Letters to the Editor

Ideas for City Council
Editor: City Council “To Do” List:
1) A rock-solid manufactured home condo conversion ordinance. 2) An updated certified housing element. 3) Ground breaking on a low cost/low rent apartment complex.
We could and you should do this by the end of 2008. These items would hopefully be on your “A” List.
Samuel DiGiacomo
Sonoma

SV Hospital still a “gem”
Editor: In 2004 our board hired the world’s leading hospital architects, Anshen and Allen, to develop hospital plans for the existing site. The proposal the board paid for, featuring a five-story hospital and three-story parking garage, while leaving no room for the then “very essential” medical office building (MOB), was so oversized that the board, itself, rejected it. But PLEASE, everyone, stop saying something can’t be done at the present site!
At that very same time that Anshen and Allen was advising our board, they were advisors to Catholic Healthcare West on reconfiguring the 99-year-old, landlocked St. Francis Memorial in San Francisco. With no additional land available, Anshen and Allen helped plan that facility’s seismic upgrades, which were successfully completed for $78 million without interrupting any hospital services.
Everyone in Sonoma seems to agree now that an MOB is no longer essential. Consequently, our hospital, which has often been described as a “gem,” was worth keeping then and is even more so now. The voters defeated Measure F because they recognized it was a $45 million first step into a $300+ million quagmire. By doing so, they have demanded no less than a speedy, good faith effort to determine, finally, the cost to reuse our hospital site as a full-fledged hospital.
District voters have said NO twice to under-utilizing our “gem,” part of which is already seismically compliant. Voters were unwilling to further invest in the still viable “gem,” only to abandon it as a hospital in a few short years.
Correct the mistakes of the past and have Anshen and Allen develop a more modest plan to rebuild our “gem” right where it sits. The Carinalli site should not be bought but instead leased for the time we need it for construction, trailers, etc., if at all.
Dennis Hipps
Sonoma

‘Unjust’ on Arab-Israeli front
Editor:I feel strongly compelled to write this letter, even though I believe that an editorial staff that continues to run the bigoted fabrications of the truth in “Unjust” Joan’s columns concerning the Arab-Israeli situation will never allow it to see print.
First of all, I must express my heartfelt disappointment with the Jewish community of Sonoma, which reads the above-mentioned columns and remains silent (reminiscent of what?). Unless, of course, their responses are being stifled by editors whose insensitivity is demonstrated by the continued printing of “Unjust” Joan’s distortions.
All of this belies the Sun’s masthead proclaiming “Warmth, Light, Truth.”
I take offense, in particular, to the most recent travesty in which she refers to a forum, so-called, which she either sponsored or attended.
The definition of a forum is a discussion in which “both sides” of an issue are presented.
Her account, however, is pure propaganda worthy of Hamas in which she carefully presents only the views of those Jews in attendance who echo her biased views.
Actually, though I will not dignify her charges by responding to them individually, I must say, however, that if we were to accept her version of the history of that area, we should also be prepared to accept as fact that it was American forces that attacked the Japanese in the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
As one who is proud of his Jewish-American heritage, and resents seeing it besmirched by totally false and misleading accusations regarding the democratic State of Israel, I consider it the duty of the Sun’s editorial board, if they are going to run such columns by “Unjust” Joan, to also run a column which will respond, for the benefit of the uninformed, to her rantings with a recitation of the actual facts in the matter.
Steve Swartz
Sonoma

A 4H thank you
Editor: This is a tribute and a big thank you to the Sonoma High School 4H Club. These young folks came to the Sonoma Hills Retirement Center. They brought pretty flowers and planted them everywhere. They pulled weeds and tidied up the grounds. Now our courtyard and home gardens are colorful for all to enjoy. What a great feeling! These 4Hers came to brighten the lives of all of us who live at Sonoma Hills Retirement. THANKS AGAIN!
Doris Corbin
Sonoma

