Page 32 - Sonoma County Gazette - January 2018

Nothing could have been more appropriate than the celebration of Las Posadas December 20 sponsored by the Sonoma Valley Action Co- alition, which has undertaken to support immigrants as the threat of deportation hangs over their heads.
What will 2018 bring?
2017 was an exciting year in the Springs! For the most part the Springs were spared being victims of the worst re in 53 years (1964). This column
put folks on notice in its June edition that residents should be on the alert and eliminate all extra grasses and brush around properties. Preparation, plus tremendous support from First Responders and Visiting Firemen, stopped the con agration at our doorsteps. Thanks to everyone of you!
Forward and Backward... In 2017 we saw the completion of sixty Mid- Pen A ordable Housing units along Hwy. 12. We await word from Mid-Pen about the construction start for the additional forty units of senior housing. Hopefully all our newly housed Springs residents are happy in their new digs.
Springs Speci c Plan – What’s Happening? A year ago in the January column we spoke of the impending “Springs Specific Plan.” The plan was to address land use, transport circulation, design, and develop facilities in an arc from El Verano to Agua Caliente. The plan called for beauti cation, plazas, and bike paths. A planning group from the southbay and a committee of fteen (15) local resident advisors were to come up with the Plan. Unless this writer has missed it, no plan has been produced. We look forward to seeing the proposed changes to uplift our community.
Restaurants and Eateries... As we approach 2018 at least three new restaurants seem planned. Sondra Bernstein in partnership with Ken and Stacey Mattson plan to open a Ramen Noodle Restaurant on the former Lanning property next to the Mission Inn employee parking lot o Boyes Blvd. No word when the old Uncle Patty’s will be torn down and re-opened as a jazzy pizzeria. Ten months ago we reported that West-Handmade Burgers would open in May. The building at 18375 Highway 12 has been painted and West has a sign above papered windows. What’s happening? Lourdes Alvarez in the Salon next door reports no sign of owners Nicole Benjamin and Garrett Sathre. Postscript: Still no announcement about the future of the Big 3. The Mission Inn has no report on the future of the former Woodleaf Store and Fountain.
Las Posadas is a traditional Mexican celebration of the nine days before Christmas. It begins with a candlelit procession enacting Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter as the birth of the divine child approaches.
Held at the Sonoma Community Center in Boyes, the celebration began with the procession of several dozen Latinos and Anglos outside and around the center, returning to sing outside the door their need for shelter.
There are three doors to the building. At the rst two, they were denied entrance, but at last they were admitted back into the hall where a big pot of warm atole awaited them!
We sang Feliz Navidad, cheered the winners of a raffle led by Mario Cas- tillo (who is also the center coordinator) enjoyed a marvelous feast of tamales, posole, salads, baked goods and the usual potluck miscellany. And then, the Ballet Folklorico danced for us! The culmination, of course, was the two giant star piñatas whacked apart by kids of all sizes to disperse their fabulous wealth of candies.
We were, at last, together, Latino and Anglo, la gente, celebrating our lives de- spite the tightening belt of the Trump regime, which passed its horri c budget that very same day.
It has been a terrible year. Week by week we have witnessed the Republican tyranny launching one rotten initiative after another, telling us all the while
it is good for us to build a wall, prohibit immigration from Muslim countries, cripple the A ordable Care Act, decide that Jerusalem is the true capital of Israel, drop out of the climate agreement and threaten to cancel the agreement with Iran, ended net neutrality, and more.
On January 20, the second Women’s March will be held in Sonoma and across the country to speak out against these outrages with a united voice only rarely heard: the voice of women, supported by the voices of men.
It is time. Time to come forward, time to protest, time to say we don’t sup- port this permanent state of war that bene ts only the weapons makers, that we want to ban nuclear weapons, that we want to see a strong e ort to combat climate change, that we are tired of divisions and oppressions and lies, that we humans are capable of joining together in solidarity to work for the common good. Join us at the Plaza at noon to hear powerful women speak up for that better world!
Vailetti Property The Vailetti Property Shopping Center between
El Brinquito Market and the Mid-Pen Housing Development is under construction. Steve Lanning, General Contractor, reports that when completed there will be a bank, ice cream shop, bicycle shop, Boost Mobile phone store, and a salon.
So much has been happening in our town, for good and for ill. We are still thanking God and the First Responders for keeping that Nun’s Fire from cross- ing the hill to plunge our city into ames, but not everyone was so lucky.
Currently passers-by see a structural skeleton covered with a protective skin of weather proo ng material. When completed, hopefully in March or April, the walls will be vertical corrugated metal and standing seam metal roofs.
Nearly 100 of us welcomed Jodie Evans, one of the founders of Code Pink, which celebrated its fteenth year this month. Praxis Peace sponsored the event, which was attended by many local feminists, including long-time Rep- resentative Lynn Woolsey, now retired, and former mayor Laurie Gallian, and our host Georgia Kelly.
What about tra c for a project located next to a three way signal, a market, and a mobile home park? Mr. Lanning doesn’t believe there will be a problem since each facility within the center will have parking spaces. He further comments that this project is a major step to improve the quality of life in the Springs. Steve is correct. Good luck.
Code Pink is launching a new campaign to Divest from the War Machine,
an idea I support although I wish it would just tackle nuclear weapons for now; not everyone thinks we can live in this world without weapons. But
Jodie seemed more interested in local peace economies and the many projects that support communities by creating farms in “food deserts” where access to fresh foods is limited (Soul Fire Farm), feeding homeless youth (Safe Place for Youth), helping youth write (826LA) and so forth, the kinds of projects that our North Bay area helped pioneer (before it became Wine Country).
Sonoma Creek At Low Ebb! E ective this date (12/21/17) at a Springs collection point above Central Avenue there has been a total of 3.84” of rain for the rain year 2017-18. On the same date in 2016-17 14.40” of rain had been measured. Sonoma Creek was high and observers watched from the Boyes
It was all very inspiring, but neither the divestment program nor the local peace economies will change the direction of this country fast enough, if it’s not already too late to stop its decline into fascism. But for those of us working for change, there’s no faulting CodePink, one of the most radical and ery women’s groups around.
Blvd. bridge each hour. The total by September 30 was 49.34” In the prior year, 2015-16, 4.27” had fallen in the Springs by this date. The total that year was 26.21”.
Speaking of warriors for truth, Sonoma was saddened to hear of the death of one of its own. Kevin Sullivan was killed by a car that made a left turn in front of his motorcycle on Highway 12 near 80; he was 63. He was a Comcast engi- neer and peace activist. His wife Sherry and two children Sean and Keleigh live in Sonoma.
A rain year is measured from October 1 to September 30. Over 140 stations report Sonoma County weather daily to CoCoRAHS (Community Coordinated Rain, Hail, and Snow
Keep the faith! It’s 2018.
32 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/18
Studies) at Colorado State University. Go to cocorahs.org. Rainfall in Sonoma County varies a great deal from Cazadero on the Russian River to south county communities. There are often signi cant di erences between the Springs and stations as close as Sonoma and Glen Ellen.