Another election, in the books. The build up and hype, the seemingly endless campaign ads on television, the bombardment of roadside signage. Here in our little hamlet, City Council incumbents Steve Barbose and Ken Brown have reigned victorious. They are joined on the dias by first-time politician Tom Rouse, who represented himself well in local forums and debates. While not endorsed by The Sun, we feel that Rouse will bring his trademark flair, business savvy and sense of humor to four years of City Council business.
To the rest of the candidates, we offer a big thank you for stepping up to the community service plate.
Measure H, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District bond, was also a big winner with 66.7 percent of the vote. In schools districts throughout the county, every bond measure was approved by voters, but one. It’s heartening to see each community embrace the needs of its schools during a time of never ending state budget cuts. Congratulations to everyone who put time, money and effort into making this measure succeed.
Now that California has a new (renewed?) governor, perhaps funding for education will stop taking a back seat. In a 12-point education proposal, Jerry Brown outlined a plan to consolidate many of the state’s “categorical” funding streams, which allocate money to schools but can only be used for certain purposes. Among other items, Brown proposes increasing funding for higher education, reversing “the decades long trend of transferring state support from high education to prisons.” He has his detractors, of course but let’s hope that his claims are sincere and that, just once, education might stop taking budget hits.
For the hospital board, David Chambers and Kevin Carruth were the choice of voters. Both are sound choices to help lead the hospital through the reconstruction phase and beyond.
In other areas, Proposition 19 – legalization of marijuana – was voted down while Proposition 21 – an $18 vehicle license surcharge to fund state parks – was also defeated, with likely repercussions to our local state parks.
Also defeated, Measure W – a $10 annual vehicle license fee that would fund county road repair and transit projects. So it seems as if we might have more potholes but hopefully better schools.
Read our election story on page 2 for more.
And while all this election news is great, as I write this, the city of San Francisco is readying itself to welcome home its World Series-winning team, the Giants, with a ticker tape parade. I considered taking the kids out of school and being there to cheer on the team with which I spent so many evenings over the past few weeks. Alas, deadlines loom and parade watching is not on the agenda this year. Can you say 2011?
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