Page 39 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2016

SEBASTAPPEAL cont’d from page 38
Help change our culture. Drive slowly from your house to your destination and back. Leave 10 minutes early so there’s no need to rush.
Local boot-maker and Downtown Association Member, Michael Anthony Carnacchi, encourages business people to step out on the sidewalk every Friday at noon and wave to neighbors across the street and to passers-by on foot or
by car. Michael advocates for a friendlier Sebastopol: “We all rush to see an ambulance or fire truck when we hear sirens. Why not come out at a happy time instead, to celebrate and connect from the heart?”
Celebrate Community in 2016 and Wave at Hi-Noon
Happy 2016!
I for one am glad to flip the last calendar page on a challenging 2015, something I do not say lightly. I can barely wrap my brain around the
While I’m passionate about local policy, I’m a farmer, journalist, and community organizer. A grassroots, beet roots kind of girl. I’ve devoted eight years of my life to providing affordable local food for the community (Foggy River Farm). I’ve also spent five years in community journalism, and led a local non-profit organization, former
Executive Director of Sonoma County
Farm Trails. I have a master’s degree
in Earth Systems (land use policy)
from Stanford University.
Lynda Hopkins declares Candidacy
I’m Lynda Hopkins, and I’m running for District 5 Supervisor of Sonoma County. I want to listen to you, and I want to speak up for you.
tragedies of France and San Bernardino and of Syria, the cops gone wild with guns, the landslides and earthquakes around the globe – and that’s just the last few weeks. Closer to home, members of our family were beset by chemo and radiation (OK, that was me), surgeries and health challenges of
all types. Gardens withered and my old dog died. We did end the year with better outcomes and warm homes and even a precious few of those gem-like moments that warm the middle of your gut on a tough day. And even visiting puppies – and winter plantings in just in time for the rains. Last year the contrast of facing mortality perhaps did make the bright moments a bit more shiny-chrome (thank you, Nux of Mad Max), and make me even more acutely aware of my good fortune. I chose life and luckily it chose me back, and I get to keep dreaming and chasing said dreams. Not everyone did. So I take some lessons on giving from those around me:
What, you might wonder, could possibly cause a farmer to run for office? Like all farmers (and perhaps all parents), my husband Emmett and I are both pragmatic realists and diehard idealists. We’re raising our two young daughters, Gillian and Addy, in Forestville. With all our hearts, we want to make our little corner of the world – Sonoma County – a better place for all of us.
My friend Spring Maxfield joined farmer Sheldon Rosenberg and a small crew and went to Greece to hands-on help the refugee/immigrants floating
up to the shores from their crossing from Turkey. They spent weeks cobbling together sanitation, food and warmth for desperate and hypothermic families as they arrived. Stories of some crossings will be with me forever, like the half- sunk boat full of freezing drenched families including a baby – who demanded that rescuers look for a man who had thrown himself overboard to lighten
In Sonoma County land use decisions, agriculture is often pitted against the environment. As a small scale organic farmer, I have a unique perspective and deep understanding of both sides of the issue. I believe
I can bring diverse interest groups together to work on sustainable solutions. I believe that we can take care of the environment and our agricultural economy, and I have the knowledge and skills to get that done.
the load saying he had no family and was thus expendable. He was found unconscious and revived. Spring and the team’s help will keep the dreams of better life going for hundreds of fleeing families.
I have a neighbor who is caring for an elder, has a partner who had to have surgery, works full time in the medical world and who still finds time to organize regular baking efforts to bring sweetness to some of our county’s residents who are too ill to cook for themselves. She sees and shares joy and an uplifting view that never fails to remind me of the healing in positive outlooks.
I am also passionate about social justice. I want to ensure that all Sonoma County families have access to affordable housing, and that all children have access to early childhood education. I have the consensus-building leadership ability, policy knowledge, and energy necessary to roll up my sleeves and tackle the tough issues that come before the Board.
In a huge vote of life and hope, the farmers kept planting and showing up somehow at the farmers market with delicious produce, even though not a drop of rain had fallen. I gratefully filled payed full price.
Friends who went to the Paris climate talks right after the shootings, shared tales of the actions of hope and innovation throughout the city.
What I believe in: A diversified, sustainable, and thriving local economy; Access to basic services for rural residents, including roads and broadband Internet; Affordable family life, including housing and childcare. Whether or not you live in District 5, the West County election is essential to the entire County. District 5 is largely viewed as the “swing seat,” meaning that it will help determine the direction of the board going forward. It takes three votes to enact policy in Sonoma County.
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My own mother had two surgeries and still found her way to launch her newly published book about our family’s ex-pat days in Greece (It’s Greek To Me), and gathered toys and delivered them to Middletown for a toy drive for kids of families who were burned out by the fires.
Thanks to the Graton Green Group and the indefatigable HolLynn D’Lil keeping a dream alive and the generosity of a developer, Graton is closer than ever to getting our park. An anonymous donor has offered to match funds and we are 1/3 of the way to the needed funds as of this writing. It is time for the community to step forward with our dimes and our dreams for the park. For the former, send your tax deductible donation to: Graton Green, PO Box 858, Graton CA. 95444. For the latter, the GG board invites the town’s participation at a town hall gathering on Jan. 31st, 2016 from 4 to 6 (location to be announced – but ask anyone in town, it’s not a vast place!) to hear the community’s views and wishes on the proposed Graton Green park site.
2016 will be better for a lot of folks. Help make it so. Show up with your dreams, even the ones about where we are all going to move if Trump actually makes it all the way!