Councilmember Eder and Councilmember Jacob did not file paperwork to re-run for City Council; therefore the deadline has been extended to Wed Aug 17th at 5:00 pm
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Councilmember Eder and Councilmember Jacob did not file paperwork to re-run for City Council; therefore the deadline has been extended to Wed Aug 17th at 5:00 pm
I am in the process of organizing, with the help of others, a non-partisan Sebastopol City Council candidates' forum, to which all candidates who file will be invited. Two of the three persons who have taken out papers to run have agreed to participate. It will be broadcast live on KOWS radio. Stay tuned for more information about when & where it will be.
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Posted in reply to the post by Tofu Larry:
At our August 16 business meeting a unanimous decision was made that the Grange sponsor a non-partisan Sebastopol City Council candidates’ forum at our Hall at 6000 Sebastopol Road. All three candidates who filed papers--Michael Anthony Carnucchi, Jonathan Greenberg and Neysa Hinton have agree to participate.
We will do our best to host the forum at a time that does not conflict with any other potential City Council or 5th District forums, debates, or town halls, such as the 5th District one on Oct. 10 at the Community Center. Please inform me of any other forums, debates, or town halls that you are aware of during late Sept. or early Oct. that might conflict. We are thinking of a Mon. or Wed. eve in late Sept. or early Oct., since ballots are sent out Oct. 10.
KOWS producer Arnold Levine has volunteered to provide sound and to broadcast it live. Waccobb.net moderator Barry Chertov has agree to film it. Granger Lawrence Jaffe has agreed to moderate or co-moderate and various women have been approached to co-moderate with him. Feel free to share this information with anyone who might be interested in further information and inform them of this pending event. Stay tuned to wacco for more details.
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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
Can someone explain to me how the required 5 day extension for filing included the weekend? How exactly is that justified?! Seems to me the city should have given a 5 business day extension, not calendar day… I for one would have liked to have seen more options for this race.
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Posted in reply to the post by Tofu Larry:
I agree with Nancy. I don't know what the rules on the extension are. I did hear there was at least one other woman who pulled papers, I think on Friday, but apparently did not finish them in time. It would have been a much better election, more democratic, if there had been more options.
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Posted in reply to the post by nancypreb:
This is based on the California Elections Code. I've reached out to Mary Gourley for the exact chapter and verse. :waccosun:Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by nancypreb:
Update: Mary was kind enough to forward the relevant part of the election code:
Per CA Elections Code 10225:
(a) Notwithstanding Sections 10220 and 10224, if nomination
papers for an incumbent officer of the city are not filed by or on
the 88th day before the election, during normal business hours, as
posted, the voters shall have until the 83rd day before the election
during normal business hours, as posted, to nominate candidates other
than the person who was the incumbent on the 88th day, for that
incumbent's elective office.
The Grange Sebastopol City candidates' forum is now scheduled for Wed., Sept. 28, starting at 6:30. All 3 candidates have accepted our invitation to attend. Our hall is located at 6000 Sebastopol Rd., also known as Highway 12, slightly outside Sebastopol, on the left on the way to Santa Rosa. Attendance is by donation. All are welcome, including those who do not live in Sebastopol, since what happens in each of Sonoma County's cities can influence the whole county.
An article titled "Sebastopol: 3 Newcomers Vie for 2 City Council Seats," by Mary Callahan appears in the Thurs., Aug. 18 issue of the Press Democrat, which can be read in local libraries. That article follows:
Three newcomers will vie for two Sebastopol City Council seats
MARY CALLAHAN, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | August 17
The Sebastopol City Council is facing a makeover in the Nov. 8 election, when residents will fill two seats being vacated by incumbents.
John Eder and Robert Jacob, both one-term council members, have decided not to seek re-election this fall, leaving three newcomers to vie for the privilege of serving on the five-person body.
The candidates include longtime Sebastopol resident Neysa Hinton, executive director for a Marin County assisted living home for seniors; journalist and community activist Jonathan Greenberg, who also ran for office in fall 2014; and artisan cobbler and boot maker Michael Anthony Carnacchi, a director of the Sebastopol Downtown Association.
