Westamerica closes Springs branch; Hospital asks for second opinion, and more
Westamerica Bank to close its Springs branch? That’s the word from the Fiesta Plaza location about a January 20 closure. One employee said the staff was told last week, but was told not to say anything to the public until official notices were posted. When Westamerica took over the location from the (federally-closed) Sonoma Valley Bank in August of 2010 and reduced service hours, neighborhood voices, including the Springs Community Alliance, fought to keep it open. As Banco de Sonoma, it was created to serve the Latino community, and remains the only bank in the Springs. Westamerica’s Glen Ellen branch, which serves fewer people still, is likely next.
Who owns the only remaining undivided residentially-zoned property near downtown Sonoma? The Sonoma Valley Health Care District. The 4.9-acre parcel fronts West MacArthur Street and Fourth Street West. The District had acquired rights to the parcel to use as a parking lot and a staging area during construction of the Hospital’s new wing. Now, said Jane Hirsch, SVHCD board chair, “several real estate developers have expressed interest in purchasing it, but we want feedback from the community and our neighbors about how it should be used.” A community meeting on the topic is set for October 27, in the Hospital’s basement conference room, at 347 Andrieux St. in Sonoma, starting at 6 p.m.
Sonoma’s Community Services and Environment Commission minces no words in its blunt report to the City Council on the immediate need to reduce greenhouse gases: Sonoma is not meeting its current targets. A 2005 agreement by 10 local Sonoma County governments called for a 25 percent reduction, from 1990 levels, by 2015. “We missed the reduction goal by 62 percent,” goes the memo. “Climate Action is not optional. The Council and staff have responsibility for ensuring the city is compliance with the laws.” If the city doesn’t get it together, the state will step in and impose non-local restrictions. Right now, the commission reported, Sonoma’s per capita emissions are the second highest in the county… That’s a pretty aggressive report for an otherwise low-key panel. How will the strong language play with the Council, and new City Manager?
Keith Rhinehart, who ran third in the Sonoma County District One Supervisor primary, is fired up about the Fifth District race, where Lynda Hopkins faces Noreen Evans. “The Hopkins campaign is cussing like mad right now, trying to sell us that Lynda is a ‘fresh face’ in Sonoma County politics,” he reports. “Nothing could be further from the truth — she is hand-picked by Big Business, like James Gore and Efren Carrillo before her, to withhold the control of the Board of Supervisors from the people they are supposed to represent.”… The Fifth District encompasses the west county including the entire Sonoma County coast, the lower Russian River area, Sebastopol and the west and southwest Santa Rosa areas extending in to Highway 101. It is now represented by Efren Carillo, the once rising star shamed out of office by a 2013 scandal. Will his penance, media-documented reform and p.r. makeover be complete for a run at office in 2018?
The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art just received its biggest donation ever, a $1 million-plus bequest from the estate of Chuck Williams, the late founder of Williams-Sonoma. Seems his mastery of art extended beyond that of French cooking… Friends waiting in long, adjacent Safeway lines had the time to catch up the other night. Said one, whose cart was full of small round cans, “If it wasn’t for my cat, I’d be through the Express Lane by now.”
— Val Robichaud
