Great re-cap! Thank you! I hope candidates educate themselves on the Water and Sewer issue as it is one of the biggest and most critical issues facing Sebastopol. Water rates have risen over 200% in the last 15 years while the infrastructure has been neglected to the point of failure. The City is currently looking at how to finance infrastructure. Well 4, which pumps the majority of the City's water, is currently over 30 years (!) past its useable life. The Pleasant Hill loop, which circulates over 50% of the City's water, has been on the CIP since 2005 and is a critical part of redundancy in our water system. If it fails, water pressure would drop and people would not be able to access water (and potentially fire hydrants) in about 50% of Sebastopol. Ratepayers have been paying for infrastructure in constant rate hikes over the last 3 decades without the benefit of the infrastructure being fixed. Interestingly, the City is looking to borrow around $5 million for water repair. The Grand Jury found the City misappropriated funds in the amount of $5,500,000. The EFOC also located several instances of misappropriated funds in a similar range. If the City paid back the $5.5 identified by the Grand Jury, we wouldn't have to take out a loan to fund the Water Infrastructure. Due to prior Council and City Staff's illegal actions and misappropriation, Ratepayers will have to pay for the same infrastructure 3 times. First with the initial rate hikes, second with the loan amount to pay for the infrastructure now and third with interest payments that will roughly double the amount paid. If prior Council/City Manager would have done the infrastructure repairs in 2012 and 2019 (both times when the City raised rates), $5,500,000 would have purchased significantly more infrastructure than the same amount of money today due to inflations and post pandemic pricing. Bringing the City into Prop. 218 and Prop. 26 compliance and restitutions to the Enterprise Funds should be key policy platforms for all candidates. If not, people with Water bills in Sebastopol will be looking at significant rate hikes and more misappropriation by the City. Current Council has been proactive and thoughtful on this issue and steps have been made. Unfortunately, it has been piecemeal and without an overacting plan so significant issues like the current Cost Allocation Plan, time tracking (the City says they are doing it but at a prior meeting Ana Kwong said they couldn't find a software program so it is unclear what method is being used), refunding the Enterprise Funds for vacant positions like the City Manger, the Syserco Loan, and moving all contractors to direct bill are still outstanding. While previous Councils/ City Manger created this problem, current and future candidates will have to solve it. Water and Sewer infrastructure is the most critical service the City provides. It impacts every single business, nonprofit, home, apartment complex, hotel, and school.
Any candidate should be informed on this issue and be ready to address it with a clear sense of the legal burden of the City and why anyone who pays a water bill in Sebastopol will have a stake in this.
It's wild to see people still pushing for the two-way thing again. It's interesting to talk to the people who've lived here long enough to remember and you can't find anyone in that historical crowd who really liked it at all. Nor do any of them suggest that traffic flowed better. What a waste of civic effort to return to it, as if it's some sort of Shangri-La that will improve the town. I've heard all manor of ideation on it, but the main delusion seems to be that it will somehow "make Sebastopol more walkable." As one of many many daily in-town walkers I'm baffled by the notion that our town ISN'T walkable. I walk everywhere, totally unrestricted, and totally with ease. Yes, there are loud trucks and a lot of cars, and, to some City Council folks' point, a great majority of those cars are, as Ian Hoff suggested, passing through Seb on their way to the River communities up north or on their way to Petaluma, or, heading to the coastal beaches and beach communties to the west and Santa Rosa to the east. This traffic is a CONSTANT. It will not diminish by making our north and south-bound lanes two ways. And there's a politically useful piece of history here: voters narrowly approved the switch in 1984, 931–887. Then, after residents had actually experienced the one-way system, opponents forced another vote in 1987. That time the result was overwhelming: 1,600 voted to keep one-way versus just 387 to return to two-way. That second vote is potentially a much stronger argument than anecdotal “old-timers remember the traffic.” Sebastopol essentially conducted a real-world before/after experiment, then voters chose one-way by about 4-to-1 after living with both systems. This 4 to 1 Nay count is something that should be acknowledged; these were people that lived through the change, saw it before and after and then saw it rolled back to what we have now, after 75% them hated it! (This is all cited in the Sebastopol Times) HISTORY, anyone??? It's a whimsical daydream by a new generation who imagines it's somehow going to "Help walkability" in a town that is already TREMENDOUSLY walkable! What a waste of our town's emotional and civic resources to explore this issue yet again, and the Planning Commission seems to be pushing for it in spite of the "4 to 1 hated it" history that's hidden in plane sight. And that some of them are pushing for a "commons" that isn't even walkable for people that actually LIVE in the downtown area, speaks volumes about this lack of studied discipline that predominates the council and the planning commission.
