City of Sebastopol Elections
BELOW IS MY LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE SWT&N BEFORE IT WAS EDITED OF SUBSTANCE.
As we head into the final month of the race for Sebastopol City Council before the absentee ballots are mailed out, and the final two months before we go to the polls, it is sad to see a town and a community so divided, over a single piece of property. There seems there is only one thing you should consider in making your decision about who to vote for: whether the candidate supports or opposes CVS/Chase to buy and build on the Pellini families property at the corner of Highways 12 & 116.
I may be old fashioned because I think there are somethings much more important to consider: the candidate's character, honesty, and comment to listening to the citizens whom they represent.
On a community level, I know all five of the candidates, four of them much better thanColleen Fernald, I have heard them speak at DBR, Planning Commission and City Council meetings. I believe in full disclosure: I've known Robert Jacob since he first appeared before the Planning Commission to get approval for a special use permit (issued 06/27/2007) for a medical cannabis dispensary in the City of Sebastopol; over the last 5 years we have become friends.
Kathy Austin, I first met at a Planning Commission meeting also about the Litchfield subdivision, on December 14, 2004. There were several meetings about this project. The neighbors were concerned about traffic impacts and the fact that, for many years, the City had considered the property as a possible site for a City park. What has been branded in my brain for the last seven years are the words Kathy Austin said to the Planning Commission in one of her rebuttals after Public Comment period. She said that: the Planning Commission should not consider any of the Public's comments in their deliberations; that they were to only consider her comments, as well as those of the Architect on the project [herself], the traffic study, expert witnesses .and the owners' comments. That is not the position of the State of California who mandates that all comments are to be given equal weight;this has been upheld by both the CA & US Supreme Courts.
Kathleen Shaffer, I have meet and talked with at many different fund raisers or public events and of course as a City Council member. My position is that, as an elected official, you represent the people who elected you. You do not send out messages "under the radar" to help out a friend. Is she such a close friend that, at every meeting when you were not sitting as a Council member, you are sitting in the audience next to one of the property owner/family members holding her hand? If it was me, I would feel morally obligated to excuse myself from voting as there is no way I could be impartial or pretend to be impartial due to my friendship.
John Eder, I had seen at various meetings, but had not actually talked with until Wednesday, September 5, 2012. I was very impressed in talking with him by his accomplishments in Cotati as part of a citizens' group. His first forray into politics was working with a Citizen's group in Cotati, his accomplishments in Cotati as part of a citizens' group, where he led the effort to get a measure on the ballot for the voters of Cotati to decide whether they wanted the largest Lucky's supermarket in Northern California at the corner of Gravenstein and Old Redwood Highways. Fearful of the damage to their small town's character, the citizens of Cotati voted to approve the measure, thereby limiting the size of retail stores. After that, he was elected to the City Council in Cotati. He accomplished many things while in office, including the hiring of a new city manager and the hosting of several urban design workshops that involved citizens designing the future look of their town. He resigned his position in mid-term due to the demands of his employment at that time.
My Old Fashioned Values: a candidate's character, honesty, their commitment to the citizens voting for them. I will be voting for the two candidates I feel will meet those values once elected: John Eder and Robert Jacob.
Yvette Williams van Aggelen
Now it is ONLY SIXTEEN DAYS to Election Day VOTE
