Rent stabilization for manufactured homes in Sonoma, an update of rules dating back to 1998, is now and finally in effect. Park owners in Sonoma already receive an automatic annual increase of 0.8% CPI. The ordinance codifies additional ways in which park owners may seek increases to maintain their return on investment and fund capital improvements. The new ordinance also reduces space-rent increases upon resale (vacancy control) from 10 to 5 percent, a number in line with other California cities and counties. As Ann Colichidas explains it, “Manufactured homeowners in the City of Sonoma are now protected by a state-of-the-art ordinance. The new ordinance is specifically designed to provide an alternative to the expensive nuisance lawsuits and threats by park owners that could convince a small city like Sonoma to drop it’s rent-stabilization program altogether, as in Santa Cruz.” She sends a special thanks to Spiritual Action and the Sonoma Valley Housing group for showing up and speaking out in favor of the ordinance and linking it to the wider housing state of emergency in Sonoma County and throughout the state.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary had to cancel its Taste of Scotland benefit. Why? Rent for the planned venue, the Veterans Memorial Building, was too high. President Sarah Parker isn’t too thrilled with the County, which administers the building, for the proposed $1,700 tab, which included ancillary costs not explained in the bill. Now she’s fired up to demand some changes. “We will not let this speed bump stop us,” Parker said. “We will bounce back and when the time is right, we will host the best fundraiser Sonoma has ever seen.” Roger that!
Mikey Seelye spent his senior year at Sonoma Valley High school in 2015 being treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In September of 2016 he was told his cancer had returned, just days after finally beginning at Santa Rosa Junior College. He is now undergoing chemotherapy at Stanford in advance of a stem cell transplant. Mikey’s father Mike is a fourth-generation Sonoman and has been disabled for months because of a serious fall that has left him with very limited mobility, a torn ACL that is not mending, and other injuries. Despite the hardships, shares Constance Grizzell, “the extremely close knit extended family support each other with grace and often times much needed humor.” The financial toll is significant. To help, donate to: Kelly Seelye for Mikey, C/O Exchange Bank, 435 W. Napa St. Sonoma, CA 95476. We’ll wait while you get your checkbook.
Tired if your job? Be careful what you wish for. A recent Oxford University study suggests that 47 percent of today’s jobs could be automated in the next two decades… accountants, lawyers, teachers and even, gasp, snarky newspaper columnists. Tech writer John Markoff, coming for a lecture on February 6, points out that Donald Trump got elected partly because of his attacks on trade agreements as the cause of job losses. But one study shows that only 13 percent of those losses result from offshore cheap labor; the rest were lost to automation. Is it too late to form a union for humans?
— Val Robichaud
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you need to check another site for the number of job that are being outsourced. Goggle it.