Page 38 - Sonoma County Gazette - January 2020

I don’t know about you but I’m all for kicking 2019 to the curb
Outgoing Message from 2019 Mayor Neysa Hinton
and taking on the New Decade! 2020 is such a nice round number, full of potential, rife with possibilities, a powerful year I’m sure. Can’t you just
feel it? We know the political wrangling’s will either generate or conversely suck up lots of energy being an election year and all, yet we’re out there. We get a say in who leads us and we are having serious discussions about the future we design. If you don’t think life is interesting, you may not be paying attention.
The fact that we have serious challenges to address should not stop us from finding fun and joy in community. Actually, taking a break from serious
is mandatory if we are to maintain balance in life and studies show we are happier human beings if we have balance. If you are looking for balance or to have a little fun you are in luck. Forestville has some special offerings to do just that while supporting the community.
Forestville FUNdraiser! A great fundraising event is the 3rd Annual Chamber of Commerce Crab Feed Saturday, January 18 from 5pm to 11 pm at Holy Ghost Hall, 7960 Mill Station Road in Sebastopol. $55 pre pay tickets are at Shear Salon or Sequoia Properties on Front Street. It’s always a sell out so get tickets early through Wendy at 707-481-3565. You’ll enjoy live music, can win raffle prizes, sample lots of local wines and of course, get to chow down on some of the best crab around. Come party with the locals, you won’t regret it. It’s their biggest fundraiser of the year.
Little League registration is happening at the Youth Park Saturday Jan. 11 and 18 from 9 am to 1 pm. Kids from 9 to 16 can show up for tryouts, and all ages can drop off their registration documents at the snack shack either day as well as January 15 from 6 to 8 pm if you can’t make it on a Saturday. Contact dreamerjill@hotmail.com for more information. A shout out to Scotty who brings such great energy and organizational skill to these kids.
The Hollydale Club’s Last Sunday Breakfast will feature Winter Pancakes from 9 to noon (stay for table tennis, just saying.) This is their 73rd year in operation and are excited to announce more upcoming events such as their Hollydale Russian Dinner on February 8th and their famous Corned Beef Dinner on March 14. They are up the hill off Scenic Drive and know how to put on a feast.
Soul Café - Later in the day, at 5 pm you may be getting hungry again so stop at the Methodist Church for their Soul Café with soup and salad being served up by our West County Health Center. Entertainment is Haute Flash featuring gypsy jazz, French waltzes, American Swing and more. Dinner is $10 for adults and $5 for kids, and our own Nightingale Bakery donates their amazing bread to go with the soup and salad. No charge to come listen to the music, but donations are gratefully received.
And for those of us who use January as a launching pad for improving our lives, I send you lots of encouragement.
I learned not that long ago that adding positive behaviors on a daily basis helps us gradually replace behaviors that are not as helpful, and that negative self-talk creates a flood of cortisol in our brains which can undermine even the best intentions.
Be well. Appreciate life. It’s actually rather short so it’s important to enjoy along the way.
Last December as I started my term of Mayor, little did I know what was involved in the role. Thankfully Mary Gourley, our City Clerk, provided me with excellent crib notes that got me off to a great start. Beyond the ceremonial aspects of being Mayor, I had no idea all the events that would be thrown at our community this year. Nevertheless, Sebastopol rose to the occasion, accomplished so much, and this year has flown by!
First, I thank my colleagues for supporting me during my term as Mayor and dedicating their time and talents to this City. I thank and
recognize our City staff who work every day and many weekends serving this community. Congratulations to Mary Gourley who was selected as the 2019 California City Clerk of the Year. After more than 20 years with the City of Sebastopol, the award was well deserved! I also thank our community members for their thoughts, ideas, criticisms, and support to ensure that this City continues to thrive and benefit all its residents.
Not only did the City of Sebastopol go through a terrible flood, but we were also affected by the events of the Kincade Fire and the PG&E Outages. Having grown up in Sebastopol, I honestly have never seen so many events with direct impacts to our community, especially in one year! Throughout it, all our City staff and Council worked in unison to ensure that the community was well informed and moving forward.
Thank you to Marc Levine’s office and the State of California for awarding a 1.5 million dollar grant to assist with Flood Recovery. Approx. $1 million has already been pledged to making improvements at our Sebastopol Cultural Community Center and making Sebastopol ready for the next disaster.
I am excited to continue to move forward our Zero Waste
goals in 2020 and beyond. Creating the Zero Waste sub-committee, along with passing our city-wide ordinances towards a Zero Waste future shows we take Climate Change seriously. These efforts along with our new Paper Free Electronics Use policy to say goodbye to paper City Council packets in the future were some of the biggest accomplishments of the year.
Our commitment to Park Village which houses many of our low-income and formerly homeless residents continues to thrive and is moving forward with grants to create more livable units.
I would like to advocate for the public to get more involved in the decisions that impact our city. In my “State of Sebastopol” talk this year, I ended with the statement, “You too can be Mayor.” I truly believe that more people need to vote, run for office and make their voices heard in our community.
When I meet someone at the grocery store who has an opinion or a question about our City, I always invite them to the City Council meeting. I know our meetings can go long, I remind them that they can come for an item or two.
Next year is a big year...with the presidential and City Council elections. Please get involved. It has been my honor to serve you as Mayor in this unique city of Sebastopol. I look forward to 2020 and thank you all! February’s column will feature remarks from incoming 2020 Mayor Patrick Slayter.
Patrick Slayter was elected by the Council as Mayor along with Una Glass as Vice Mayor. The Council, not the voters, decides its own leadership team. The decision is made without following a scheme of rotation or taking turns, but rather as an expression of confidence in the skill and dedication of time of those members chosen. Mr. Slayter has served in one of these roles four times in the last five years, 2016 through 2020, and Ms. Glass, three.
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