Page 36 - Sonoma County Gazette September 2019

KBBF Celebrates Mexican Independence Day
Roseland Requests Required!!
Bringing together community is a positive experience but, in times of uncertainty and hardship, it is essential. KBBF recognizes the need for neighbors and friends to gather this season, to feel safe and supported. On the eve of Independence Day, September 14th, there will be a commemorative event at the station, located at 1700 Corby Avenue, in Santa Rosa.
“Requests for Service” are how local law enforcement agencies track an area for staffing of Patrol officers. An area with many requests can become a “Hot spot” and receive more attention for the way the area is staffed. This is especially important for night shifts and weekend shifts when illegal activity can spike in areas. These are often the shifts when issues arise for Roseland neighborhoods. When issues arise for Roseland neighborhoods people need to call the Police.
Ana Salgado and Patricia Moreno, co-hosts of the KBBF program “Compartiendo y Aprendiendo”—airing every Friday from 4 to 6pm—are organizing the event. Salgado describes it as an “...opportunity to provide
a safe and reliable space for the community that has been hurt and rejected lately. To share their feelings and to bring their children and families to learn from their roots and why we are proud of who we are...Our existence prevails thanks to our resilience.”
Newly appointed Chief of Police for Santa Rosa, the former Captain Rainer “Ray “ Navarro pointed this out to some Roseland residents in the past at the Roseland Library. He emphasized in order for the city to step up the level of law enforcement in Roseland to match the rest of the city “the numbers need to warrant it”. He was referring to these “requests for service” calls so important for the data to show more law enforcement is needed in Roseland. Many law abiding residents of Roseland are frustrated with the “way it seems there is less law enforcement now.”
Salgado says that Independence Day is meaningful because it represents, “the power of free and sovereign voting... We can make changes if we join together and exercise the right to vote. We encourage our young people to do it.”
This informational, family-friendly celebration is still in the planning stages. Find out more by contacting the station at (707) 545-8833.
Another person told Roseland Review, “Since the County and the city brought the homeless over here a few years ago it has literally been Hell!” This resident lives near Sebastopol Rd. where a number of people now congregate at all hours of the night and day between Dutton Ave and Roseland School in the west. While it cannot be proven who is responsible for the perceived increase in local thefts and vandalism in Roseland many residents along West Ave. feel, “It is the transients on bikes rolling through the area all night long now.”
New Program Spotlights Indigenous Voices
Fresh to KBBF is a program focusing on indigenous news, culture, and discussion in multiple languages. Radio Autoctona Indigenista, hosted by Yavii Naa and Xulio Soriano, airs Tuesdays from 6 to 7pm.
Women’s Spaces Features Marnie Wroth and Susan Lamont
Police Chief Navarro will speak to the Santa Rosa Community Advisory Board on Weds. Aug 28 at 6 pm in the evening to talk about issues and the future of community policing in Santa Rosa. This would be an excellent
time for Roseland residents to find out what is in the plans for the future. Unfortunately Danny Chaparo from Roseland who was on the Board as a person to help local residents understand what the city does, and has planned to do to Roseland, has been replaced. The meeting is at the City Hall Annex buildings on 1st St. across from City Hall.
Last month, the Women’s Spaces program had a special interview with Marnie Wroth and Susan Lamont. Host Elaine Holtz shares, “They discussed the federal civil trial in which Marnie and her husband were plaintiffs whose rights were violated by the deliberate indifference of the Rohnert Park Police Department.” She adds, “...Susan Lamont witnessed with daily attendance at the trial and reports how the jury agreed with the parents of Branch Wroth and the evidence they presented, including police video cam recordings, to hold the Rohnert Park Police Department accountable with an award to the Wroths of $4 million.” Holtz observes, “This is a tragic and heartfelt look into the need for better understanding and training on community health issues by the police and their 911 responses.” To hear the show, consult the archives at womensspaces.com.
Support KBBF: We are COMMUNITY radio - supported by you!
36 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 9/19
Regarding Roseland being “brought up to the level of service as the rest of Santa Rosa” the road repairs for the western section of Sunset Ave. and the length of Rose Ave. are still set to happen this year. Intersection improvements for pedestrians and wheelchair users have begun on the western corner of McMinn Ave. and Sunset Ave. Next should come rebuilding of the street.
The city of Santa Rosa delayed annexation of Roseland for decades with the rationale it was important to make sure Roseland residents gained the same level of services as the rest of the city residents experience on a daily basis.
Discussions with some Roseland residents, paint a different picture with concerns rising the city is actually doing less than the county did for the larger community. Knowledgeable people who are neighbors of Southwest Community Park, built in 1988 by Sonoma County, say the place has become “Outlaw Park” with alcohol drinkers there all day every day. Signs on site stated it is not allowed to drink alcohol there until after 5 pm. in the afternoon. While the city is in the process of finally putting in a crosswalk and signal at the intersection entrance to the park at Burbank Ave. and Hearn Ave. the park is overwhelmed daily by people and cars staying well after dark. The parks in Santa Rosa are only supposed to be open from “Dawn to Dusk”.
No vending is allowed by “private vendors” in Santa Rosa parks by law without a permit. But vendors swarm the park daily, and some even set up on a daily basis to sell their wares there. The visitors to the park have taken to sometimes parking as many as a hundred extra cars on the unpaved portions of the park land.
While Santa Rosa City staff do their best to keep the park clean on a weekday basis they get very little support from the local police. This may be because
the Police are “stretched thin” with such a large area to cover in the Beat 7 assignment covering most of Southwest Santa Rosa. In order for more police coverage of Roseland please call the Police to let our needs be known. The schools are back in session and local drivers are speeding, running STOP signs and doing unsafe driving on many roads here.
Please let the Police know you want them to enforce the laws. If no Requests for Service there will be less Law Enforcement in Roseland, not more as expected.