We asked readers, and resident skeptic Bob Ewards, to envision what life will be like in the Sonoma Valley in the year 2040.
It’s 2040 in Sonoma, and what a difference 25 years makes. Who’d have thought that, thanks to global warming, the Schelleville Grill would be beachfront property, and one can again catch a ferry from Wingo?
That’s been a boost for Sonoma’s tourist industry, making it easier for Big City folks to come to the sprawling new Casino/Mall/Hotel/Bordello complex on the site of the former Vallejo Home State Park, which was sold to developers in order to address the state budget shortfall.
That shortfall was precipitated by the lack of precipitation – the drought is now in its 28th year – which decimated the local wine industry. The Valley’s vineyards (15,954 by 2024) shriveled as wells went dry and the Russian River, which once flowed down the Big Sandy Arroyo, finally gave out. Sonoma Raceway uses the Big Sandy for its annual “Race to the Sea,” a charity event that benefits Jenner, where the new desalination plant is going in. It’s rumored the plant will produce water for only $27 a glass.
Around 2020, economic concerns became severe so county and city government did away with elected officials and turned the job of running things over to the Chamber of Commerce. Since the annual voter turnout had dropped to 15 percrent and the Chamber was running things anyway, it all made sense.
But in 2040 Sonoma has zero problems with leaf-blowers or tasting rooms. The last tree died for lack of water in 2030 so there are no leaves. Tasting rooms closed when Chinese owners found it too expensive to ship their wine to Sonoma just to keep up ‘wine country’ appearances.
Former tasting rooms and Plaza shops (Online wiped out retail in 2037) are now pricey vacation rentals, with excellent views of the popular Fourth of July parade, now held every weekend to maximize TOT revenue.
Despite the 8.5 quake on the Rogers Creek Fault in 2018, City Hall still stands, a proud symbol of small-town democracy, though it’s officially called “The Comcast-Walmart City Hall and Museum.” It remains popular with visitors streaming down the new four-lane Highway 12 from Santa Rosa to attend the weekly “Sustainability” workshops sponsored by Sonoma Sand and Gravel, the town’s major employer, which recently opened a new quarry atop Shocken Hill and a fracking well in the Duck Pond.
By 2040, the Valley has gotten over its past, and the future looks bright.
— Bob Edwards
A vision for Sonoma Valley within the next 100 years… Our human culture lives within a thriving, healthy natural ecosystem. Nature is not considered to be separate from us. We know the resource limits of our watershed and do not exceed them, so that the community can be sustained indefinitely.
Development is clustered, with central plazas and mixed housing and business. People with different incomes, needs, and ethnicities live beside each other. A central valley path extends to outlying communities, and other paths connect the Valley bottom to the ridgetops. Mountain inns provide refreshment and lodging for walkers. There is easy access to wilderness from town.
Fire agencies and landowner cooperatively use controlled burns to reduce fire hazard and stimulate biodiversity. Our local economy is thriving, perhaps using a local currency. We export premium products and ideas. We raise much of our food locally. Local wild-growing products (acorns, fish, berries, game) are part of the food supply and the value-added export market.
The transportation system minimizes the need for single automobile trips. We have local jitneys and commuter rail lines and a network of walking and biking paths. A day each year is “quiet,” without outdoor engines, so we can hear what the world really sounds like.
— Richard Dale
Many city issues from the past are resolved by 2040. Leaf blowers are non-existent because landscapers will vaporize them quietly with lasers. Homes can be easily accessed in emergencies by public safety because everyone will have their home addresses clearly visible on houses. Crosswalks will all have “continental striping” throughout the City of Sonoma, making travel by foot, bike and auto much easier.
Solar power for homes will no longer have the unsightly panels, they will have a single rod that collects and provide energy. The results of recycling will prove to be fruitful and our carbon footprint will decrease tremendously. A new process for controlling the weather will enable the City of Sonoma to store water more proficiently during the winter months.
The drivers to and from Vallejo on Highway 37 will have their own two lanes from 101, eliminating the constant backups along that highway. Note: There is the issue of the Land Trust. And Broadway, the entrance to Sonoma will have only diagonal parking as new shops open.
— Madolyn Agrimonti
“Visit Sonoma. It’s like Knott’s Berry Farm with alcohol!” So reads the 2040 tourism brochure promoting the historic California pueblo replete with The Mission Wine Bar, Bear Flag Beer Gardens, Martini Barracks, General Vallejo Tequila Cantina, and the Blue Wing Cocktail Lounge.
The Plaza hosts weekly fundraisers for the social elite, celebrity-packed film festivals, and bacchanalian rock concerts for thousands of international tourists. Boutique hotels and high end-vacation rentals to accommodate discriminating travelers encircle the Plaza for a square mile on streets that once housed working families, but not to worry — they have since been relocated to the grounds of the former Sonoma Developmental Center, now designated as affordable housing for the legions of housekeepers, waiters, waitresses, baristas, bartenders, cooks, busboys, dishwashers, janitors, chauffeurs, taxi drivers, tour guides, landscapers, vineyard workers, cellar rats, clerks, concierges, masseuses, security officers, valets, cabana boys, and pool maintenance staff needed to perpetuate Sonoma’s vacation playground.
— Loretta Carr
From a health perspective, the Sonoma Valley of 2040 will look a lot like today, only better. We will continue to enjoy good health and an active lifestyle in a healthy, environmentally sustainable community. It will be an even better place for seniors, only they will not be considered seniors until they are 80 because of increased longevity. Premature aging and chronic illness will be a thing of the past, and each of us will easily be able to check our health at any time.