I did not see any candidates on the EFOC/Budget Committee meeting today. Do they know they can watch how issues are being handled in real time and take positions they think would benefit the voters they hope to attract?
Thank you, Laura, for the encapsulation. While I (forced) myself to watch the debate, my mind wandered during the (natural) palaver that abounded in each candidate's answer - whereas reading your take allowed quick, easier judgments. I think the questions were not particularly well stated - particularly, as you pointed out, the Q about the O'Reilly relocation.
I want to shout out to all the very nice HUMAN checkers we have at all of our local grocery stores. The cashiers at our local stores are friendly, nice and are part of our community. Recently, I was speaking with a friend who commented on the fact that so many stores have replaced human cashiers with self checkout. I remarked that I rarely use self checkout because our local stores here - Andy's, Lucky, Pacific Market, Community Market, Fircrest - all employ checkers, many of whom I see on a regular basis. In terms of Grocery Outlet, the Rite Aid building would bring much more revenue to the City if it were developed as in-fill housing, mixed use or a hotel. As Grocery Outlet would generate very little sales tax (groceries are not subject to sales tax) and Sebastopol already has an abundance of grocery stores at various price points, the City should seek other types of development for that site. Rite Aid probably generated more sales tax as the majority of its items were subject to sales tax. If the property were converted to Grocery Outlet, the property tax remains the same and the sales tax is marginal AND it is competition for other, established grocery stores. It brings no significant benefit to the City. If I were on Council, I would vote no on Grocery Outlet simply because there is very little space within City Limits to generate revenue and if you don't maximize revenue potential with prime downtown space, you're not being very economically prudent. If Sebastopol did not already have so many options, then it would be a different discussion regarding choice. At this point, grocery shoppers have a huge variety of choice from Andy's to Community Market to Fircrest to Lucky to Safeway to Whole Foods. That is a lot of groceries! I hope Council and the City is pursuing revenue generating tenants for the space. A hotel would be the best. The site is great for development as it is quite large and in the middle of downtown.
Great re-cap! Thank you! I hope candidates educate themselves on the Water and Sewer issue as it is one of the biggest and most critical issues facing Sebastopol. Water rates have risen over 200% in the last 15 years while the infrastructure has been neglected to the point of failure. The City is currently looking at how to finance infrastructure. Well 4, which pumps the majority of the City's water, is currently over 30 years (!) past its useable life. The Pleasant Hill loop, which circulates over 50% of the City's water, has been on the CIP since 2005 and is a critical part of redundancy in our water system. If it fails, water pressure would drop and people would not be able to access water (and potentially fire hydrants) in about 50% of Sebastopol. Ratepayers have been paying for infrastructure in constant rate hikes over the last 3 decades without the benefit of the infrastructure being fixed. Interestingly, the City is looking to borrow around $5 million for water repair. The Grand Jury found the City misappropriated funds in the amount of $5,500,000. The EFOC also located several instances of misappropriated funds in a similar range. If the City paid back the $5.5 identified by the Grand Jury, we wouldn't have to take out a loan to fund the Water Infrastructure. Due to prior Council and City Staff's illegal actions and misappropriation, Ratepayers will have to pay for the same infrastructure 3 times. First with the initial rate hikes, second with the loan amount to pay for the infrastructure now and third with interest payments that will roughly double the amount paid. If prior Council/City Manager would have done the infrastructure repairs in 2012 and 2019 (both times when the City raised rates), $5,500,000 would have purchased significantly more infrastructure than the same amount of money today due to inflations and post pandemic pricing. Bringing the City into Prop. 218 and Prop. 26 compliance and restitutions to the Enterprise Funds should be key policy platforms for all candidates. If not, people with Water bills in Sebastopol will be looking at significant rate hikes and more misappropriation by the City. Current Council has been proactive and thoughtful on this issue and steps have been made. Unfortunately, it has been piecemeal and without an overacting plan so significant issues like the current Cost Allocation Plan, time tracking (the City says they are doing it but at a prior meeting Ana Kwong said they couldn't find a software program so it is unclear what method is being used), refunding the Enterprise Funds for vacant positions like the City Manger, the Syserco Loan, and moving all contractors to direct bill are still outstanding. While previous Councils/ City Manger created this problem, current and future candidates will have to solve it. Water and Sewer infrastructure is the most critical service the City provides. It impacts every single business, nonprofit, home, apartment complex, hotel, and school.
