The City of Sonoma used to lead the rest of the county by example. Its commitment to affordable housing was solid and substantial, it was the first city to enact a living wage, its position on the environment was progressive, and it took pride in helping its less fortunate residents. At present, we’re sorry to say, this is no longer the case.
When it comes to these and other important issues, the City of Sonoma has fallen behind. For example, it has never developed a plan to replace revenues to support affordable housing that were lost when the redevelopment funding ended. Its living wage is now woefully out-of-date and insufficient. In comparison to other cities in Sonoma County, it is at the bottom of the list on Climate Action 2020 policies. And its commitment to its homeless is all but non-existent; it was unable to offer even five overnight parking spaces for desperate homeless families, in a parking lot which the City owns, adjacent to the Police Station.
The reasons for this shift are both cultural and political. Culturally, the City has changed over the past 20 years from a largely middle-class community with many retirees, to one of exceptional wealth and a growing number of non-resident second-home owners. Politically, tourism has become a pervasive focus; goods, services and amenities for residents take a back seat in public policy-making that panders to people who do not live here. Money and the pursuit of money dominates the decision-making process of both the business community and city government, and it often seems the difference between the two has all but disappeared.
City Council once took the lead on setting policy, pursuing goals and programs that became an example to other communities, but over the last decade even that has declined. Though city council members are good people, few of them have mastered the depth of policy that good governance requires, and true leadership seems in short supply. In this vacuum, unelected city staff has been compelled to step in and step up. City staff are also good people — capable, professional and caring. However, it is not their job to provide policy direction to Council. Roles have been reversed, often to the detriment of coherent policy-making.
The function of City staff is to implement the policy set by City Council. When lack of Council leadership forces staff to take the policy reins, it often results in timid, self-protective measures too focused on money. Not directly accountable to City residents, staff becomes the de facto City Council, the only ones seen qualified to imagine visionary civic goals, evaluate proposals and recommend solutions.
With the upcoming Council election and impending departure of its present City Manager and most probably other staff, the city faces a time of opportunity as well as risk. The opportunity is to re-establish the city’s role as a visionary and progressive leader — for residents and for the region. Though small, the city has historically been a major force in setting the direction for positive social and political change.
The risk is that the city will continue the rudderless slide into self-absorption, exclusivity and entitlement. The outcome depends on whether City Council is prepared to lead, to roll up its sleeves and provide more than mere lip service to high ideals.
— Sun Editorial Board
For the most part this is right on. But, there are others in the city and they are not outsiders with second homes that make it difficult for the council to be as progressive as they want to be. I witnessed long time locals lead a campaign of lies to put a simple compromise passed by the council to ban polluting, useless gas powered leaf blowers, up for a referendum in November. Sometimes it is not outsiders, who do not understand environmental issues, housing issues, and so on, but long time residents. This is true here in the Springs as well as within the city limits.