Sonoma Valley Hospital will be the hub in the Valley for health and known as a Healing Hospital in every sense of the word. We will provide health care to our community at all levels through emergency, acute care, diagnostics, obstetrics, nursing support, health maintenance and education. Less invasive care and treatments will be used to treat illness and maintain health.
When medical care is needed, it will be provided at a moment’s notice and often electronically. But the importance of human touch and compassion to help someone through an illness or to restore their health will be why our hospital still exists. Doctors and specialists will be assigned at birth and will be your medical advisor and coach through life using tele-health monitoring and telemedicine.
— Kelly Mather
Sonoma 2040. Local police have the most wrinkled uniform in the state: with a low crime rate, the officers lie in the bushes around the pond plaza ambushing those to dare feed the ducks. Penalty: you eat your own soggy bread crumbs from the pond. City Council removed restrictions on it’s membership, you don’t have to go through lobotomy in order to be elected. 90 percent of the population speaks everything but English. With marihuana legalized, nobody smokes: the thrill is gone. Picking fungi in Jack London Park is also allowed, it boosted health of those who can’t afford the boring but pricy Fitness club.
Tour buses take religious folks to the Marine World in Vallejo every Sunday: up and down rides is a perfect drill for the upcoming rapture. On a patch of the undeveloped land, Eight Street, a little brick wall got erected, here the politically incorrect fois gras suppliers, and parents of more the two children, get shot by the firing squad. Assembled from Chinese, not-up-to-code beams, a bridge across Sonoma Creek collapsed, breaking through to another side of the planet and enabling us to watch athletic Australian surfers. This tourist attraction brings as much revenu as wine industry and parking tickets combined.
— Val Papadin
I have two scenarios for Sonoma Valley twenty-five years from now. One I do not want to think about and the other is much simpler but livable.
I am a believer that our climate is changing more rapidly than we think, we will be experiencing increased drought conditions on one hand, with our ground water disappearing; and more extreme flooding with the rising of San Pablo Bay. The Bay may flood much of Highway 37and the lowlands near Sonoma Creek at times. Either our Country, State, County, and local community will wake up taking action by acknowledging this reality or business will go on as usual as witnessed recently at the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission. From our local Chamber of Commerce on down, few mentioned the fact, which has been made clear by Al Gore some years back in “The Inconvenient Truth” and the current book “The 6th Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert. Some scientists already say it is too late and that we are in the grip of a 6th Extinction.
But being the optimist I am, I want us to wake up and not fiddle as Rome burns. I want a future for our planet, our children and all life. However a huge transformation is required. Are we in Sonoma Valley up to this? Read “This Changes Everything “ by Naomi Klein, Are we all suffering from the ‘Psychic Numbing’ that Helen Caldecott spoke about so urgently in my distant past? By 2040, we may be out of time. Let’s take a stand.
— Marilyn Goode
Wine drinking fountains in all town plazas will electronically verify age (18 or older) and take payment for a sip of an outstanding Sonoma beverage. Robot cars from the merged Google/Apple/Tesla “New Detroit” factories will eliminate CHP sobriety checkpoints. Amazon drones will deliver the finest gourmet meals made of strictly local and sustainable produce to your home or picnic site in minutes. Grapevines will flourish in the center dividers of roadways, with internal combustion pollution eliminated by the electric vehicle revolution.
— Jim Heaphy
The quality of life in Sonoma may be most impacted by population growth, traffic, and employment options. Will Sonoma become a bedroom community for jobs in the Bay Area, or a retirement destination? If we re-route Highway 12 around the City of Sonoma, we can reduce traffic and encourage pedestrians in our City. When a highway bypasses town, the most negatively impacted businesses are typically gas stations and fast food, but Sonoma has limited these businesses. As a residential community and tourist destination, Sonoma can benefit from reduced traffic and improved safety with a highway bypass.
Will hospitality and agriculture remain the primary local employers? What impact could long term drought have on vineyards and residents? Are we too exposed to a single crop economy if a new virus or pest attacks vines? How can we create enough homes and lodging for residents, migrant workers, and tourists? Recent challenges with vacation rentals are a symptom of this demand for lodging.
As tourists from the Bay Area explore further north in Sonoma County, how will Sonoma continue to compete for hospitality revenues? We must work together for a sustainable balance which will preserve Sonoma well beyond 2040.
— Nancy Lloyd
Sun headlines
Stories we are following, 2040
Shocking discovery: Pipeline delivers same wine to all Sonoma tasting rooms
Grocery Cart tax approved
Design Review Board bans self as too white
GMO chickens reintroduced to Plaza
Supervisor’s drought warning: Less water, more fluoride
Ken Brown elected to Sonoma City Council
McDonald’s logo turns 100; Springs drive-through designated historic building
Community pool opens Monday
Flowery School’s pilot project began 20 years ago. Foods rich in DHA and EPA were added to the menu while sugar was cut. The rise in test scores that year was dramatic, and absence due to illness fell. The next school year, the entire district followed Flowery’s example, leading to SVUSD landing in the top 25 school districts statewide for test scores. Within two years, all California schools followed the Flowery model and California gained the highest graduation rates nationwide. The twin obesity and diabetes epidemics among youth ended. In recent years, California’s unemployment rate fell as businesses thrived due to the healthy, well-educated work force, and the state budget balances easily every year. Thanks, Flowery!