Recreation – Sonoma Style

A newspaper not-to-be-named recently conducted an online survey asking: “Should the city establish, staff and fund a rec department?” Nearly 70% of respondents said “Yes!” 

Of course, since the entire globe could take the survey, the 107 respondents may have lived in Beijing or Kirkuk and not realized that City Council already gives thousands of dollars of City taxpayer money each year to Valley non-profits that ‘do’ recreation for the entire Valley, such as the Boys & Girls Club.

In that same generous spirit, it has promised $25,000/year to support a community pool, also to serve the entire Valley.

So when it comes to a willingness to fund recreation for everyone between Hwy. 37 and Santa Rosa, City Council is nothing if not a Good Sport. Any reasonable person can see how the City would not have extra money lying around for a Rec Department to serve people who live, say, in the City.

In any event, Sonoma has more pressing uses for its residents’ scarce tax dollars than providing frivolous recreation for its residents. Since Citizens United, everyone understands that businesses are people, too, and their plight has become the Human Rights Issue of Our Time. Many can’t even pay their employees enough to live in the City; 90% of those who work in the City live elsewhere, where their meager wages go further and (incidentally) recreational opportunities abound.

Thus, Council is morally compelled to funnel as much taxpayer money as possible to private business, by way of:

(a) ‘Forgivable loans’ to spruce up storefronts & make other business improvements. City residents are ineligible for such loans to fix the roof or paint the porch and local bankers (many of whom studied math) don’t ‘do’ forgivable loans.

(b) $125,000/yr. to the Chamber of Commerce to pay salaries of staffers dedicated to attracting more businesses to the entire Valley to sop up any leftover forgivable loans; and 

(c) $440,000+/yr. in potential transit occupancy taxes (TOT) diverted from the City’s treasury back to the local Hotel Industry, known by its more wholesome name, “Tourism Improvement District” (TID).  

In addition to improving corporate hotel profits, TID’s mission is entertaining Tourists, who are more important than residents unless, of course, those residents happen to be a business.

But the biggest reason Council doesn’t fund a Rec Dept. is that residents don’t use the recreation facilities they have now.

Take the Field of Dreams, for example — acres of City-owned baseball fields leased to a non-profit for a pittance to indulge a 19th century sport which dwindling numbers of 21st century youths actually play. Big enough for a City pool, a recreation center and a couple of ball fields, it sits windswept and empty most of the year. 



In fairness, however, it is rented to rock concert promoters who provide a few nights recreation for Valley residents & a donation to Valley nonprofit recreation providers. Per ADA access requirements, they also set aside VIP sections for the enjoyment of those severely disabled by excessive wealth.

The FOD also stays lushly green year-round, providing a recreational meditation retreat where City homeowners can reflect on lawns they sacrificed to the drought, on Council’s insistence that “we’re all in this together.” 

For residents craving more recreation, one avenue remains: Incorporate the family as a business (“The Joneses, Inc.”) and apply for a forgivable City loan to make “business improvements.” Think: ‘49-er season tickets. A backyard pool. Pole-dancing lessons. (Add your improvement HERE.)