Page 36 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2018.indd

“BBQ chicken may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.” Anthony Bourdain
10th Annual Chicken Barbecue fundraiser, Sunday, April 8th
Don’t be chicken. Fly your coop. Cross the road and head to the Cotati Room at the Ray Miller Community Center, 216 E. School Street. The social fundraiser takes place from noon to 4 p.m. Meal service ends at 3 p.m. Buy tickets in advance $14 to save $3 per ticket. Tickets sold at Cotati Exchange Bank, Professional Framing Services, and at the Cotati Historical Museum. Taste Ed Gilardi’s secret recipe. Come hungry because the meal includes half a BBQ chicken, beans, coleslaw, dinner roll, and a drink. Beer and wine are available for purchase.
Eat at the event, then shake a tail feather or tap your toe to live music. At your bidding enter the silent auction or treat your family to homemade pie and cookies. Or come to admire the classic car show, if you are so driven. Take out available. I heard that locals favor buying whole homemade pies to take home. All proceeds bene t the Cotati Historical Society. Volunteers wanted to help with the following.
• Set up tables, chairs, and the food service line.
• People to donate items for the silent auction.
• Clean-up crew for the end of the day.
Call the Museum Volunteer Coordinator, Bobbie Veronda, to donate auction items or to volunteer. You may reach her at 707-795-4545. An old saying goes, “Money can’t buy happiness but it can buy BBQ chicken, and that’s sort of the same thing.” But as John Lennon said, “Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.”
New Display honoring Prue & Lloyd Draper at the Cotati
Historical Society Before Valentine’s
Day, I caught up with Marie McNaughton, the Cotati Historical Society Newsletter Editor, past president and past secretary.
We chatted about their upcoming Chicken Barbecue, April 8th. “Dues are still $10 per year.” Marie said, “We need volunteers for the event and the museum. We need a person to run our social media, too. A young person might enjoy that job; a high school student could earn volunteer hour credit too.” I also learned the society’s current board president is John Allred. Thanks, John, for leading the volunteer board since 2016.
McNaughton introduced me to their newest volunteer, Pamela Wilford.
A fourth-generation Cotatian, Wilford grew up grew up on a sheep ranch
near Copeland Creek. She attended kindergarten in the same room that the museum now occupies. Right after Cotati’s streets were laid out, Wilford’s great-grandmother got o at the Cotati Railroad Station. Lucky for Wilford, her ancestor chose to stay. Wilford is recently retired from fulltime nursing and can now enjoy the relaxed pace of greeting museum visitors and an answering their questions. The CHS Museum is located at 201 W. Sierra Ave., Cotati, CA 94931 and for further information, please see the cotatihistoricalsociety.org.
Cotatiarod bene ting the Redwood Food Bank on March 3rd
Cotatitarod is a Shopping cart race around Cotati bene ting the Redwood Food Bank. A 5k foot race, pub crawl, food drive, costume contest, and decorated cart parade.
Volunteers and participating racing teams needed. Spread the word, and hang up a ier or poster in a storefront. On Saturday, March 3rd, 2018 in La Plaza Park, Downtown Cotati. Event timetable: 10am Racer check in, noon Racer’s meeting, 1pm Race begins then at 4pm Award ceremony.
Please write to me on your life in Cotati, events, business, volunteering, concerns, etc.
36 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/18
Great things continue to happen in Rohnert Park.
Rohnert Park has been building homes right across from Sonoma State University as well as to the South of the university.
In the last couple of years we have built about 600 homes with the ability to build 2000 in the next few years. Once our build-out is completed, (approximately 5000 home), by approximately 2025, we will have expanded from about 43,000 residents to 50,000 residents.
Downtown? We are also excited about the new owners of the State Farm property, Laulima Developments, who have proposed building a downtown on the former insurance site. The downtown would included 130,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurants on the rst level, approximately 90,000 sq ft of o ce on the second level and housing on the upper levels. The plan includes a central plaza, a clock tower, train station in the future a 136 room boutique hotel.
There will be a total of 414 housing units with the owners wanting to start construction in the rst part of 2019 and completion scheduled for the end of 2020. To handle the increased tra c, we have expanded Rohnert Park Expressway east of Snyder to two lanes each way.
Keep Traf c Moving...We are also completing a city wide tra c study to determine other ways to move tra c throughout the city safely and e ciently. One of the innovative ways to do this is by the use of round-a-bouts. The city will be putting a round-a-bout at the intersection of Commerce Blvd and Southwest Blvd. This is already a quasi round-a-bout with a yield and stop sign combination so it will be an easy way for folks to get used to driving in one.
At the corner of Camino Collegio and Southwest Blvd a small development has been approved to build studio and one bedroom apartments along with a small retail building. We are also anticipating the construction start of a new hotel called Cambria Hotel and Suites across from Costco on the west side of Rohnert Park. The plan has been approved for the hotel, some apartments and a small park.
Sports Field coming...This summer should see the start and completion of an all weather eld at Sunrise Park located at the corner of Rohnert Park Expressway and Snyder Lane.
Join us March 11th for “Spring Forward, Flash Back”
at the Community Center (5401 Snyder Lane)
Join us again for family-friendly games and activities, food, drinks and live music—this month, indoors!
Activities This Month Include:
Performance by 80s Hair Band AQUA NETT
Kid Zone with Craft Table and Jump House
Face Painting
Each month will feature a di erent theme and unique activities. Our
Community Services team and our families can’t wait to see you there! If you have additional questions, and to get up to date information about the events, call the Front Desk at 707-588-3456.
HELP with Health & Taxes: Low to moderately low-income residents can nd help for free on their taxes at the Rohnert Park Health Center located on State Farm Drive.
Call 800-325-9604 to schedule an appointment at the Health Center until April 15th to get help with your taxes. Just say you want to take part in the Earn It, Keep It, Save It program!
Join us at our next Town Hall April 25th 6pm- 8pm, at the Rohnert Park Community Center.