Page 40 - Sonoma County Gazette Janaury 2019

HAPPY New Year Dear Graton!
Selecting the Council’s Leadership Team
Congratulations to Sebastopol’s new Mayor Neysa Hinton and Vice
The holidays are over and the shortest day of the year has passed. Perhaps, I’m too optimistic but next comes spring and I am already excited for it. I realize, I have a few more months to go of cold and rain. I’ll use that time to get some extra sleep and read a few good books. Right now I have both Trevor Noah and Michelle Obama’s memoirs on the night stand.
Mayor Patrick Slayter.
The protocol for the City Council to select its leadership team is the same as
Although, I am a lover of warm weather, I do have to admit to the incredible beauty on gray misty mornings when the fog rolls in and out like the breath of a yawning giant, swirling around the mountains. Oh gorgeous Sonoma County! The colors, the trees and the stillness. So sweet. I feel so lucky to live here.
it is for the Council to take any action: by a motion, a second to the motion, and vote. The majority rules.
I thought you might enjoy one of my favorite quote. My dad told me this one but it was said by Dennis Wholey: “Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you’re a good person is like expecting a bull not to attack you because you’re a vegetarian.”
Former Mayor Patrick Slayter explained the process on December 4, 2018, when he introduced the agenda item about choosing his replacement and the next Vice Mayor. Just as it does every December, the Council followed this process to select its leadership team this time around.
Cannabis Update The County Supervisors voted to protect the Joe Rodota Trail by making its classification the same as all other trails in Sonoma County determining that they are not just transportation corridors. They agreed that it is a “linear park” thereby qualifying for the 1,000 ft setbacks
for cannabis cultivation. It is my understanding that Jackalope farms will be submitting an amended application for use of that property but we don’t know what it is yet. This is a win for Graton for now but much is still needed to be done to determine how to properly allow for cultivation that doesn’t impede on the quality of life in neighborhoods. While the Joe Rodota Trail is currently under reprieve our neighbors on the corner of Ross and Green Valley road are also struggling to deal with a cannabis operation. Over 40 neighbors wrote that they have been negatively impacted by it but the fight for them continues. Please stay informed and involved. We get a say in how Graton is developed/ protected etc. but you have to speak up to be a part of that voice.
There is no “entitlement” to become the Mayor or Vice Mayor. The Council selects its leadership anew each year. There is no “tradition” about who is chosen, as history demonstrates. Leadership roles cannot—and do not— “rotate” to each of the five Council Members.
Personal Plastic Objection Since, I don’t have a lot to write about this month, I’m going to take advantage and write about something that I feel very passionate about: Plastic. It’s out of control. Doesn’t it seem like there is more and more of being made? I go to the grocery store and see all the environment killing packaging and it drives me mad. You can get everything in plastic; ridiculous things like rice in a plastic bowl that only takes one minute to cook. Plastic is unarguably a huge bummer not only for the environment but also for humans.
Please consider: with the election of two seats in presidential years and three seats in the midterms, rotation “so everybody gets a turn” is impossible. The top vote-getter in the election does not automatically become the Mayor. The Council picks its leadership team at the first meeting each December following this long-held protocol. Ideas about “rotation,” “entitlement,” and “tradition” are misinformed. They reveal ignorance of our democratic process. It’s a disservice and an injury to our community to become enraged or to enrage people by spreading misinformation.
Zero Waste Since its Zero Waste Study Session last September, the Council has initiated a public discussion about the adoption of best practices to reduce our waste stream. “Walking the talk,” City Staff hosted two zero waste events in December: the public reception for the newly installed Council Members and the City’s holiday luncheon. Terry, who works at City Hall’s front counter, reported that the effort started with the purchase of reusable tableware, flatware, cups, table clothes and cloth napkins.
I travel a lot for work and am in hundreds of hotels a year and every one
of them uses plastic stir sticks. They come packaged with the non-dairy creamer, sweeteners, sugar and a napkin. And the packaging of course is plastic. There is never just one stir stick but at least two. If you want any one
of those items you have to open that package, use what you want and the rest is waste to be thrown away. The average hotel has 115 rooms with an average occupancy rate of 68%. There are approx. 52,000 hotels in the US and 187,000 in the world. That is 17.5 million rooms worldwide. So let’s just take the US. 52,000 hotels x 155 room (average) equals 5,980,000 x 68% (occupancy average) equals 4,066,00 rooms x 4 plastic stir sticks equals 16,265,600 plastic stir sticks per day!
neither recyclable nor compostable, because of the moisture lining, and comprise a significant portion of our waste stream. Sunny notes these are the single biggest contributor to our Farmer’s Market garbage.
Why? Did you know that “Garbage Island” the floating heap of trash in the Pacific Ocean is now twice the size of Texas? Yet, we keep producing plastic, we keep buying plastic and we keep not recycling plastic. Reminds me of
that one definition of insanity “when you keep doing the same thing over
5. Choose foods with minimal packaging. Buy in bulk, with reused plastic bags. Avoid buying food in plastic clam shells, and prepared foods with lots of packaging.
and over again and expecting different results”. I don’t understand how we haven’t made further advances in packaging. I really don’t understand how it can still be legal to produce worthless knickknacks of out plastic. If you don’t understand the harm plastic is creating please google it or watch any one of the 100s of great documentaries on it. Like all things of importance fixing this problem requires participation and effort. If this isn’t the crusade for you just letting the hotel management where you stay next know that you would prefer that they stop using plastic stir sticks is a start. I say it every time. Some staff seems to care and most do not but at least I am saying something!
6. Keep a fork and spoon in the car/purse to avoid single-use plastic utensils. These cannot be recycled or composted (“compostable” plastic is not accepted at our composting facility because it takes so long to break down, so must go in garbage).
Please let me know if there is something that you would like me to know or write about. You can reach me butlersjennifer@gmail.com
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January 24—5:30 to 7:30 PM—Community Church The Sonoma County Tenants Union will host a free educational Tenants’ Rights Clinic. The evening will feature an educational presentation on tenants’ rights and responsibilities and one-on-ones with attorneys from Legal Aid of Sonoma County. Spanish translation, child care and food are provided. Contact: Beatrice Camacho 707.479.5475 at the North Bay Organizing Project.
A New Year’s Resolution Local activist, Sunny Galbraith, offers some easy tips to help households move towards zero waste in 2019.
1. Put food scraps (including meat, bones, and cheese) and yard clippings in
the green compost bin.
2. Bring a reusable mug when buying coffee. Paper coffee cups and lids are
3. Bring used plastic produce bags to the grocery store and Farmer’s Market. “Most of us have gotten pretty good at bringing our own cloth grocery bags, but we still use new plastic bags when we shop for produce,” Sunny comments. “Plastic bags can be reused many times.”
4. Swear off single-use plastic water bottles. Take it from the tap! Tap water is healthier than water that’s been sitting on the shelf in plastic bottles. Carry a reusable water bottle.
7. When buying food from the hot bar, use a personal containers or reusable plate. Get the container’s tare weight from the cashier so it can be deducted from the purchase.
8. For household electricity, upgrade to EverGreen service with Sonoma Clean Power and purchase, for a small premium of about $13/month, 100% renewable power (solar and geothermal) from local public providers.