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Local Sonoma Valley News

City backs out of Seventh Street well

“The food’s terrible, but at least the portions are small” – That old joke about an expensive restaurant could apply to a once-promising local water source rejected 4-0 Wednesday night by the City Council. At issue is Municipal Well No. 7, drilled in 2002 at... Continue

Council Briefs

In other actions at its No. 19 meeting, the council: • Appointed Yvonne Bowers and Jeff Baptista to the Sonoma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission. The SVCAC acts as a liaison and vetting committee for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. • Granted to the Sonoma... Continue

Mark Nelson departs Nelson Family Companies for new horizons

Photo by Ryan Lely Mark Nelson, president of client development and strategy at Nelson Family Companies, has announced his intended departure after 20 years at the Sonoma-based company. The son of founder and chairman Gary Nelson, the younger Nelson played a significant role in the... Continue

For Sonoma Valley schools big budget cuts still loom

Along with other business at their regular meeting on Tuesday evening, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District board of trustees heard about the need for vitamin D, honored two Sassarini students, recognized the contribution of outgoing trustee Sandra Lowe and braced for possible mid-year cuts.... Continue

Sonoma Ecology Center’s stewardship groups meet to combine forces

Global warming, drought, flooding and pollution – some might ask, “What can one person do?” Stewardship groups at the Sonoma Ecology Center (SEC) are answering the question by their collective action: working together to learn about and work for the health of Sonoma’s streams. The... Continue

Rancho de Sonoma: many questions, few answers

A number of Rancho de Sonoma residents met on Tuesday to discuss their water problems – arsenic levels higher than currently permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – with Sonoma City Council member Steve Barbose. Before the meeting, various residents described their water problems,... Continue

Sonoman Season comes to town

Gary Carnivele Special to the Sun It’s difficult to dream about a holiday season that doesn’t include a winter wonderland populated by those whimsical characters composed mainly of three orbs of compacted snow. The very lack of that important ingredient poses a creative challenge to... Continue

Council approves Plaza bike racks

A two-phase plan that would nearly triple the amount of bicycle parking at Sonoma Plaza was unanimously approved Wednesday night by the City Council. The proposal was identified by the council as a high-priority component of Sonoma’s Bicycle And Pedestrian Improvement Plan, which the panel... Continue

So far, so good for city budget

Sonoma seems to be doing well in the first quarter of the new fiscal year – and given the state of the California and U. S. economies, city staffers are doing their best to keep it that way. “I still don’t have a huge concern... Continue