County budget has good news for Valley parks

The Board of Supervisors approved a $2.3 billion budget for the 2023/2024 Fiscal Year. I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of our budget staff in the County Administrator’s office, and our CAO Christina Rivera, for guiding us through the process. 

Some highlights from this year’s budget include $5.8 million to relocate the county health lab and morgue currently located on the Chanate Road campus, $5 million toward immediate road infrastructure needs as identified by Public Infrastructure department staff (greatly needed after our winter storms), $200,000 to the Sonoma County Secure Families Collaborative, and $150,000 supporting the Sonoma County Museum’s permanent history exhibition.  

In addition to these countywide items, I am excited to highlight items in the budget that specifically address the needs of the First District. The First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Districts each established a $4 million bucket to allocate toward district priorities such as infrastructure, parks, and health and human services projects. This was negotiated after the Board allocated $7.8 million toward the Tierra de Rosas project in Santa Rosa, an important project located in the Roseland area of the Third District. 

My intention with the First District’s $4 million is to supply long-needed funding for Larson Park renovations, road and sidewalk improvement at the Donald Street Gap in the Springs (the last area of the Highway #12 widening in the Springs), and bike lane and bike path projects including Arnold Drive, the Sonoma Valley Trail, and the Schellville Trail. 

On top of our approved county budget, I was delighted to see desperately needed support included in the State of California budget signed by Governor Newsom. I want to thank State Senator Bill Dodd, Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry, and Assemblymember Connelly and all of our state legislators for their advocacy for Larson Park and Maxwell Farms Regional Park in particular, which will each receive $1 million to renovate and improve facilities, improve recreation, and enhance safety. The state also allocated an additional $250,000 to fund the Sonoma Valley Wildlands Collaborative, a partnership between the county and conservation groups working in the Sonoma Valley. 

It is gratifying to see Sonoma Valley’s needs for safe and high-quality places to recreate acknowledged at the state level, and I look forward to the renovations (already underway at Maxwell Farms) to get started at Larson.

While I was thrilled to come through budget hearings with many of my priorities for the First District met, I was disappointed not to have the support of my fellow board members to find room for long-term sustainable funding solutions for bike paths and bike lanes countywide. As anyone who has heard me speak over the last several years will know, I have long been frustrated with the lack of funding and streamlined processes for bicycle projects – and not just on Arnold Drive! 

As the timeline for the Arnold Drive bike lanes project continues, disappointingly, to stretch toward (and perhaps beyond) the end of my tenure as Supervisor, I will continue to advocate for the greater prioritization of projects that benefit cyclists and pedestrians.