Editor: Last week, I was invited to sit in on the Sonoma Valley Film Society’s post festival board meeting. Because of my being closely involved with the festival founders, Carolyn Stolman and Jerry Seltzer in the early days and being that I was president of the festival in ‘96 and ‘97, they thought that I would be interested in meeting Louisa Percudani, the new Executive Director and hearing about her plans for expanding the member-based Film Society to include everyone in our community as she builds the Film Festival towards ‘09, and beyond. Eight hour board meetings can test the enthusiasm and endurance of even the most ardent of supporters, but by the end of the day I was energized with the confidence that the Sonoma Valley Film Festival is indeed in good hands, and that under Louisa’s leadership, both the members of the Film Society and Festival goers can look forward to a bright future. This is good news for Sonoma.
I think that everyone that has ever been connected with the SVFF in the past will enjoy meeting and getting to know Louisa. She brings a strong resume, steeped in past festival successes that leave a trail of happy festival goers and even happier local citizens. Her successes at being Managing Director of Arizona’s Sedona International Film Festival and more recently Rhode Island’s Newport International Film Festival will enable our festival to move up to the next level. On the personal side, she’s happy to now call this valley her home.
It pleases me to think that Carolyn and Jerry’s dream of having a first class international film festival in our beautiful valley is secure under the new leadership of Louisa Percudani. I invite all my old festival friends, sponsors, supporters and volunteers to join me in reengaging with our very own Sonoma Valley International Film Festival and help Louisa produce a block buster event in ‘09. You’ll be glad you did.
Stephen Kyle
Past President SVFF
Sonoma
Prop 98 concerns

Editor: California Voters need to be aware of the differences between two similar-sounding Propositions on the June 3 ballot. Propositions 98 and 99 both address eminent domain, but if Proposition 98 wins, a great many people are likely to be unable to afford living accommodations. Here’s why.
Proposition 98 repeals current rent control laws and ordinances, and prohibits any future rent control law or ordinance by any California city or county. This would affect all apartment, condominium and house renters and all owners of mobile homes. These people, some of whom have been victims of the current mortgage crisis and many who are living on fixed incomes, may find themselves unable to afford the rent increases that the owners of the apartments, condominium, and mobile home parks would be allowed to make. Rents would increase to the degree that there would be no “affordable housing.”
Proposition 98 will destroy the value of mobile homes, making their resale close to worthless. Because Proposition 98 eliminates rent control when a mobile home is sold, a buyer is only going to be willing to pay a small fraction of the mobile home’s current value in order to make up for the unlimited rent increases the buyer would be facing. At best, the mobile home owner will likely only get the close-to-worthless “salvage value” of their mobile home. It is possible no one will be willing to buy a mobile home in light of space rents likely to be equal to or near to the cost of renting a condo or apartment, and a condo or apartment renter doesn’t pay property tax on their condo or apartment as a mobile home owner pays on their mobile home.
Proposition 98 eliminates important provisions of state statutes and local ordinances that protect against the forced conversion of mobile home parks to a condominium subdivision. This will allow mobile home park owners to force mobile home owners to purchase their mobile home space for hundreds of thousands of dollars or face the immediate phase-out of rental control.
Proposition 98 allows, and encourages, the closure of mobile home parks. It will also eliminate the provisions of state statutes and local ordinances that a city or county can use to require a park owner to pay the fair market value of a mobile home to its owner if a park is closed and it is determined that the mobile home cannot be relocated. This will allow and encourage the closure and redevelopment of mobile home parks into another use.
Although both Propositions 98 and 99 address eminent domain to supposedly protect home dwellers, Proposition 98 contains clauses that, in actuality, would undermine those protections, in addition to prohibiting rent control. Thus, Proposition 99 is the proposition that would truly aid the many renters and mobile home owners in California. I encourage all registered voters to vote NO on 98 and YES on 99 on the June 3 ballot.
Delores Jean Gunn
Sonoma
 
