Letters to the Editor: Final Election Edition
We love hearing from our readers! If you’d like to write a Letter to the Editor, please send it to hagarlaura@gmail.com and/or dale.dougherty@gmail.com.
NOTE: We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor about the current election. See you on the other side. Feel free to write us about anything else.
Dear Editor:
When we vote our ballot is kept secret.
Why then do so many of my fellow citizens feel like they need to blab to everyone who they're voting for?
Trump loves to tell everyone who he is voting for and if you think that's good, then join with him in that energy.
Michael Carnacchi
Sebastopol
Dear Editor:
I am compelled to write a response to the submission by Greg Jacobs that you published yesterday. I was alarmed to see the many untruths put forth by a respected member of our community. The same statement was posted earlier by Mr. Jacobs on his Facebook account, which was seen and responded to by Supervisor Hopkins. (https://bit.ly/JacobsNov4)
In his letter, Mr. Jacobs states that the current high school board has balanced the budget. However, this is not true. At the June 28 WSCUHSD board meeting Dr. Herrington, Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools, discussed the ongoing structural deficit at WSCUHSD and noted that the closure of El Molino did not resolve the budget deficit. (https://bit.ly/WSCUHSDJune28)
Mr. Jacobs also erroneously stated that I want to cut electives. One of my primary objectives is to increase student engagement. Electives are an important piece of engagement and are a critical part of providing a well-rounded education to our students.
Finally, Mr. Jacobs wrote “I have heard no specific positive things Ramirez would do on the high school board.” In fact, I have spent hundreds of hours during this campaign talking with community members and communicating my vision and priorities verbally and in writing. Here, again, is my platform and my approach.
I have a clear set of priorities
School Climate & Equity: 26% of our students report that they do not feel safe at school and, with support of the NAACP and other civil rights advocates, presented specific policy recommendations to the school board last May.
Student & Stakeholder Engagement: Prepare students to be future-ready with engaging career connected learning and rigorous academics.
Fiscal Responsibility: We must allocate resources in alignment with community values and best practices.
I am a listener and a leader
Students do not feel heard by the current school board. The community does not feel heard. This is why folks asked me to run for this seat. California schools, while required to follow many statutory practices, also have a great deal of leeway in the form of "Local Control." Local Control requires a commitment to actively seeking and evaluating community stakeholder input. I am familiar with the tools to ensure that these things happen, such as fostering robust school site councils, seeking stakeholder engagement around the annual planning document, the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), and ensuring that the English Learner Advisory Committee meets regularly and provides meaningful insight to administration.
I have experience
I served on the Sebastopol Elementary school board (SUSD) from 2010 - 2019. My youngest, who is a senior now, was in kindergarten when I stepped into school governance. I have been focused on public education for over 15 years - as a parent, as a classroom volunteer, ed foundation volunteer and board member, school board trustee, and also as an instructional aide in several different settings, including special ed, and substitute teacher. I have been watching the district closely as a parent and through the eye of a school governance “policy wonk” for 7+ years.
I have a broad base of support throughout the district
The role of a school board trustee is to keep a school district accountable to the public by assuring that ed. code is followed and that the budget and administrative practices align with community priorities and values. My commitment to voters is to actively seek input regarding board decisions and to synthesize that input with established best practices and administrative recommendations. I am supported by teachers, school administrators, parents, business leaders, and elected officials. Over 150 people have endorsed me and over 80 people have made contributions to my campaign. (https://www.debbieramirez4schoolboard.com/view-endorsements)
I am so grateful for everyone who has been involved, and look forward to our continued work to heal the divisions in our school community and improve the future for our kids.
Debbie Ramirez
Sebastopol
To the Editors:
Governor Newsom's recent threat to hold back one billion dollars in state homeless funding is a sober warning to cities that are wasting these resources. In Sebastopol, the RV encampment at 845 Gravenstein Hwy N. is almost a year into its operation and with over $400,000 spent, just a couple of residents have transitioned to housing, less than half have gotten jobs, and hard drug use/addiction occurs on site without addiction services being provided. Nevertheless, Sebastopol's current and outgoing city council members remain unwilling to admit the program's obvious failings and, despite telling us this would be a "one-year temporary project" last November, is now attempting to renew the program for two more years right before an election.
This is a move that lacks as much integrity as the council's initial rush to open the site against the wishes of the neighboring residents, the charter school, and businesses - all of whom spoke out at city council meetings. This city council continues to downplay and ignore multitudinous neighborhood and business concerns over ongoing impacts of the site. At the same time, there has also been no critical review or push to create higher standards for non-profit SAVS' operation of the site - only an emphasis on SAVS coordinating more with law enforcement (whatever that means).
