Recapturing the soul and spirit of a community
Sonoma is experiencing a crisis of losing it’s very soul. I administrate a local Facebook group with over 4,600 members where we share memories of the Sonoma we all grew up in, a Sonoma that spans multiple generations. There is something else that is shared: a sense of loss and urgency to hold on to and reclaim not just photos and memories, but the soul and spirit of a community that always has taken care of one another. A community that didn’t leave people behind. That is a part of Sonoma that is quickly fading away and we need to step up and take that part back, or we jeopardize losing the very thing that has made us special.
We currently have a City Council that is totally out of touch with who Sonoma once was, and the recent non-actions they exhibited in the last few City Council meetings regarding the safe parking spaces for homeless proved as much. This is not a new program, no one is re-inventing the wheel here. This is a program that has been in place in Sonoma County and managed without incident by experienced and competent service providers in other local cities. This was a very simple request for a small handful of parking spaces adjacent to the already established and staffed shelter in partnership with another organization in a well-lit parking lot that is also adjacent to the police department. This should have been a slam dunk simple request, but it wasn’t. It became a display of privilege and how things might “look” and it became about hiding people from view who don’t fit the wine country narrative.
The truth is we have homeless community members who are struggling for a multitude of reasons, primarily a massive rental crisis. There are people who are part of our community, who need help from their neighbors: a community that never ever hesitated to help one another in the past. A community who has always stepped up now shirks and balks at doing so? That now adopts a wait-and-see attitude while our most vulnerable community members live in jeopardy? Is this really who we want to be?
Being homeless is literally as vulnerable and exposed as it can get. When you don’t have a home you lose support, a voice, the expectation of being treated by society with dignity and respect. We have a responsibility to step up and do something. To support the safety net of Sonoma Overnight Support and to be a community that makes human rights and dignity a priority. We have a responsibility do what is right and provide safety under the cover of night. We have a collective community responsibility to make sure that no one here loses their life on our streets, under our bridges or by our creeks because they simply did not have a home to protect them.
Sonoma, the time is here to decide who we are and who we want to be. We have the obligation to do so and hold our city leaders accountable for their decisions and their lack of decisions that impact our most vulnerable neighbors. For those who are homeless this is an emergency, it is life and death and it can’t “wait and see” — we need that safety net tightened up right now. Let’s do the right thing and let’s do it together.
Once again, I encourage all who can to please donate to Sonoma Overnight Support and support the work they do. My family has made a monthly financial commitment to them; please consider doing the same online on their website or by check and mail: Sonoma Overnight Shelter, P.O. Box 748, Sonoma, CA 95476.
Celeste Winders, Boyes Hot Springs
