Page 30 - Sonoma County Gazette 3-19

An Uncertain Future for Roseland Library
Roseland Reversals Revealed
KBBF board member Caroline Bañuelos, who is also a member of Santa Rosa Together, and Pat Kuta of the Roseland Library Coalition have been covering the saga of the Roseland branch of the Sonoma County Library. Their January 30th article in the Press Democrat, “Close to Home: Roseland Library Seeks a Home,” outlined the challenges facing this branch.
Law enforcement is something many Roseland residents want according to surveys recently done by the Community Action Partnership (CAP) in Roseland. The non-governmental organization worked with grant funding to find some of the issues local residents are concerned with now the city has annexed Roseland as of Nov. 2017. The Community Benefit Initiative (CBI) of CAP hosts a “Mothers Club” every Thursday morning at the Roseland Library branch. Vince Harper
the Community Engagement Director for CAP recently showed results of local polling to the mothers attending. They were discussing how the group wants
to have Santa Rosa City Officials respond to issues the mothers are concerned about. Top of the list for the local mothers is to try and have better building code enforcement applied to rental units and multi-family housing in Santa Rosa.
Despite high usage and passionate support from the community it serves, this library’s future is uncertain. In part, this is due to the recent annexation of Roseland. The area was neglected for many years and now falls squarely under the responsibility of Santa Rosa governance. This means the city could and should help the branch find a permanent location and provide part of the funds required to rent or own a building.
Kuta and Bañuelos urge the City of Santa Rosa to step up, explaining, “This library is a tangible demonstration of the city’s intention to invest in its newest neighborhood and address its promise to provide services in parity with
the rest of our city. Generations of broken promises in Roseland shouldn’t continue. We want a permanent library for this underserved neighborhood.”
There is also a hope “The Santa Rosa Police Department will engage the Roseland neighborhood to increase collaboration, communication, and outreach opportunities in conjunction with Roseland CBI to increase reporting and decrease criminal activity in the Roseland neighborhood.” Many people are concerned about the appearance of the Roseland Village Shopping Center which looks
as if homeless people are constantly there now. The perception of many in the immediate neighborhoods along West Ave. and Sebastopol Rd. is there is an increase in theft and vandalism occurring against local property owners and residents. Speaking on condition of anonymity one long time Roseland resident told Roseland Review “Things are not better since the city and county decided to tear down our grocery store and bowling alley.” They went on to emphasize, “They are making a Ghetto out of this place!”
Find out how you can help secure a future for the library and sign a pledge of support at the Roseland Library Coalition’s website: scplf.org/roseland- library/
March for Trans Rights
The Trans March Organizing Committee invites trans people and allies to show up for a march and rally on Sunday, March 31st at 3pm. This is a community action to demonstrate support for transgender people and their path toward inclusion and acceptance. There is not a confirmed location
as of yet. For more information, consult the event page at facebook.com/ events/1058172951056806/?active_tab=discussion
APRIL 6 ~ A Night of Shakespeare Shorts
A celebration of short scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare in the spirit of a competition at the iconic Phoenix Theater where Harry Houdini, Enrico Caruso, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Huey Lewis and Santana have performed!
A variety of short scenes from Shakespeare’s plays interspersed with music by local musicians will be performed by a variety of participants. Scenes will be adjudicated by a panel of Shakespeare savvy judges and participants have the chance to win $500 for Best Scene of the evening, Best Dramatic Scene $100 and Best Comedic Scene $100.
Shakespeare Shorts is hosted by The Petaluma Shakespeare Company, Shakesprints and The Phoenix Theate.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Performance at 8:00 pm.
Tickets $15 under 18 and $20 adults.
All tickets include a slice of birthday cake. It’s early, but we have
to celebrate William’s birthday when we can.
Phoenix Theater, 201 E. Washington Street, Petaluma INFO: petalumashakespeare.org
30 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/19
While some city and county employees meet regularly with Vince Harper through another group called the Southwest Area Health Action Chapter many local residents are not aware of those meetings. They are held on an occasional morning at the CAP headquarters building off of Stony Pt. Rd. to the northwest of Roseland. Making meetings is very difficult for many members of the community. One of the hardships is knowing when and where to attend to let your voice be heard. Often it seems like trying to hit a moving target as has been the case with the Roseland Village Neighborhood Center for three times recently. County taxpayers financed the purchase of 7.41 acres of the 11 acre shopping center many years ago. The Sonoma County Community Development Commission (CDC) maintains “control” of the land while negotiations with the MidPen Housing Corporation are underway for a sale. On Jan. 28, Feb. 14 and again on Thurs. Feb. 28, 2019 at, or after 4 pm the Santa Rosa Planning Commission has scheduled public hearings to discuss a proposed subdivision of the site into five lots.
MidPen is requesting a tentative map and a Conditional Use Permit to develop “a mixed use project including 100 market-rate housing units, 75 affordable housing units, a 25,000 square foot civic building, a 5,000 square foot market place, and a 1-acre public plaza.” To comment you can contact Andy Gustavson, Senior Planner for the city at (707) 543-3236. Email agustavson@srcity.org. There are concerns in the public about how the original plan for the 1 acre of green space for a plaza has been shifted to less than half the size. Hardscape is planned for the other half acre. Also
it appears the county is going to ignore the previous traffic and parking easement in place and steamroll over the rights of the other Roseland Village property owner Mr. John Poulsen. Research shows the issue(s) of responsible parties for the toxic contamination on site once the ground is disturbed may not have been fully addressed yet by MidPen and Sonoma County officials.
Roseland residents are already reeling from the increases in traffic causing long lines on Sebastopol Rd. throughout the day. Without the community being aware even more traffic will be coming into Roseland as more housing is being built daily in Roseland. Besides the hundreds of hundreds of housing units already in production in north Roseland along Sebastopol Rd. there are also hundreds of units being planned just south of Roseland in the Bellevue School District. The same day Roseland Village tries for a subdivision at the SR Planning Commission, there will be an effort to subdivide 18.4 acres off of Hearn Ave. into 130 “single- family lots” with an additional “Eighty-one, one-bedroom, Accessory Dwelling Units...each including a one-vehicle carport.” It would appear over 210 more cars will be traveling on Roseland roads as well as the 175 more up to the north. The roads won’t be improved and traffic will be worsening so it would be helpful to speak out if you are able to do so.
Remember Earth Day in the Roseland NeighborWood on Saturday April 20 at 10 am. Rain or Shine! Good Fun!