The vote is unlikely to cause a significant shift in the politically progressive body that governs the town of about 7,600, but it will contribute new voices and ideas to what’s lately been a largely amiable and cohesive group.
Greenberg, who has at times been critical of the council, in particular said he expected he would raise independent, potentially unpopular issues on occasion, if elected.
“I really would like to bring a public interest focus to the activities and the budget of the City Council,” said Greenberg, 58, who has called for improved outreach and engagement of the voters on establishing city priorities.
“I think we are not funding the innovation and solutions that could really serve the public interest.”
But he also said he thought highly of those seeking office with him and believed the existing council has been doing a good job.
“I’m excited to do the work, and I’m excited to work alongside them,” he said.
Hinton said she decided to run for City Council after serving as campaign treasurer for Tim Sergent, a former candidate for Fifth District county supervisor whose primary run drew her into the maelstrom of west Sonoma County politics and issues. With the youngest of her two children starting his senior year of high school, Hinton, one-time advertising manager for the Press Democrat, said she has more time to devote to public service and take advantage of her experience in media marketing, advertising sales, senior facility administration and Rotary International.
Though a novice to governing, Hinton, 52, said her communication skills, tradition of fiscal responsibility and history as a community volunteer would serve Sebastopol citizens well, without bringing in the extra baggage or single-issue focus that some candidates for office do.
“I love the city I live in, and I think I bring a lot to the position,” she said. “I have a lot of ideas about how to continue to move forward and make things great in Sebastopol.”
Carnacchi, 54, was not available for an interview Wednesday but has been following council developments for the past several years. He was among those who applied to finish out the term of former Councilman Michael Kyes, who died in May 2014 with five months left in his term. The council instead chose Kyes’ widow, Una Glass, to fill the position. She was subsequently re-elected by voters.
Glass, who as vice mayor is likely to be mayor next year, Mayor Sarah Glade Gurney and Councilman Patrick Slayter are all in the middle of their terms and will serve at least two more years with whichever two candidates are elected this fall.
Eder, 63, said he knew early this year he would not seek another four years in office, both because he is ready to let others serve and because he is grappling with undisclosed health issues.
He and Jacob, executive director of Peace In Medicine in Sebastopol and SPARC in San Francisco — both medical cannabis dispensaries — were both brought into office on a wave of discontent over the city’s authorization of a downtown CVS store at the gateway to town.
Both remarked Wednesday on the extraordinary amount of time and energy required of council members, though Jacob said it was not until the last minute that he decided for sure he would not run.
“I think four years is a long time to volunteer, and it’s really hard work,” said Jacob, 39. “You clearly don’t understand how much work it is until you’re in it, and I just didn’t have another four years to give.”
Well…perhaps this is something that should be changed, because surely this was written before government agencies switched to the 4-day work week and 3-day weekends. Because really, at the end of the day, it gave folks 2 days to throw their hat in the ring as oppose to the intended 5.
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
Last week's "Sonoma West" weekly has a front-page article on the City Council election. It includes quotes from all three candidates, and mentions the Grange candidates' forum that we will be doing on Wed., Sept. 28. Our plan is to open the doors by at least 6 p.m. and begin the program by 6:30. We will also keep the hall open after the program ends, thus allowing people to have conversations with the candidates and among themselves about this important election.
Yesterday at the Farm Market a friend mentioned to me that when we organized the 5th District Supervisors candidates forum at the much larger Sebastopol Center for the Arts, he got there too late to get in, even for the standing room only section. So if it is important for you to attend, please consider arriving as early as you can.
We will soon have a banner up on Wacco with a link updating information about the forum.
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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
Here's that article.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
https://i.imgur.com/yv1Iu.png
Three candidates vie for city council seats
https://www.sonomawest.com/sonoma_we...a610348ce.html
Posted: Wednesday, August 24, 2016
by Amie Windsor Sonoma West Staff Writer [email protected]
Robert Jacob, John Eder leave two open seats
The nomination period for the Sebastopol City Council race, in which two seats are up for grabs during the November election, closed Wednesday, Aug. 17 with three candidates successfully submitting papers.