Reber non-partisan

Editor: I volunteer for a candidate running for 1st District Supervisor; see if you can guess which one. First, ours is the only non-partisan campaign for this non-partisan office. How do I know that? The candidate is registered in one of the major parties, the volunteer campaign manager (we are all volunteers, by the way), is from the other; but it doesn’t really matter. On any given Thursday night (when we hand-address letters to voters) you are likely to find as many Decline-to-States, Greens, or Libertarians as Republicans or Democrats.
And we don’t talk “Positions” and “Issues” around our campaign table (those are for the big parties and the big interest groups), we talk about problems here in the 1st District, and ways to solve them. I’ll wager that every week we have livelier and more productive debates than our Supervisors, famous for their unanimous votes, have had in years. One more way I know that we’re different; we’re the only campaign that hosts a page on our website called “Meet The Candidates” where you can access the latest information on ALL the candidates in this race, not just ours.
Adley Hochstadt
Sonoma

Editor: I’m voting for Valerie Brown for Supervisor and want to encourage support of her candidacy. Valerie was instrumental in organizing the successful opposition to the casino to be built at the entry to our Valley. She is a longtime supporter and major advocate of the successful extension of Sonoma’s Open Space District through Measure F last year. Valerie has been engaged in most every local community undertaking and shown her formidable leadership – from Valley water issues to health care. Her priorities and her experience will continue to benefit us all.
Donna Halow
Sonoma Valley

Editor: We need a change! We want less Brown and more Green. True Green, not green-washing, which is what we have with our incumbent supervisor. Will Pier is a true environmentalist and did not support the use of eminent domain and the taking of the Leveroni farmland for a new Sonoma Valley Hospital. Valerie did. Will supports city-centered growth and good land use planning. He supports maintaining our Urban Growth Boundaries and would protect our county from ever increasing urban sprawl. Much of this sprawl in our Valley has occurred during Valerie Brown’s term. She supported the expansion of Infineon Raceway, which has exasperated both traffic and noise pollution. She approved of a huge expensive resort for the very rich on the Greywood Ranch at the foot of Hood mountain north of Kenwood, even though her own Planning Commission had denied the application.
Will supports living wages, universal health care or single payer, much like our present Medicare system works. The adoption of such a plan would save our cities and counties millions of dollars because they would no longer have to pay out health insurance to their employees. Will is knowledgeable about water issues and he would work for a comprehensive long-term water management plan for our county and region. He would work to stop the sale of water to Marin County and gravel mining in the Russian River.
Will Pier has an extensive background in education and construction, and presently works for the Sonoma Ecology Center. He is backed by Conservation Action of Sonoma County and the Sierra Club. Will is supported by Bill Kortum, founder of Conservation Action, George Ellman, and many other environmentalists.
He has pledged himself to work for a sustainable environment for Sonoma County. He deserves the support of all of you who care for our planet and want to see real change.
Marilyn Goode
Sonoma

Editor: As an environmentalist, I’m dismayed at now having received four glossy flyers in the mail in the last few weeks from the Valerie Brown for District 1 Supervisor campaign! Nowhere on any of these flyers does it say that these were printed on recycled paper.
I wrote her about this and she totally ignored the environmental issue I raised about her flyers, and instead said “Your address comes from the registrar of voters so I can’t remove it” which implied that the Registrar of Voters was responsible for her mailings. I told her that I knew that the Registrar of Voters was not accountable for what her campaign disseminated. She then said that she would “try”€ to get me removed from her list. Additionally, she attempted to justify the practice of mass mailing by saying it was “common practice” and said “I hope you are more understanding when we are deluged after the August conventions with more mail and TV ads than we have perhaps ever seen in a political contest.â” Never once in our interchange of e-mails did she indicate that she heard my environmental concern. In fact, the fact that her glossy flyers were not printed on recycled paper was ignored. Is this the kind of accountability we want in a Supervisor?
I recommend that voters consider how politicians are using their funds and the environmental impact reflected in their actions, as these are important pointers to what happens after they are elected, if they are elected.
Leslie Sheridan
Sonoma