Letters to the Editor

Don’t make
Christianity
Sonoma’s official religion

Editor: When a new king took power in Europe often the first thing he considered imposing on his subjects was a new state religion. Aug Sebastiani was elected councilman not king. Aug promises to work hard to meet Sonoma’s needs and the important issues facing our city. Establishing Christianity as the official religion of Sonoma is not meeting Sonoma’s needs and it is not an important issue. It is an issue that divides our community and it tells us all that only Christians are real and true Sonomans. Can no one learn from history?
Jerry Manson

‘Alarmed’ at nativity scene idea

Editor: I was alarmed to read about newly elected city councilman Aug Sebastiani’s mission to have a nativity scene erected front and center on the Plaza, in the same breath as he declared “open season” now that he is no longer courting the favor of our citizens.
Perhaps it was in jest; I did not hear the KSVY broadcast. But of all the times to make a religious declaration on city and community property, this is a terrible one. If there is one thing we have learned the hard way in this desperate global community, it is that we must respect each other’s spiritual sensitivities. Jesus, Mary and Joseph on the Plaza? It makes a mockery of every non-Christian in the Valley, not to mention our visitors. Let’s evolve. Let’s get it.
I would like to think that Mr. Sebastiani had the needs and desires of all of his constituents at heart. I, for one, will be watching to see if that is the case.
Jessica Misuraca

Coalition weighing every alternative

Editor: As co-chairs of the Sonoma Valley Health Care Coalition, we thank the Sun for its continuing support of our efforts to keep a hospital in Sonoma Valley. Tim Omarzu attends most of our coalition meetings and his reporting is very well done. We are also grateful for the support of the Sun’s sibling, 91.3 KSVY Sonoma, which hosts us every Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. to update its listeners on coalition activities.
While we are complimented by your suggestion in the Sun’s Nov. 16 editorial that either of us may be qualified to serve on the Hospital Board should Mike Smith decide to step down, we both want to quickly decline that gracious “nomination” and dispel any possible rumors. Should a vacancy arise, we know several candidates who are not only highly qualified but who have shown a desire to serve by running for a seat on the board during the recent election.
One further point, if we might. Your editorial urges the coalition to move more quickly on the Cirrus proposal. We would like to comment briefly on that suggestion, so your readers understand where the coalition is in our work with respect to all the proposals we are considering.
After months of fact-gathering and myth-busting, we are in the midst of thoroughly evaluating and comparing the four options that have surfaced as a replacement for the existing hospital. They are: 1) a small, 25-bed hospital; 2) a hospital of as yet undefined size on, or adjacent to, the present downtown site; 3) the so called staff/doctor 56-bed proposal for Broadway; and (4) the Cirrus proposal, also as yet undefined in terms of the number of rooms, on Eighth Street East and Napa Road. Each would have a quality “basic emergency room” that most in our Valley see as the essential part of any hospital. We are also considering how each of the options fits into a ‘wrap-around’ integrated health care network to best serve the entire Valley.
Our options committee, steering committee and the entire coalition must complete their work before we will be in a position to make a recommendation to the Board – or to the voters – as to any of the options. We hope you understand that accelerating the process for any alternative, or considering one option in isolation from the others, would risk repeating past oversights. Thousands of hours of volunteer effort have gone into coalition efforts to this point. We are on the schedule we published last July and are within weeks of completing our work. It would be particularly unfortunate to rush to judgment one alternative when our comprehensive review will soon be completed. That work will properly evaluate and compare all four alternatives and identify the best choice and the option we believe is most likely to secure the necessary voter approval.
It is also important to appreciate that many who were staunch adversaries during the bitter Measure C campaign of last spring are now working very hard, together, to make this happen. They have been volunteering immense amounts of personal time and talent for many months. Given the complexity of the task and how far apart we were last May, we are making great strides, not only in our quest for a hospital solution, but in knitting our community back together again after a very bad time. We think you would agree that in countless ways this could prove to be the most valuable aspect of what we doing, and that it is far too important to be rushed.
The good news is that our work has entered its final stages and, with allowance for the holidays, we expect to make a recommendation to the hospital board sometime before mid-January.
So “stay tuned” and please urge your readers to do so as well. We meet every Monday evening, 7 p.m. at the Vintage House. Our meetings are open to the public. We also have a blog site at www.svhcc.blogspot.com. Please keep up the good coverage and let us know if there is anything more we can do to help you help us.
Bob Edwards and Steve Pease

Easy fixes for
Sonoma’s ‘rush hours’

Editor: When I moved here a little more than a year ago, I was totally surprised to find that Sonoma had its own version of “rush hour.” Actually it seems there are two: one at 3 p.m. and another at 5 p.m. I avoid traveling at those times, if I don’t have to, but not everyone can. I think there are a few, seemingly easy, fixes for the Fifth Street West corridor that would alleviate some of the congestion. I wonder why they haven’t already been implemented.
1) Put in left turn lanes on all corners of the intersection of Fifth Street West and West Spain Street. At times, the back-up between West Spain Street and West Napa Street extends into the very busy intersection at West Napa.
2) Extend the left turn lane on Fifth Street West on the south side of the light at West Napa Street. There is not nearly enough room in the present left lane for all the cars that want to turn there.
3) Make a right turn lane on the Fifth Street West southern approach to West MacArthur Street.
4) Turn the Fifth Street West southern approach to Andrieux Street into two lanes. Some people already “make” two lanes there, when they feel there’s enough room to “sneak by” on the right when there’s a back-up. That extra curb lane could be limited to use only during the hours of 2:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. weekdays, although it seems like that extra lane would only impact one house, which has its driveway and other parking on Andrieux. These simple, inexpensive street-lane adjustments would make a real impact on easing the congestion on Fifth Street West. That congestion is not only annoying, it is downright dangerous, especially for the school children and senior citizens in the area.
Debbie King
Native-born
Sonomans no
special entitlement

Editor: A Nov. 16 letter, “Native Sonomans being decimated” was as offensive as it was dumb. The letter-writer implied that he and other “native” Sonomans are specially entitled because they had the foresight to be born here, and presumably never leave.
The letter-writer also suggested that he, and those like him, “join together just like the clowns on the Plaza… and come up with a plan.”
I hope that whoever comes up with this plan has been out in the world, seen how different people do different things in different places, and bring his or her experiences and education – broadly acquired – to such an endeavor.
God help us if the plan is written by a guy who never left the crib.
Sam Taylor

Undo border wall

Editor: Our government needs to undo its recent decision to build a security fence separating Mexico from the U.S. that would make the Berlin Wall look small. My pioneering European predecessors stole California and much of the West, Southwest and the South from the Mexican and Native American people. And now we complain that Mexicans and Central America people (our sisters and brothers) seek the space, freedom and opportunity to live here again. It’s not a crime to be hungry, oppressed or desirous of a better life. It’s a vital impulse in life to move, grow and adjust until satisfaction, relief, stability and optimum conditions manifest to meet one’s current needs. However, I recognize and respect the carrying capacity of the land in a given watershed or bioregion and urge that scientifically and intuitively based land-use planning and resource-management principles guide and direct population growth in our communities to preserve their vitality and beauty. That’s different from walling people out and pointing the finger at “others” as being the cause of our discomfort and problems when we just might be ignorant of, unaccepting, or afraid of “them.” Greed, racism and hypocrisy might be in play and we may not want our cozy circumstances to change.
May the light of knowledge remove our ignorance and fears and help us move over and make room for the next person and the plants and animals that were here before us. Let’s recognize that every person is our kin and take joy in making ourselves of service to their happiness and well-being as it is our own.
Peter Moras