Cirrus serious
We are pleased to see that The Cirrus Group has delivered its anticipated proposal to construct a new hospital here without taxpayer funding. The company officials have completed their due diligence and, apparently, like what they see in Sonoma Valley just as much as we do.
The Options Committee of the Sonoma Valley Health Care Coalition did not have time at its meeting last week to review or discuss the proposal, so the proposal hasn’t yet been referred to the whole Coalition itself for discussion at one of its weekly meetings. For our part, we’re simply pleased that Cirrus continues to have interest and is offering an option for the community.
That was not available for consideration a year ago, when the hospital board was deciding how big a bond and which location to put on the ballot. If the Cirrus proposal is viable, and we look forward to its review by parties more expert than we, then perhaps a palatable solution does exist for siting and building a new hospital. The prospect that it might happen without a new $100-plus million property tax would be frosting on the cake – really sweet frosting.
Some have raised concerns about possible development on the additional 50 acres that would be added to the Urban Growth Boundary in order to accommodate the provision of city water and sewer service to the project. While development would be subject to the city’s zoning controls, the project developers might consider purchasing open space easements on some of that land, much as the Sonoma County Open Space District does, to allay those concerns.
Mejia recognized
We extend congratulations to our friend and colleague, Victor Mejia, recent recipient of a Latino Community Service Award from the La Luz Foundation. Recognized for “working to improve the quality of life in this community” as Editor of El Sol de Sonoma, Victor is an integral part of the efforts by Three House MultiMedia to provide news and information of value to all of Sonoma Valley. Hispanic residents are an active part of our community, and we are proud of Victor’s achievements in reporting on and writing for our Spanish-speaking neighbors. He is, as characterized by Ellen LaBruce, Executive Director of La Luz, one of Sonoma’s “emerging leaders.”
Candidates victorious
We extend congratulations to Steve Barbose, August Sebastiani and Ken Brown, successful candidates for the Sonoma City Council, to Dick Kirk and Arnold Riebli, successful candidates for the Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board, and to Jeff Kunde, successful candidate for the Santa Rosa Junior College Board. Community service can be a thankless task, so we thank them now, just to be sure.
We also extend heartfelt thanks to the other candidates for their participation in the political process. Their efforts were successful, too, since competitive campaigns perform an important civic function, bringing issues to the attention of voters and forcing candidates to enunciate positions on those issues. We encourage the candidates not being seated to continue in community service, staying involved in local affairs, and we look forward to seeing many of them on our ballots again, in the future.
