A group of nearly 50 protestors gathered Saturday at the long-dormant Cocoa Planet building, one of the many Ken Mattson properties in Sonoma Valley that sit empty, neglected and blighted.
The action was organized by the community group Wake Up Sonoma, which formed to fight the idea of a County-funded garage at the property Mattson owns in Boyes Hot Springs. That idea has been scrapped, in part because of heat put on Supervisor Susan Gorin.
Now, says Wake Up Sonoma founder Veronica Napoles (above left), the group wants to focus community attention on Mattson and his Lefever/Mattson company -– owner of 90+ Valley properties. Approved projects like the Boyes Food Center, and the Lanning Structures building, which is hole in the ground five years after grand plans were announced, never get built. Other retail spots, like Cocoa Planet and The General’s Daughter, sit empty; others, Sonoma Cheese Factory, for example, are in embarrassing disrepair.
The group is demanding transparency from the Mattson. “We are concerned for our local small businesses and future homeowners and renters,” Napoles said. With one landowner controlling so much property, rents will inevitably rise. And retail spots, approved but unbuilt, or existing businesses shut down, contribute nothing to the tax base.
“Our goal is to document and provide information to the community so that they are informed of this property take over. In the long term it will affect the economy and diversity of our community.”
The group promises to protest in front of a different Lefever/Mattson owned property next month, “to communicate our frustration with leaving buildings vacant, and putting profits over community.” It is also planning a Town Hall on February 23, 6pm, at Sonoma Community Center, to present its larger ideas. Free, but you must RSVP. Wakeupsonoma.com.
Why so many building projects left unfinished?
Are they “Money Laundering”?