Stick to the issues
Editor: Reading the Sun story about Sonoma Valley Unified School District board’s resolution, I saw a predictable result. It is the board’s responsibility to ensure the welfare and education success of all the students within the school district. So with the usual blind mindset that they maintain they opposed a medical marijuana dispensary within their district. That district extends all the way to Dunbar School, on the northern edge of Glen Ellen.
I can see how the power to make a decision that encompasses such a wide territory would be very enticing to use. However the SVUSD board would do better to stick to the issues that need to be addressed in regard to raising the district out of the very low echelon that they and previous boards have left us in. It was almost comical to read how a Mr. Grubb had become so concerned about the issue he left his house and drove directly to the board meeting to explain how “marijuana ruined his life.” Such a statement shows only that the man allowed himself to be completely irresponsible and now wants to lay blame at the door of pot and not at his own door, which would mean he’d have to take responsibility for the fact that he chose to turn himself into a loser.
This leads us to the real point of social behavior. Personal responsibility. There are alcoholic drinks available for purchase on almost every block in the Springs and many in the city limits. Being a drunk, alcoholic or drug addict is the result of personal choice, and such can lead to disastrous consequences. Drugs and booze do not ruin lives, people ruin their lives by being irresponsible which would be a very valuable lesson to teach young people. How about “I ruined my life by being dumb enough to spend all day getting high?” That would be a valuable statement. Thank you
Ian Billings
Sonoma
Asks Sonoma for a ban on leaf blowers
The following letter was sent to the Sonoma City Council on June 15, 2010.
Dear Councilmembers:
I am writing this letter in hopes that you will consider a total ban on leaf blowers in the City of Sonoma. In the thirteen years I have lived here – and during the countless hours I’ve spent at city parks with my four children – nothing in my mind stands out as a more constant and insidious disruption to the quality of life in the valley than the ever-increasing use of leaf blowers.
Here is a little background:
To date, more than 20 California cities and towns have banned leaf blowers, either partially or entirely. In addition to the noise pollution they generate, leaf blowers are associated with a wide range of impacts to human health and the environment, including but not limited to respiratory illness and distress, air pollution from unburned fuel, redistribution of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, dust particles and animal feces into the air we breathe. In a valley full of allergy and asthma sufferers, banning leaf blowers seems justified for air quality impacts alone.
The ban of leaf blowers by the City of Sonoma is consistent with the environmental goals (air quality and noise pollution) of the CittaSlow charter as well as the City’s official position on climate change, sustainability and global warming.
In light of the ongoing BP oil spill, I ask you to take a hard look at the frivolous use of gas-powered tools where safe, quiet and environmentally friendly alternatives exist. For years I have of watched City maintenance workers use leaf blowers in parks, on the sidewalks and in close proximity to playgrounds where young children and babies play without the ear protection the workers wear when operating leaf blowers, weed whackers, mowers and other motorized landscaping equipment. More often than not, the quantity of accumulated leaves is negligible; I have seen leaf blowers used in the sand where babies are swinging, in the amphitheater where kids are playing and around the benches in the Plaza where people, young and old, are sitting to enjoy the natural beauty that Sonoma is famous for.
At a minimum, I would like to formally request that the decibel level of leaf blowers owned and operated by the City be measured by the Police Department to verify whether or not the City is in violation of its own noise ordinance.
I encourage you to read the information in this package, which includes the various leaf blower ordinances, facts and statistics about their harm to human health and the environment and their proliferation rate. I think it’s fair to say that any community that strives to meet the challenges of environmental sustainability will be faced with making choices that are, at first, neither popular nor convenient. In the long run, I believe the choice to ban leaf blowers will benefit everyone.
Lisa Summers
Sonoma