Michael Anthony Carnacchi, a local boot maker, Jonathan Greenberg, a blogger and founder of Sonoma Independent and Neysa Hinton, a born-and-raised Sebastopolian who helped launch the Sebastopol Farmers Market each bring unique, fresh ideas to the city council race.
Carnacchi, owner of the Apple Cobbler for 23 years, threw his name into the hat upon the encouragement of “many people within the city,” he said.
“A lot of people have been encouraging me to run,” Carnacchi said. “That’s the way it should be. If you want to run for office if should be because people want you to run. If you think back to the days of Benjamin Franklin and the early founders — they weren’t in it because they wanted to run. They did it for the people.”
Hinton, whose career includes 20 years in radio before switching over to running the Bello Gardens Assisted Living facility in Marin County, is running for the people, as well.
“I’m not running because I have or see a particular issue,” Hinton said. “I want to represent the community as a community voice.”
Greenberg, whose known for his blogging position at the Huffington Post along with his work through Sonoma Independent, an online magazine of independent analysis and information, is running to empower the city council to be more transparent about their decision making and budget processes.
“I think we have a very capable city council and there are no intellectual weak links,” Greenberg said. “I think we will bring some fresh perspective.”
He believes the people should be able to be more involved with the city’s budgeting process. Greenberg wants to make the democratic process easy for people to participate in by offering more than an email address or opportunity to speak up during city council meetings.
“We have the capacity to poll people, take input and provide a level of transparency like never before,” Greenberg said. “I believe the people of Peacetown can find solutions to improve the community for the greater good.”
He calls himself a “Bernie evolutionary candidate,” campaigning on the ability to find out what the people want.
“We need to change the way we do government,” Greenberg said.
Part of that change within the Sebastopol government would be to support Sonoma West Medical Center through sewer and water subsidies. He believes crucial services and amenities, like the library, sidewalks, roads and bike lanes, should be funded at a higher priority than hiring consultants.
He also wants to bring attainable housing to Sebastopol, enabling the middle class to purchase $200,000 “modest, small homes” or rent homes within the city for less than $1,000 a month.
“I think attainable housing is the biggest single crisis,” Greenberg said.
Hinton also wants to bolster the city’s services, especially composting and recycling.
“We should demand more than the average,” Hinton said. “We don’t have to do a big study. We just need to say we want a different contract with more recycling.”
She hopes to get the city’s constituents more involved with the process as well.
“Our citizens aren’t informed,” Hinton said. As a city council member, she would work to better inform the city residents on current issues, such as the possibly up-and-coming Sebastopol Hotel.
“That will likely be a big issue after the election,” Hinton said.
To involve the community, Hinton will offer an open-door policy for all citizens.
“I will always accept invites to talk to groups and individuals,” Hinton said. “I want people to feel comfortable. I want to create an environment that brings the people in the community together.”
She acknowledges that city council meetings can be tough.
“We don’t always get what we want,” she said. “But in tough situations, I can take a step back and work to make the right decision for the people.”
Above all, she thinks that her role is to foster community politics where collaboration can occur without impediment.
“I have endorsements from Noreen Evans and from Herman Hernandez,” campaign manager of Lynda Hopkins’ campaign. “I want to bring together all sides.”
Representing the people is Carnacchi’s platform, as well.
“A city council member should represent the citizenry of Sebastopol first and foremost in a fair and unbiased way,” Carnacchi said.
He acknowledges the upcoming council will need to be “extremely creative for bringing in new sources of revenue,” as the budget is forecasted to fall with deficit in the next few years.
He believes bringing businesses into Sebastopol that are new and provide essentials — such as athletic shoes and men’s socks and underwear — would be a positive contribution to the city’s retail options and tax revenue. As director of the Downtown Business Association, Carnacchi said he is in tune with the business pulse of the city. He hopes to bring his experience and understand of the issues within the business community into his role as city council member.
