Getting Highway 12 sidewalks hasn’t been easy
It’s been 30 years since the need to construct sidewalks along Highway 12 was first identified in the Springs’ redevelopment plan. So it’s exciting to finally see the project getting close to completion. Having personally been involved with this project since the early 1990s, I want to provide a brief history and acknowledge two former supervisors.
The effort to get sidewalks installed started in the early 1990s due to the collaboration and organizing of the Verano Springs Association, which predated the Springs Community Alliance and represented residents, and the Sonoma Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Valley Improvement Project, which represented the businesses. We convinced the redevelopment agency and our county supervisor, Mike Cale, to make installing sidewalks the number one redevelopment priority. Supervisor Cale then held a series of community meetings for input into the design of the first section, which he called the pilot project. It’s the stretch that runs on the west side of the highway from Verano Boulevard to the circle next to Happy Dog.
Getting CalTRans support, however, was difficult. Mike Thompson was our state senator then. His district representative, Cheryl Diehm, lived in Boyes Hot Springs. She arranged for CalTrans officials to visit and walk the highway with a group of us residents and business owners. It worked. Plans then moved forward for that first section, which was completed in the late 1990s.
However, moving the overall project forward stalled again. In 2002 Supervisor Cale resigned from his office due to health concerns. The governor appointed Valerie Brown to replace him. Springs residents then lobbied Supervisor Brown to create a redevelopment advisory commission for the purpose of providing community input and oversight into all the Springs’ redevelopment efforts.
The redevelopment advisory commission, known as the RAC, was created in 2003. Despite its best efforts, it had no power to make anybody at the county do anything. The sidewalk project continued to stall, because it wasn’t a priority for the county public works department. That changed around 2006, after members of the RAC asked Supervisor Brown to step in and help. In 2010, the section of sidewalks from north of the Agua Caliente Creek bridge to Boyes Boulevard was completed. This is often referred to as Phase One, which is somewhat of a misnomer.
In 2011, as design plans were in the final stages for the section of sidewalk from Boyes Boulevard to Agua Caliente Boulevard, Governor Jerry Brown, decided to eliminate redevelopment agencies. This put our sidewalk project on hold again.
Supervisor Brown then worked very hard during her final weeks in office to ensure the sidewalk project would be finished. The elimination of redevelopment agencies didn’t mean that all the money the county had received for redevelopment projects was gone. The county’s share of those funds now goes into the general county coffers, when before those funds went to the redevelopment agency.
If you’re so inclined, go online to the County Board of Supervisors website and watch the video recording of Supervisor Brown’s last meeting on Dec. 11, 2012, http://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Board-of-Supervisors/Meeting-Agendas-Minutes-and-Videos. Two unanimous decisions occurred at that meeting, which ensured the sidewalks would be finished. One was the board approving an allocation of $450,000 to finish the design plans; the other was the board directing staff to return during the 2013/2014 budget process with options for funding the completion of the Highway 12 project and the three other redevelopment projects that had been left in limbo in Roseland and the Russian River area. During the discussion every supervisor expressed how Highway 12 was a safety issue and that completing the project was a priority. Brown thanked her colleagues “for getting it.”
Staff reported back to the board at its May 14, 2013 meeting that the county would have an estimated $24.4 million in available funds through mid-2017, which could be used to complete the Highway 12 sidewalks and the three other redevelopment projects. No board member had to be convinced by any of the others that this was the action to take. They were all supportive.
I want to conclude by acknowledging one other individual who was instrumental and spent many years working on getting the sidewalks, Steve Cox. A civil engineer and Boyes Hot Springs resident, Cox was the longest serving member of the redevelopment advisory commission. He worked closely with Supervisor Brown volunteering his professional services and knowledge of CalTrans. A true champion; thank you, Steve.
2 thoughts on “Getting Highway 12 sidewalks hasn’t been easy”
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Gina Cuclis provided a useful account of the travails of
the Highway 12 completion. But in her list of acknowledgments she absolutely ignored the role of Supervisor Susan Gorin in getting the ball over the finish line, a remarkable accomplishment that took experience, commitment and an understanding of government financing. Without that expertise, Highway 12 would still be a dream not simply deferred but quite lost. Since Ms. Cuclis has announced her intention to seek the supervisor’s position, it can only be considered that the snub is an electioneering tactic, one that unfortunately backfires since it shows Ms. Cuclis in a small and mean light. And such an omission, when so apparently prompted by self-interest, is certainly out of place in a column intended for community news.
Thank you Gina for reminding us of the history and efforts of all the people in our community who’s focused work over the last 30 years have led to this much needed improvement for our community. Highway 12 in the Springs is already beginning to attract new business that hold the potential of making the Springs a destination and an economic engine that all of us who live here can be proud. It has often been said in politics that every successful civil accomplishments has a thousand mothers. Your history reminds of this basic truth. It is sad that some would try and deny this history and politicize the accomplishment. Thank you for reminding us of this history and what real change looks like.