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Personal/Political

What makes a good community meeting?  

How do we let our elected officials and various board members at both the county and Sonoma city level know what our opinions and needs are? I have been thinking a lot about this recently because of where we are on the specific plan and... Continue

Should the Springs become part of Sonoma?

This is from the book, A Tale of Two Valleys by Alan Deutschman, published in 2003.  “Beyond the working-class haven of the west side came the Springs, which were once known for their natural hot-springs resorts for day-tripping city folks.  Long ago the waters dried... Continue

The missing middle

In the housing discussion there are a lot of terms being thrown around. Workforce housing, affordable housing, area median income (AMI), missing middle, and more. But, what do these terms actually mean? Do they have a fixed meaning, one with no gray area? Recently these... Continue

Who we are and where we come from

Recently I got together with a younger friend and she told me about the opinions some of her young, financially successful friends had about homeless people.  She was upset and angry with her friends as they were blaming San Francisco’s homeless problem on the recently... Continue

How to make Measure P work

A vigil was held for David Pelaez Chavez who was killed by a Sonoma County deputy sheriff. His brother said “We want them to tell us the truth.”  How do we get the truth?   Measure P, the Evelyn Cheatham Effective IOLERO (Independent Office of Law... Continue

Bad things happen

Years ago my coworker and friend said a couple of things that have come back to haunt me in light of where Republicans and the Supreme Court are taking us today.  Although she was a staunch Republican and we disagreed on much, she was my... Continue

If it works for veggie burgers…

There is a certain type of veggie burger I love. For a while Whole Foods, Sonoma Market, and Safeway carried it. Now only Sonoma Market carries it. It is a good thing we have four supermarkets in Sonoma. I hit them all to get all... Continue

The high price of money

Money, it seems it is all people are talking about. Gas is over $6 a gallon, food prices are up, and most homes in Sonoma Valley are selling for $1,000,000 or more. But, how much money makes one rich today?   There has been a lot... Continue

The slow, inevitable triumph of nature

We recently returned from a much needed and long delayed vacation. We flew to southwest Florida to spend a few days visiting my snowbird sister and her husband. Then we drove to Miami and flew to the US Virgin Islands to spend a week hiking... Continue

You should know how to recycle by now

Why is it so hard to recycle? Why is it so hard to rinse cans and bottles and place them in the recycling cart for Recology? Recology makes it easy. At our house we have a container with a lid that we can put all... Continue