“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
Editorials
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
During the past couple of years, we've gone on the record numerous times calling for both an increase in Sonoma's minimum wage to $15/hr. and the generation of revenues to support the creation of affordable housing. We and various groups in the community have offered... Continue
We live in a time when it is very difficult to get something fixed – a lamp repaired, a handsaw sharpened, the battery in an iPhone replaced. Anyone who has had a perfectly good car “totaled” because insurance won’t pay the cost of body work... Continue
It's easy to let likes and dislikes dictate how we make choices, and when it's merely personal, that's no big thing. When personal likes and dislikes drive decision-making by public bodies, however, it is a problem, and it is precisely for this reason Sonoma's General... Continue
We in Sonoma enjoy a particular status as the location of the most northward of the Missions, and notably, the birthplace of the State of California. At the very center of the City of Sonoma, the Sonoma Barracks, now a State Park, provides constant testimony... Continue