Carnacchi said he would like to see the Barlow and the downtown businesses unite and he believes the city would benefit from small production companies, such as a boot making facility that could employ around 18 individuals. Another revenue and community-binding opportunity would be the creation of a cement, Roman-style amphitheater on Morris Street, combined with a satellite school for one of the university colleges or Sonoma State University.
“We need to have businesses that attract people to Sebastopol,” Carnacchi said. “The way I see it happening, Sebastopol would become more of a destination point, rather than a stop along the way.”
The public will have a chance to meet the candidates during a forum on Wednesday, Sept. 28 held at the Sebastopol Grange. The event will be being at 6:30 p.m. Admission is by donation and all are welcome.
I understand that former Mayor Craig Litwin is likely to file as a write-in candidate. The way that apparently works is that as of Sept. 14 or so write-in candidates need to file their intention & qualify. They do not appear on the ballot; voters have to know their name and write it in. If you have further information on this, or can verify it, please let us know. Someone else indicated that there might also be another write-in candidate, but I do not know who that person might be. Stay tuned to this thread. Perhaps there will be an article in this week's Sonoma West updating us.
I am delighted to hear this. I served with Craig on the City Council from 2000 to 2008 and know first-hand what a great job he did. He is certainly the most qualified candidate by far.
You should start a write-in too Mr. Robinson. Sebastopol needs leaders like you!
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Posted in reply to the post by Larry Robinson:
After due consideration, the Grange organizers of the Sept. 28, Wed., Sebastopol City Council candidates' forum have made a decision. If Craig Litwin successfully applies to the City to be a write-in candidate on September 12 or soon after, he will be invited as a qualified candidate to our forum. Please join us at the Grange Hall on Hiway 12.
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Posted in reply to the post by Dick:
I did introductory interviews in the beginning of the month with each of the candidates for Sebastopol City Council. Starting with Michael Carnacchi, the bootmaker. I'll be posting interview with the other candidates over the next few days.
Next up is Jonathan Greenberg, including his reflection on how this year's race is different from when he ran 2 years ago:
After viewing my interview video, I came to the realization that I furl my brow excessively. Therefore, I have been practicing relaxing my furl and it has noticeably relaxed me. From that perspective, the video is a complete success.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
Nevertheless, I think that it's clear that I have a great vision for Sebastopol and that sometimes through my grandiose and passionate ideas, I drift off the planet. Thankfully, I have plenty of neighbors, friends, and city staff who will happily get out their mallet and knock me back down.
During my eight year battle against the biggest of banks, I gained an excellent understanding of law. In a court of law, everything is based on merit and if an opponent makes a meritorious point whereby I cannot override that point with one that is more meritorious, I lose that argument. I have adopted this principle in my everyday life and listen for merit in everyone's language and when I have been out-merited, I willfully concede and adapt.
"When there is no vision the people perish" Franklin D Roosevelt [1933 Inaugural Speech]
Sebastopol City Council Candidates Forum, Wed., Sept. 28, 6:30pm,
Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Rd (Hwy 12)
Contact: Shepherd Bliss, 707-829-8185, [email protected], Grange # 306
The Sebastopol Grange will sponsor a non-partisan Sebastopol City Council Candidates Forum Wed., Sept. 28, starting at 6:30 at its Hall at 6000 Sebastopol Road (Highway 12.) Doors open at 6 p.m. and people are invited to stay after to extend the conversation. What happens around the edges can sometimes be as important as what happens up front.
The three candidates who have qualified to be on the ballot have agreed to respond to questions — Michael Anthony Carnacchi, Jonathan Greenberg and Neysa Hinton. Craig Litwin, an official write-in candidate, also plans to attend. Co-moderators will be attorney and former Grange president Lawrence Jaffe and nurse and former Grange chaplain Hrieth Pezzi.
Admission is by donation. All are welcome. Candidates’ statements follow. Further information. https://sebastopolgrange.org/.
