Less than two weeks after it began, the debate over Sonoma’s civic identity has shifted to a virtual forum – specifically, City Hall’s Web site.
“The City of Sonoma is considering changing its name from ‘City of Sonoma’ to ‘Town of Sonoma,’ reads the notice at http://sonomacity.org/. “The community would still remain an incorporated municipality and there would be no legal implications.”
Councilmember Aug Sebastiani floated the concept at the City Council’s Oct. 15 session, saying that the term “city” didn’t accurately describe “what the community’s about.” Councilmembers welcomed a discussion of the idea, and while a town-hall meeting was proposed to gauge public opinion it has not yet been scheduled – hence, the online (and informal) alternative.
“At the last council meeting, I had suggested that if the council wanted to pursue this, a no-cost, quick way would be to do a Web poll,” City Manager Linda Kelly said Thursday. Kelly said she looked through various software packages before settling on PollDaddy.com, which allows users to add comments as well as vote.
As of Friday morning, the tally among 270 voters stood at 172 to 98 in favor of “town.” Posted comments included questions about the cost of changing Sonoma stationery and street signs, whether people use “town” or “city” in conversational usage, and an incipient argument about the community of Danville in the East Bay.
Kelly said the poll is set up to register only one vote per computer, but said there’s no way to tell if those computers are located within city limits.
“It’s not scientific, it’s just a way to get a little more than anecdotal data,” she said. “If nothing else, it educates people.”