The maximum stay in Sonoma County homeless shelters is six months. Hard drugs are not tolerated there - nor are they at the Community Church's program across the street. A job search is required as a part of that program. For a successful outcome, the same boundaries and urgency to find unhoused people jobs and housing must be reflected in a city-sanctioned encampment. Sebastopol needs to write the rules and regulations, not allow the non-profits to write them for us. And we need to get serious about which service providers are awarded contracts and for how long. Otherwise, if failed programs are allowed to continue with dismal metrics, Sebastopol may be cut off from additional state funding for homeless services by the summer. This would be a tragedy. Friends of Sebastopol believes we need better stewardship of homeless resources that work better for the community and the unhoused and endorses Jill McLewis, Oliver Dick, and Dennis Colthurst city council.
Zachary Imbrogno
Friends of Sebastopol
Dear Editors,
We have some great and proven candidates running for Sebastopol City Council!
Sandra Maurer is a very experienced community and environmental advocate who is accustomed to the city council protocols, having worked on many community welfare issues in tandem with them and agencies such as the CPUC and others. She describes herself as "a successful community organizer and staunch advocate for health and environmental justice."
She has integrity, values and experience to succeed at creating long lasting benefits for our wonderful town.
In her own words, "I love Sebastopol."
So do I and so I'm voting for Sandi Maurer and Stephen Zollman for Sebastopol City Council!
I'm so happy to have such good options for our wonderful community!
Thank you.
Karin Lease
Dear Editor,
After reading many of your recent letters to the editor, it becomes clear that there is an "old guard" slate of candidates, Stephen Zollman and Sandra Maurer, and three candidates who represent change, Jill McLewis, Oliver Dick and Dennis Colthurst.
It's very telling that certain writers consider the current council as good stewards of the City, when, in fact we are running a deficit, have vacant storefronts, have terrible roads and our parks are failing. We have a current deficit of $1,152,000, are draining down reserve funds to balance to 16.5% of annual expenditures, which exceeds the target of 15% by 1.5%, meaning if we need emergency funding, we might not have enough.
Current Council gave the County significant amounts of Transient Occupancy Tax when rushed through the conversion of the Sebastopol Inn to Permanent Supportive Housing for homeless individuals. This is a permanent loss of revenue and is reflected in the current budget.
https://www.ci.sebastopol.ca.us/sebastopolsite/media/documents/water_swer_utility/fy22-23-full-adopted-budget-book_7-5-22_published.pdf?ext=.pdf
Below the City talks about declining Transient Occupancy Tax without mentioning that we LOST our only downtown hotel to the County's Homekey project.
"The City’s top three revenue sources have historically been property, sales, and transient occupancy taxes. While this will continue to be true for property and sales tax, transient occupancy taxes have been significantly impacted by the lack of travel and the effects of the new norm of the teleworking environment."
The annual cost to operate the Sebastopol Inn for around 25 people is $3,400,000. Current rates of Transient Occupancy Tax are 12%. The County should be reimbursing the citizens of Sebastopol $408,000 based on 12% of their annual budget of $3,400,000. This missing TOT would purchase new fire trucks, staff City offices and upgrade our parks. The same is true for Horizon's Shine, which has an annual budget of $660,000 and would generate $79,200 in TOT, enough to replace the fence in Ives' park and help other public spaces. Current Council has been shrinking our City's revenue, in effect, limiting the effectiveness and capacity of our city services, our fire department and our public spaces.
Zollman and Maurer are endorsed by groups which have noble missions - like the Sierra Club - but whose concerns are not the day to day concerns of local residents and business owners like our fire department, our parks, our business communities, our roads and our water infrastructure. The Sierra Club has nothing to do with the fact that our City revenue is failing and that we don't have enough money to properly fund our city staff positions.
If you are a voter in Sebastopol and you want to see the City address its serious and pressing local issues such as restructuring our fire department to best meet the community need, increasing City revenues, filling vacant storefronts, which won't be fixed by the Sierra Club or the County, then vote for Jill, Oliver and Dennis. They are a new paradigm committed to Sebastopol. We are a city of 7,500 residents with a limited tax base. As voters, we need to vote so that our town can sustain itself now and for the next decades. If you want to see Sebastopol thrive, it's time to chart a new course - Jill, Oliver and Dennis will lead the way.
Best,
Kate Haug
Sebastopol