Craig Litwin--I'm running as a write-in candidate and proud to announce an endorsement from Senator Mike McGuire, as well as numerous local residents and community leaders. I support affordable housing, walkability/bikeability, balanced budgets, parks expansion, green-building and energy, and local business, as I did while serving twice as mayor and Sebastopol Councilmember, from 2000*–2008. I look forward to serving my community. To vote for me you would need to write-in my full name on your ballot and fill-in the adjacent box. More at https://craiglitwin4council.com/
Jonathan Greenberg--Bernie Sanders’ historic race inspired me to run for City Council a second time to help our local government become more responsive to the public interest. If elected, I will work as an experienced budgetary watchdog to ensure that tax dollars are used to provide exemplary public services. My objectives include completing the dangerous sidewalk break on Bodega near Pleasant Hill, a “participatory budgeting” citizen polling system for discretionary spending, zero emission electric vehicles for city parks, and supporting our vital library and hospital. More at GreenbergForCouncil.com.
Michael Carnacchi--Now in my 23rd year on Main Street, I am a cobbler, boot-maker, and director of the Sebastopol Downtown Association, where I have been active since 1994. The top reason why I am running for Sebastopol City Council is to mitigate traffic and parking concerns. I am recognized as a citizens’ advocate who stands up for economic and social justice. If elected, I will carefully listen to diverse viewpoints with an open mind, with integrity, and with the greater good of our community always in my heart.
Neysa Hinton--Sebastopol City Council is an important job since it guides what the City of Sebastopol is today and what it will become in the future. I want to keep Sebastopol alive and thriving while we retain our small town charm and character. I am confident in the contributions I can bring to the council. My top priorities are protecting the environment while investing in our infrastructure, and creating affordable housing. I like to work collaboratively and draw from a wide variety of ideas.
Next up of my interviews with the Sebastopol City Council Candidates is Neysa Hinton. Watch to learn about her background, including how she became the President on the Sebastopol Downtown Association without having a business in town and what her priorities are for Sebastopol:
I’m concerned about Jonathan Greenberg's candidacy for Sebastopol’s City Council.
On his website Mr. Greenberg asserts that he is Sebastopol's most effective advocate for re-opening Palm Drive Hospital, restoring library hours, budgeting bike trails and walking the walk of a green Sebastopol. But how effective was/is he really?
Re Palm Drive Hospital, Mr. Greenberg did urge the City Council to prevent its closure. But the hospital was (and still is) governed by the Palm Drive Health Care Special District—a government entity of the State of California. Sebastopol’s City Council had and has no direct authority, and even if it did, nobody could have repaired effects of the Affordable Care Act’s unanticipatedly low Medicare repayments. So what did Mr. Greenberg actually do?
I heard him deliver abrasive statements and attacks on the previous Hospital District Board at City Council meetings. That did little to change the course of events, other than to intensify the bitterness of discourse.
Were Mr. Greenberg to be elected, his hands would similarly be tied, given that the Local Area Formation Commission has voted (unanimously) to let Russian River area property owners leave the hospital district. The City Council can take a position, express its hopes and preferences, but it has no direct authority over the District.
Re library hours, Mr. Greenberg’s website claim that he was “the founder of the Restore Library Hours Campaign, which succeeded in bringing Measure M – sales tax to save County libraries – to the November ballot.” raises some questions:
Firstly, Measure M on the 2016 ballot proposes a ban against GMOs; the 1/8-cent tax to better fund Libraries is Measure Y. If, in fact, a founder of the effort, did Mr. Greenberg actually see the effort through to getting it on the ballot? If so, why does he call it Measure M?
Secondly, perhaps Mr. Greenberg was a leader in the effort but I have only heard him berate the City Council and the Library Commission over the issue. It’s clear that many organizations—in fact the whole Library Commission, including the City of Sebastopol—had to have been involved with creating the initiative. I hope that everyone who reads this will vote for Measure Y.
Thirdly, at Mr. Greenberg’s candidate interview with one community group, he stated that he did not believe Measure Y can pass, and accused Sebastopol’s City Council of having refused to contribute to a proposed funding agreement among the Library Commission members (County Board of Supervisors and City Councils), aimed at extending library hours. Having collected Sebastopol’s City Council Minutes since 2004, and acquired DVDs of the meeting recordings since 2013, I’ve not found a record of any such proposal.
