Page 28 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2020
P. 28

   GREETINGS GRATON! What to write about?? Hummmmm. Well, I certainly don’t want to lecture and scold which seems to be a very popular pastime around here. I admit, I wish people would keep their tirades a little more to themselves, but I’ll probably hear a tirade for saying that. Oh well! I’m taking a break from NextDoor because I am just so tired of people telling me what to do in their posts. And the righteousness! Its in abundance. I don’t mind hearing people’s opinions, experiences or perspectives but I do mind lecturing and scolding. Wait...... is this a tirade? LOL
Make It Through Together
On Wednesday, I went to help handing out lunches with the amazing staff at Sebastopol Unified School District. Superintendent, Linda Irving (Graton resident) had given out 160 chrome books to students, along with work packets, breakfast and lunch! Most important was that the staff was so sweet to all the families that drove up to collect their stuff. Seeing all those adorable kids really put some sunshine in my heart! The children and parents were
so grateful. If you are a parent and getting surveys from your school, please take the time to answer and return them. The District is asking for important information that will allow them to care for all of the students and their variety of circumstance and needs.
I had several topics ready for this month’s column, each of civic interest. I’d intended to promote the activities planned in Sebastopol to celebrate Earth Day on its 50th anniversary. I wanted to encourage citizens to attend the Budget Sub-Committee’s public meetings about funding community grants and reviewing departmental requests for FY 20-21. I was going to explain a new Water Bill Savings Program that would allow customers to invest in system upgrades to better conserve water, without any financing costs. I’d planned to advertise the openings on the local Library Advisory Board and report on the developing Strategic Plan for our Regional Library. And, of course, I was going to send a big thank you to the Documentary Film Festival volunteers as I looked forward to the Apple Blossom Parade and Festival.
The company that I work for is an essential business, so I have been working during the shelter in place. I have either been to the office where I am the only one there or at home and that’s about it. I was surprised though to see just how busy Sebastopol was when I went to town Wednesday. Many, many, many people out and about. Taking walks, visiting on the sidewalks and the parking lots to stores were full. I just didn’t realize how much people were going about their business. I tried not to judge because I don’t know the full story, but I admit that I got a little worked up because I really want things to go back to
But our world has been rocked by the ongoing public health crisis, some
say “never to return.” Activities and events have been canceled or postponed indefinitely. Public meetings have been abbreviated and gone remote. Programs have been put on hold. So much has become uncertain.
There’s been a rapid scale down of economic and social activity to keep people at home: non-essential businesses closed; work force reduction, both public and private; gatherings curtailed; schools on hiatus; roads and sidewalks emptied. People are staying home, maybe working remotely. They’re very likely worrying, about themselves, their kids, their parents and grandparents, extended family, and elder friends. They may be feeling a heightened sense
of threat, about today’s finances to buy necessities or, for some, about their disappearing funds for their golden retirement years.
as normal as soon as possible and it didn’t look like much shelter in place was happening. Three people in my household are employed by the same company so I feel protective that we don’t also get laid off because we can’t get a handle on the spread of Covid 19. I hope that my impression was wrong, and that people are taking this seriously and staying home as much as possible.
To slow the spread of the virus and to lower the pandemic’s impact on the health care system, as it struggles to ramp up to meet unprecedented demand, needs to be made without devastating the physical, cultural and organizational capital that will be necessary to restore normality. Showing progress in limiting the spread of the virus and keeping our businesses in a position to rebound in a re-localized world will give us hope.
FOOD TO GO: Thank you, Matthew of Underwood, for providing FOOD TO GO 4:PM-8:00PM Wednesday- Sunday. You can see their to go menu on Facebook or Instagram. We got hamburgers to go the other day and they were of course delicious. But even better than the food was the very friendly Jennifer who took and served or order. I love nice people!
Let’s think about our experience, the come-back we want to make, and how we can keep ourselves prepared and able to recover and redefine.
Thank you, Mario of Mexico Lindo, for providing FOOD TO GO open daily with a full menu of delicious food and large portions. Mario and his family are always supporting the community. We had the shrimp quesadilla to go the other day YUMMY! Since Mario has family members who are employees there this shelter-in-place effects the income of many members of his family so please stop by and grab something to go when you can.
Our City is small – only 7,800 residents — and serves about 60,000 people in the greater area. The City doesn’t have money to fund a Parks and Recreation Department, for instance. We’re a unique community in that we depend
on many non-profits and organizations to perform typical business and government services: the Senior Center, the Library, the Center for the Arts, Ives Pool, the Community Cultural Center, the Mr. Music Foundation, the Laguna Foundation, and others.
Have you noticed that the little creek (I think it’s called Stone Creek) on the corner of Edison and Shirley is filled with garbage? I think some is from the RV that drove into but there is some other garbage too. I’ll put out a call for a creek clean up when things get back to normal.
doing. In fact, they were working at capacity and seemed to me in need of opportunities and expansion to meet their full potential. I talked to several community leaders about “Sebastopol 2030,” my name for strategic visioning for these groups, in the “High Street Corridor, from Wilton to Willow,” and over at the Laguna Preserve. We were getting excited about finding ways
TIME for Spring Cleaning: Sometimes and some places Graton looks junkie. During our Shelter in place, if you are capable, it’s a great time to spruce the place up and have some Graton pride. And please remeber to take out the trash rom the downtown trash can by the newsstands. We donlt have a nuncipal government that takes care of things like this, so it;s up to us to look out for oursleves. If everyone takes a trun this will helo keeo downtown clean - THANK YOU!
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
for co-programming, co-meeting, co-partnering, co-employing, in order to optimize funds and space. We puzzled over parking and traffic in the downtown area. We looked up and around to see it there might be some usable, buildable space. The idea of optimizing together had a lot of juice.
To survive, these entities depend on the energy and creativity of their staff, the generosity of their volunteers, and the patronage of their donors. Two months ago, I was excited about how well each of these groups was
Now, I’m alerting readers to the importance of these organizations’ survival. They are being seriously impacted by this unanticipated shut down. They are the weavers of our community who offer us the meaningful opportunities and myriad ways to belong here. As we take care of ourselves at home, let’s also take care of these long-standing community institutions. Let’s make sure to express our thanks and appreciation to them with a friendly note and a check.
We’re in this together. Let’s make sure we make it through together.
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