With high school graduation looming, many parents are preparing to send their offspring off to college. Last year, 37 percent of Sonoma Valley High School grads went on to a 4-year college or university and 51 percent to a two-year college. With hard work and... Continue
Editorials
This past Monday evening, the Sonoma City Council and Sonoma Planning Commission held a joint study session to discuss affordable housing. We applaud the effort the city is now making to come to grips with a difficult problem, but it's been a terribly long time coming.... Continue
This June, voters in the nine Bay area counties will be asked to approve a $12-per-parcel annual tax to support efforts to protect and restore San Francisco Bay. Measure AA, The San Francisco Bay Clean Water, Pollution Prevention and Habitat Restoration Measure, was developed by... Continue
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill, famously said "All politics is local." And when people we elect show up regularly in the aisles of Sonoma Market, it's an indication of just how local. In fact, local politics may well be the best... Continue
“Tourism” appears to just happen. Sonoma has a nice milieu and tourists enjoy it. Yet intentionality can be brought to bear by city and county governments to manage the flavor of our regional tourism. Some kinds of tourism are more benign and sustainable than others.... Continue
This week, Sonoma's City Council took up an appeal by council member Gary Edwards, who objected to the fee charged the Tuesday night Farmers Market. He was not objecting because he felt the fee was too large; his objection was that the fee was too... Continue
We're gratified to see that Governor Brown has signed a law which gradually raises the minimum wage in California to $15/hour by 2022. Joining the State of New York, California continues its role as a bellwether state, and an increase in the minimum wage in... Continue
Recently brought to our attention is the Annual Compliance Report of the California Water Board issued in 2015, which lists the Sonoma County Valley Sanitation District as #2 in raw sewage spills in the State of California for fiscal year 2013-14. This unwelcome distinction is... Continue
A few weeks ago the Internet was all atwitter due to a video showing a brief physical altercation between two Sonoma Valley High School students, The video went "viral" and in no time mobile Bay Area news crews were trolling Broadway across the street from... Continue
Ample rain and warm temperatures have brought an early spring to our area. The trees are beginning to get green as this year's leaves emerge from hiding and we can already see evidence of wildflowers popping up along our urban sidewalks and meadows. If last... Continue