilities.  It’s not pretty.

I’m seeing a lot of No on Measure J signs out there, but I’m not hearing any ideas from the CAFOs as far as how to mitigate pollution and treat the animals humanely.  Mostly I’m hearing about the fiscal impacts and the loss of employment for folks in the industry.  Again, money is the driving force.  Our economy is important, but not at the expense of animals and the environment — as I’m sure you would agree.

There’s a reason why this measure is on the ballot.  I’ve seen the chicken farms where thousands of chickens are inside warehouses — definitely not humane.  I’ve done a lot of bike riding in both Sonoma and Marin counties and I’ve seen the little plastic crates that the baby cows go into for veal production after being taken away from their mothers.  Similarly with the dairy cows.  Cows sense instinctually when their baby is taken away even if they try to hide it from them.  I’ve also seen smaller operations like the chicken farm in Nicasio called Hicks Mountain Hens where hundreds of chickens are outside in a small pen and it’s still labeled as free range.  That’s in Marin County, but I’m sure there are others like that in Sonoma County.  Cows and pigs and chickens are not on the planet simply to feed humans.

Harris Ranch is probably the worst example of a CAFO, and although it’s out of the county, most people have driven by there on I-5 and smelled the waste and seen the giant pens with thousands of cows with no shade or natural food.  The dairies aren’t much better.  And most of these CAFOs have been making a lot of money over the last several decades.  The Strauss family has a good reputation and has some truly free-range operations, but they are also guilty of practices that are not humane and cause a lot of pollution.  You just can’t avoid that with that many animals in a small space.  Same goes for Clover Stornetta.

I wonder if anyone is bringing both sides to the table so some kind of compromise could be made?  Things won’t change until this happens.  The people who own the CAFOs obviously don’t care about the animals.  That’s why this issue has finally come up on the ballot.  People are tired of seeing animals being treated poorly and contributing so much pollution.

Taylor Lampson
Sebastopol

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Against Measure J

To the editors:

In California, animals benefit from Prop 12, which helps protect farm animals from animal cruelty and extreme confinement. It is arguably the nation’s strongest animal welfare law, and benefits animals in Sonoma County and beyond. Additionally, it prevents California consumers/distributors from outsourcing agricultural goods from farms which violate Prop 12.

Measure J doesn’t contain any sort of provision along those lines. It is masquerading as an “animal welfare” initiative when in fact, it would effectively shut down Sonoma County’s animal agriculture industry, an industry that does an exceptional job caring for animals, agriculture, and the environment. I’d refer anyone who is curious to inquire as to the quality of life of industrially raised cattle which supply milk for name brands – operations you’re unlikely to find here in Sonoma County.

Measure J would send local dairy cows to these places by shutting down local animal agriculture and effectively forcing the sale of these animals to Ag operations in outside counties, thereby forcing us to buy products from them. It is a lose-lose for farm-to-table agriculture and the “Go Local” movement. To help avoid this unfortunate outcome, please oppose Measure J.

Michelle Sawyer
Sebastopol

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