At this same candidate interview, Mr. Greenberg claimed to have led the effort to prevent the CVS project. I was a member of the “Small Town Sebastopol” Committee that did organize the CVS opposition and brought a lawsuit against it. Mr. Greenberg was not part of that group.
Re City bike trails, the project is moving slowly, due to the number of authorities involved, including property owners for some routes and funding issues. Gravenstein Highway (116) bike lanes are currently being created, with the collaboration of CalTrans (not an easy agency to access or work with). The dreamed-of bike trail from Joe Rodota Trail to Water Trough Road is a much bigger project: funding appears to be the main obstacle. Can Mr. Greenberg address that obstacle, or is his whole approach just to make abrasive statements?
Finally, Sebastopol’s City Council has been working collaboratively for 6 years, and many have forgotten how little got done when it had a less collaborative membership. CVS got approved during the most recent divisive period. I worry that electing candidates such as Mr. Greenberg would return the Council to that mode.
In evaluating the weight to accord this post, it may be relevant to note that the poster joined WACCO the same day as the posting.
Barry, a suggestion: add a "member since..." item to what appears to the left of each post.
Patrick Brinton
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Posted in reply to the post by jenielson:
After viewing Neysa Hinton's video interview, I will make a few comments.
First, I know that nervousness made some of my points confusing and I commend you for enduring.
Second, your claim to have been president of the Sebastopol Downtown Association (SDA) without actually owning a business in town is not lawful under the SDA By-Laws. The Sebastopol Downtown Association is a special assessment district (formed in 1976) in which the business and property owners in the downtown core, voted to assess (or tax) themselves with those monies collected by the city through their annual business license fee. This money was then allocated to improving the downtown core. Since you were not a business or property owner and did not pay the special tax, you were ineligible to lawfully hold office within the district and while you may indeed have been voted in as president, it was by members who were unaware that they were violating the SDA By-Laws.
Third, I regularly attend the Sebastopol Farmers' Market and the current managing directors (some of whom have been present since 1990), have told me that they do not remember you being a part of the effort. My suggestion is for you to show up on Sunday and introduce yourself to the current management to remind them of your role in establishing the market.
Fourth and finally, your claim to have worked on the Sebastopol Downtown Plan completed in 1990 may be true. However, your name is not listed as being a part of the Downtown Study Task Force or one of the Technical Consultants, and I am not sure of how much influence your advertising experience could have had on said plan.
It is difficult to follow the political path that is the one less traveled. If I have stepped onto the standard political path, please kick me back in the right direction.
"Every walking animal is driven to its purpose with a whack." Heraclitus c. 500 BC
There are only 3 candidates plus a write-in candidate who can fill two slots. Since you don't think Mr. Greenberg is qualified to be elected, who are the two that you do support?
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Posted in reply to the post by jenielson:
Congratulations to Neysa Hinton on her endorsement by the Sonoma County Democratic Party! They have only endorsed 1 candidate for the 2 seats that are open.
“Neysa Hinton brings a welcome, much-needed, fresh approach to issues facing Sebastopol residents.
The town has moved beyond many of the controversies that divided residents over the last decade and Neysa’s candidacy for city council reflects a strong desire to move forward.
She is a rare city council candidate who grew up in town, raised her children in local public schools and still lives in the heart of the community.
The Sonoma County Democratic Party feels her background in helping organize the farmer’s market and the Learn to Swim program, as well as her managerial experience in the private sector, make her an excellent city council candidate.”
