Page 36 - Sonoma County Gazette October 2018

I am a big lover of summer and heat so with a little sadness, I bid farewell to summer and hello to fall. Good thing it’s such a beautiful time a year.
This wonderful traditional free event is Friday and Saturday, October 12 and 13th, 9:AM-4:PM at 8896 Graton Road. (corner of Graton and Edison). This year a Country Fair is coming to Graton this fall at the Graton Community Club. Come experience the displays of a summer harvest and floral arrangements while listening to live, local music, Available re handmade novelties and attic treasures as well as garden art and hundreds of plants ready for fall planting. $10.00 lunch served both days from 11:00-2:00. This event benefits a scholarship program for JC students and a building capital campaign to preserve our historic club house. INFO: 707-829-5314 gratoncommunityclub.org
September Thank You’s
Graton Community Club Fall Flower and Plant Sale
We’ve just gotta express our thanks! First to Jim Corbett, aka Mr. Music from Peacetown USA, for his out-of-the-Park series of Wednesday evening concerts at Ives Park throughout our summer. Jim clearly has the magic to bring together the greater Sebastopol area to enjoy music. He is our local treasure.
Homeless in Graton continued... As I suspected this is a huge and complicated topic. As one person wrote “The working poor are not the same as the lazy poor, disabled poor, mentally unstable poor, and drug/alcohol addicted poor. It’s a very broad range of reasons why people end up homeless.”
Thanks to the efforts of 90+ people of all ages who responded who volunteered for Coastal Clean Up Day on September 15 right here in Sebastopol. The Laguna Foundation teamed up with Clean River Alliance to mobilize litter removal along our Laguna waterway which flows to the Russian River then to the Pacific Ocean. The work area extended from our northerly baseball fields to our southerly Uplands property. The City’s Police Department and Public Works Department provided support services.
Removed this year were: 2,615 pounds of trash; 82 pounds of recycling; 1 car tire; 22 AA batteries; 3 shopping cars; and • lawn mower.
On the same day, four Peace Advocates were recognized for their lifetime accomplishments by their induction onto Sebastopol’s Living Peace Wall: Dolores Huerta, Daniel Ellsberg, Tui Wilschinsky, and Therese Mughannam. Several hundred people joined the project leader Michael Gilotti to celebrate efforts to work nonviolently for peace and justice.
A big shout-out to Sunny Galbraith and our local experts for their impressive Study Session for the City Council on Zero Waste, which was held on September 18. The presenters advocated for concerted effort to reduce the amount of waste that we send to Recology, our new garbage hauler. Business owners Mariline from Screamin’ Mimi’s and Natalie from Handline, as well as students and school employees, talked about the changes they’ve made in their businesses, notably about organic compost and the use of recyclable and/or reusable service wares.
So many opinions and very little clarity on how to effectively deal with
this issue. From my investigation it also seems lthere are not a lot of agencies that agree to what is legal and what isn’t. The only certain thing that I have uncovered is that some people are really mean. I wish, I could say that my inbox was filled with great suggestions, but unfortunately a majority of e-mails I received were not very kind. Some neighbors have reached a boiling point.
I can break the complaints down into 3 categories
1. Is it legal? 2. Sanitation and 3. Safety.
Here is what people are saying that are against the row of RV’s in Graton. A general concern that the practice is in violation of the law. Many have noticed that the RVs have been tagged with yellow advising that the vehicle had some sort of violation like missing or outdated registration and these have been peeled off and ignored. Some have witnessed hazardous disposal of human waste
(i.e. buckets being emptied from the RV into a bucket and then disposed into the creek. Pictures were provided). And we have all seen that some have an accumulation of trash and collectibles. Other neighbors tell of loud fighting that frightens them away from the area. Ok fair enough. These are legitimate concerns.
The Council will consider the recommended actions steps on October 16, 2018. These actions could include: support for the county-wide
Zero Waste Resolution; approval of the county-wide ordinance to prohibit the sale and use of disposable food service ware and other products containing polystyrene; event permitting making recycling and organics collection mandatory; the greening of City Hall and City events by banning single-use water bottles and switching to reusable service ware; a waste audit by Recology; and support for the local SIPS campaign limiting straws to request only.
I have also heard from two RV residents. Both wished to remain anonymous but I felt like their perspectives deserve to be heard. Both certainly expressed that they felt very unwanted but also that they were within their legal right to be there. Both stated that as long as it was legal they had no intentions of leaving. Those RVs are the only homes they have. Of course it is a far cry from their ideal life and are living with this as the only viable option they have. Both stated that they worked part time. They wondered if we might decide on some policies that the neighborhood would agree to that would ease the opposition.
Thanks to the local activists up at Burbank Heights and Orchards, the public had its first chance to see four City Council candidates vying for three seats in action, introducing themselves and answering questions in the capacity-filled Community Room “up on the hill.”
I can’t imagine that those living in an RV have a feeling of security. It has to be traumatic. So how then do we address the needs of both citizens? How can create new progressive laws that support both the homeless and the residents?
There will be a second forum on Thursday October 4, 2018, starting at 6 PM at the Community Church at the north end of town. The League of Women Voters will conduct its formal Candidates’ Night event for the voting public.
Breaking: Right after I wrote the above, I received confirmation that the county had been sending out HOST (Homeless Outreach Support Group)
to see if any assistance could be offered especially to families. But even
more significantly that no overnight parking signs were in production by Transportation and Public Works and would be posted any day. The statement I received cited that there were too many complaints and violations. As one RV resident stated, it appears that one or two bad apples have ruined the barrel. So while the issue is “moved on” it certainly hasn’t gone away. This is a concerning issue for California and we can’t ignore the plights of our neighbors even if they are not living in a “house”. I feel a lot of sadness and ineffectiveness.
The Graton Fire Department will be giving away candy on Holloween at the Fire Station at 3750 Highway 116 North. Enjoy the FREE spaghetti dinner cooked by your favorite volunteer firefighters. Fire engines will be on display as well. After leaving the firehouse, make sure to escort your children, bring a flashlight, wear reflective clothing, use light sticks, and inspect their candy!
36 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 10/18
PLEASE NOTE: these changes to the City Council’s meeting schedule: • October 30, 2018, at 6 pm, Special City Council Meeting ; and
• November 6, 2018, Meeting cancelled due to Election Day.
Saturday October 6 is the first ever Repair Café from 12 noon to 4 PM at Park Side Elementary School’s Multi-Purpose Room. Have something that’s broken? Bring it to this FREE event: computers, smart phones, musical instruments; sewing jewelry; appliances; bikes; shoes; toys; tools and knife sharpening.
Halloween Spaghetti Dinner – Graton Fire Station
Local business man and Rotarian Mark Sell will be honored posthumously by the Rotary Teacher Mini-Grant Program held in his name. Mark, a co-owner of Sebastopol Hardware, saw many teachers coming to his store to buy classroom supplies. He learned that, unless the teachers spent their own money, they would go without needed items. So he created the yearly fund-raising event, the Crab Feed, which has given almost $260,000 in grants to local teachers in Mark’s name over the last 15 years. The deadline for 2018 applications is October 15. More information is available at sebastopolrotary.com.
Kudos to the City Council for recognizing the community benefit of Jim’s Summer Music Series and awarding a generous grant to subsidize the program. Our community looks forward to another musical summer, Peacetown 2019!
Our natural world is a better place...
October Events