The SDC is for sale and the state is holding an open house. Some people are PISSED.

The latest move by the State of California towards the inevitable sale of 180 acres of Sonoma Valley Developmental Center land has grassroots opponents PISSED — and calling for a Protest In Support of Stopping Eldridge Disaster on Monday, June 6, at 12:30 p.m.

Speaking for the group Alice Horowitz said. “We are gathering on the same day that DGS has invited interested developers to tour the SDC property in hopes of sending a clear message to the powers that be: we are pissed.”

The State owns the land and this week released a formal Request For Proposals.

“There is now a complete disconnect between what the State is doing, what Permit Sonoma is doing, and so many promises that have been made to the public,” said Horowitz. “We are upset with the way both the State and Sonoma County have handled, and in all likelihood will continue to handle, the SDC conundrum.”

The group Eldridge For All said there had been a “total breakdown” in the planning process. “Because (the state) is now asking developers to prepare bids to purchase the 180-acre core campus with no concrete project description, no comprehensive site plan, no public comment on the Draft EIR, and no real guarantees that SDC open space will remain in the public trust or even open to the public.” 

The RFP speaks only to the 180-acres of the campus to be sold and developed. “It does not specify how the 750 acres of open space that surround the core, which elected officials and bureaucrats have always promised would be preserved as public parkland. The fate of the SDC’s precious natural resources — and public access to those resources — remains in limbo.”

Peaceful protestors are asked to congregate at 12:30pm and then march up and down the sidewalks lining Arnold Dr. for the next several hours.

The acronym PISSED, Horowitz noted, could also stand for Partners In Sustainable Solutions for Eldridge Development. “We’d much rather be partners than protesters, just give us some respect and something we can support.”

Read SDC: Open space and the public trust by Tracy Salcedo

Photo essay: A rare look inside the SDC