Page 40 - Sonoma County Gazette July 2017

Mark Emmett at 707-529-0534 Chuck Ramsey at 707-239-1639
Help Wanted, Help Needed!
O n T u e s d a y J u n e 1 3 , 2 0 1 7, t h e G u e r n e v i l l e C o m m u n i t y A l l i a n c e a t t e n d e d t h e B o a r d of Supervisors’ budget hearings in Santa Rosa. Among other things, we presented
a Lower River Community Workforce Fund grant proposal request, in an effort to establish an emergency relief fund for our Lower River Area service and hospitality industry workers. The intent of the Lower River Community Workforce fund is to establish a $50,000 per fiscal year emergency relief fund for struggling hospitality
and service industry workers in the Lower Russian River Area, to try and help
prevent future homelessness, and to maintain a thriving tourism based economy. The funds would be distributed through our established all volunteer local non-profit organization, with no overhead or administrative expenses. 100% of the funds would be used as emergency relief for rent, rental housing deposits, utilities, and/or food for local service and hospitality industry workers who meet the minimum established criteria. The goal is to prevent local workers who are contributing to our community and our economy from becoming our future homeless, thus becoming an expensive moral and financial burden on our community and our available resources.
A significant amount of our time and effort has been focused on our local homeless problem. We can certainly all agree that homelessness is a very complicated and difficult problem to try and solve after the fact. We have identified that our local workforce struggles with affordable housing issues in relation to the local prevailing wages for service and hospitality industry workers. We feel that one of the most significant contributions we could make to our community is to re-direct some of our effort and resources toward supporting our local workforce and preventing future homelessness.
The CDC’s 2017-2018 fiscal year budget statement states that among their objectives is to engage community partners in efforts to strengthen the social safety net and alleviate the causes and conditions of homelessness, and to ensure maximum leverage of scarce public resources. According to CDC’s Russian River Area Shelter Services Project Information published April 27, 2017, the Board set aside $1.502 million for a homeless service center project that would have 25-35 shelter beds. The cost of our Lower River Community Workforce Fund proposal to prevent people from becoming homeless is a mere 3.3% of that cost, and is estimated to prevent the same or more people from becoming homeless in the first place. In addition to the actual service center cost, there are many other additional costs associated after people become homeless that are not even being considered in this equation.
The 5th District generates approximately $6.4 million annually, or about 44% of all of the TOT tax collected throughout all of Sonoma County. This revenue is earned by the labor of the service and hospitality industry workers and their employers. Many local businesses are having difficulty recruiting and retaining workers. Workers are unable to afford to live in the area where the rents range from approximately $1,200 - $3,000 month, while minimum wage is $10.50 per hour (approximately $1,500 a month take home for a full-time worker). The seasonal nature of most service and hospitality industry jobs creates additional difficulties for these workers in the offseason. The area’s largest employer reduces employees’ hours to 24 hours a week in the off-
season for example (approximately $900 a month take home for a minimum wage worker). Many of the local service and hospitality industry workers work 2-3 jobs, share housing, don’t have cars, and are forced to use food stamps to be able to afford food. These workers are trying to make their own way and are not typically causing any problems in our community. The requested grant represents less than 1% of the TOT tax generated be given back to the workers that generate it, to prevent them from becoming homeless and thus a huge burden on the community and the “scarce public resources” available.
The few other available programs within Sonoma County are not specific to helping service and hospital industry workers, and are not specific to the Lower Russian River Area. Some exclude adults without children that are not disabled, elderly, or veterans.
On Wednesday June 14, 2017, the Board of Supervisors (BOS) earmarked $1m to be used by the Community Development Commission (CDC) for Russian River Homeless services. The CDC is expected to develop a plan on how that money should be spent and present it to the BOS at a later date for approval. We are waiting to see if they approve our grant proposal as a part of that plan. If you are in favor of establishing
an emergency relief fund to prevent our local service and hospitality industry workers from becoming homeless, please reach out to the director of the CDC and our BOS and let them know you would like them to approve our grant request to spend a very small amount of our money on homelessness prevention for the workers who’s hard work generates the revenue in the first place. Margaret.Vanvliet@sonoma-county.org, Lynda. Hopkins@sonoma-county.org, Shirlee.Zane@sonoma-county.org, James.Gore@sonoma- county.org, David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org, Susan.Gorin@sonoma-county.org.
Support the Forestville Youth Park’s Skate Park
By Ellery Kuntz
W W h h e e n n I I l l o o o o k k a a t t F Fo o r r e e s s t t v v i i l l l l e e , , h h e
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i i s s w w h h a a t t I I s s e e e e - - a a w w e e l l c c o o m m i i n n g g a a n n d nurturing community where all people support each other and the activities Forestville provides.
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Thanks to the Forestville Youth Park (7045 Mirabel
Rd, Forestville), children can play on the play structures, teens can participate in organized sports such as little league, and families can enjoy a nice sunny day under the trees.
The Youth Park and
Forestville’s entirety, however, ,
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d do o e e s s n n o o t t o o f f f f e e r r a a n n a a c c t t i iv v i it t y y f f o o r r t t e e e e n n s s l l e e s s s s
i i n nt t e e r r e e s s t t e e d d i i n n o or r g g a a n n i i z z e e d d s s p p o or r t t s s a a n nd d t t h h a at t
h h a a v v e e o o u u t t g g r r o o w w n n t t h h e e p p l l a a y y g g r r o o u u n n d d . . S S o o, , h h o o w w d d o o
we get these kids off of the couch watching Netflix and engaged in their community?
The answer is simple - let’s build a community skate park, where children, teens, and families can continue to gather based on a shared interest. Parks are our playground, and with a skatepark in Forestville, skateboarders from different communities and various states could unite as one to share an experience together.
My name is Ellery Kuntz, I am a 17 year-old senior at El Molino High School, and for the past three years, I have been working in conjunction with the Forestville Youth Park to make this dream a reality. I created a skatepark committee, a portion of Forestville’s community that would like to assist me with this journey.
First off, to clear the air, there are many myths about skateparks that I would like to disprove- the biggest being that these parks will attract negative or even criminal activity. Contrary to this belief however, skateparks reduce illicit behavior, by providing a designated area for youth to participate in a positive activity. This safe and engaging environment protects skaters from injury, most of which happen outside of skateparks as a result of surface irregularities and collisions with vehicles and pedestrians.
Skateparks also reduce damage to private property, as business owners and community members no longer have to spend time and money shooing skaters away from their property.
And speaking of money, skateparks tend to draw folks from outlying communities to come bring their kids to the skatepark, do some shopping, have lunch, buy a cup of coffee, some gas - spend money at local businesses. These are just a few benefits for a skatepark in Forestville but for our town to achieve them, we need your help.
If you or anyone you know would like to support this project, the skatepark committee meets on the second Thursday of every month at the Forestville’s Food For Thought building at 7:00 pm. (6550 Railroad Ave, Forestville) If you or a friend feel just as passionate about building a safe and inviting environment for skaters and those interested in it to have fun and be involved in their community, feel free to stop by and say hello.
However, if meetings are not your forte, there are many other ways you can assist - weather by organizing events, taking photos, being a passionate skateboarder, or working on our social media.
Please email fvsk8spot@gmail.com or call (707)887-8260 if you are interested in helping or learning more about this endeavor. Building a skatepark in Forestville is not a project that will happen over night. With your help, you can impact the future of skateboarding, the future of Forestville, and the future of the community you live in. Remember, parks are our playground and they are built to support the youth. Let the youth’s goals and ideas shape our future, so join me to create a positive environment for these kids to be active and engaged in their community.