The grand jury report is here: https://sonoma.courts.ca.gov/system/files/grand-jury/05-12-2026-sebast-water-posting.pdf
You can find more documents and videos at https://ratepayer.info
Any candidate should be informed on this issue and be ready to address it with a clear sense of the legal burden of the City and why anyone who pays a water bill in Sebastopol will have a stake in this.
Yes...there's much more that needs to be accomplished before it's time to move on.
It's wild to see people still pushing for the two-way thing again. It's interesting to talk to the people who've lived here long enough to remember and you can't find anyone in that historical crowd who really liked it at all. Nor do any of them suggest that traffic flowed better. What a waste of civic effort to return to it, as if it's some sort of Shangri-La that will improve the town. I've heard all manor of ideation on it, but the main delusion seems to be that it will somehow "make Sebastopol more walkable." As one of many many daily in-town walkers I'm baffled by the notion that our town ISN'T walkable. I walk everywhere, totally unrestricted, and totally with ease. Yes, there are loud trucks and a lot of cars, and, to some City Council folks' point, a great majority of those cars are, as Ian Hoff suggested, passing through Seb on their way to the River communities up north or on their way to Petaluma, or, heading to the coastal beaches and beach communties to the west and Santa Rosa to the east. This traffic is a CONSTANT. It will not diminish by making our north and south-bound lanes two ways. And there's a politically useful piece of history here: voters narrowly approved the switch in 1984, 931–887. Then, after residents had actually experienced the one-way system, opponents forced another vote in 1987. That time the result was overwhelming: 1,600 voted to keep one-way versus just 387 to return to two-way. That second vote is potentially a much stronger argument than anecdotal “old-timers remember the traffic.” Sebastopol essentially conducted a real-world before/after experiment, then voters chose one-way by about 4-to-1 after living with both systems. This 4 to 1 Nay count is something that should be acknowledged; these were people that lived through the change, saw it before and after and then saw it rolled back to what we have now, after 75% them hated it! (This is all cited in the Sebastopol Times) HISTORY, anyone??? It's a whimsical daydream by a new generation who imagines it's somehow going to "Help walkability" in a town that is already TREMENDOUSLY walkable! What a waste of our town's emotional and civic resources to explore this issue yet again, and the Planning Commission seems to be pushing for it in spite of the "4 to 1 hated it" history that's hidden in plane sight. And that some of them are pushing for a "commons" that isn't even walkable for people that actually LIVE in the downtown area, speaks volumes about this lack of studied discipline that predominates the council and the planning commission.
I did not see any candidates on the EFOC/Budget Committee meeting today. Do they know they can watch how issues are being handled in real time and take positions they think would benefit the voters they hope to attract?
Thank you, Laura, for the encapsulation. While I (forced) myself to watch the debate, my mind wandered during the (natural) palaver that abounded in each candidate's answer - whereas reading your take allowed quick, easier judgments. I think the questions were not particularly well stated - particularly, as you pointed out, the Q about the O'Reilly relocation.
I want to shout out to all the very nice HUMAN checkers we have at all of our local grocery stores. The cashiers at our local stores are friendly, nice and are part of our community. Recently, I was speaking with a friend who commented on the fact that so many stores have replaced human cashiers with self checkout. I remarked that I rarely use self checkout because our local stores here - Andy's, Lucky, Pacific Market, Community Market, Fircrest - all employ checkers, many of whom I see on a regular basis. In terms of Grocery Outlet, the Rite Aid building would bring much more revenue to the City if it were developed as in-fill housing, mixed use or a hotel. As Grocery Outlet would generate very little sales tax (groceries are not subject to sales tax) and Sebastopol already has an abundance of grocery stores at various price points, the City should seek other types of development for that site. Rite Aid probably generated more sales tax as the majority of its items were subject to sales tax. If the property were converted to Grocery Outlet, the property tax remains the same and the sales tax is marginal AND it is competition for other, established grocery stores. It brings no significant benefit to the City. If I were on Council, I would vote no on Grocery Outlet simply because there is very little space within City Limits to generate revenue and if you don't maximize revenue potential with prime downtown space, you're not being very economically prudent. If Sebastopol did not already have so many options, then it would be a different discussion regarding choice. At this point, grocery shoppers have a huge variety of choice from Andy's to Community Market to Fircrest to Lucky to Safeway to Whole Foods. That is a lot of groceries! I hope Council and the City is pursuing revenue generating tenants for the space. A hotel would be the best. The site is great for development as it is quite large and in the middle of downtown.
Thank you Laura for wading through all of this and finding areas of substance.