—Bleys W. Rose
Chair, Sonoma County Democratic Party
It's a hard question to answer. I guess that I would go for a known person, writing in Craig Litwin, but then following his actions closely. I don't know much about Neysa Hinton, so would want to know more, but I could not vote for the other two.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by rekarp:
And finally, we have the surprise write-in candidate and former mayor, Craig Litwin. I talked with him on Sept 1st, the day after he declared his intention to launch a write-in campaign. We cover lots of things, including why he didn't file to be on ballot:
If you watched the presidential debate last night, you may be tired of such politics. However, please consider joining your Sonoma County neighbors at this Wednesday's Sebastopol City Council Candidates Forum, to which all 4 candidates plan to attend. We expect a more cordial exchange at this forum than at last night's debate. It will happen at the Sebastopol Grange on Highway 12. It is scheduled to start at 6:30 and people can arrive early to meet candidates and converse with them and others. All are welcome.
i don't think ANYONE can afford to be "tired of presidential politics." the supreme court appointments (remember Gore vs Bush, & more recently Citizen's United). we have made some important gains in health care which need to be pushed further. HRC is the only candidate who has a plan to address mental health.
tired, is part of low voter turnout. the length of the process is problematic. i hope everyone can find motivation to influence those who are weary. not aware of anyone that hasn't been dramatically affected by those rulings, and the two policy decisions.
:waccosun::heart::waccosun:
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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/wacco...2_12-22-14.png
Michael Carnacchi tries to bribe Jonathan Greenberg for his support!! *
OK, now that I got your attention, here's the video from the October 5th City Council Forum at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts sponsored the Sebastopol Chamber of Commerce.
I've broken the videos into segments by topic and put them all in a playlist , so you can watch (and post/share) videos by topic.
The topics covered are:
Click here or the image above to goto the playlist on Youtube.
- Opening Statements
- Leadership
- Quality of Life & Local Economy
- Economic Development
- Growth Management Ordinance
- Working with City Employees
- AirBnB
- Hotel Proposal
- Apple Blossom Parade Support
- Traffic
- Assisted Living
- Library Hours
- Hospital and Side Street Traffic
*This is true! Bonus points to anybody who posts the video number and time where this is documented :waccosun:
I appreciate the many, many videos that Barry has done for these various candidate forums. This takes lots of time and skill to take the videos and then organize them in such a helpful way. These tasks are an important contribution to the democratic process.
There's a right-leaning group called "Sebastopol Citizens" that was formed to oppose the proposed leaf blower ban in 2011. SInce then their leader, John Necker, has regularly attended City Council meetings and has published informative, biased, and sometimes entertaining notes about the meetings.
Recently they sent out a questionnaire to the candidates for city council on 10 questions. Neysa Hinton, Michael Carnacchi and Craig Litwin responded. Jonathan Greenberg did not.
The questions are below. Click here to goto the Sebastopol Citizens page with the answers. Click on the question there to see the answers.
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/wacco...2_13-24-58.png
1. What is your assessment of the economic vitality of Sebastopol?
2. What would you do to improve the affordability of Sebastopol for young families?
3. How do we get a business in the current CVS retail space that serves the community?
4. What is your analysis regarding the LED public lighting replacement strategy?
5. Do you believe there is enough reputable scientific evidence to support the Council's banning of smart meters because of health concerns? Please explain.
6. Name three things you would do to further the health, safety & well-being of our senior community? How would you pay for these?
7. As a member of the City Council, how would you gather and represent the divergent views of the community, especially when they conflict with your own?
8. Do you believe Council members should be subjected to term limits? Why or why not?
9. Generally speaking, so you believe marijuana is a danger to teen users? How do you know what percentage of students in Sebastopol are regular users?
10. What are the pros and cons of the proposed hotel project on the town square? Are you pro or con?
Only in Sebastopol would this collection of individuals be considered "right leaning."
Necker's coverage of theater before the City Council is must-read stuff if you want to know what's happening in this town.
True dat! However, we are in Sebastopol :waccosun:Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by b.w. rose:
https://www.slate.com/content/dam/sl...l-original.gif
Also true.Quote:
Necker's coverage of theater before the City Council is must-read stuff if you want to know what's happening in this town.
Hopefully, everyone who attended this forum knows that my offer of money to Jonathan was only for comedy in response to the nice things that he said about me. Evidently, the Federal Election Commission does not find this funny. Shortly after Barry's post, FEC officials came knocking at my door. In fact, I am presently writing this post from a shared computer at the Sonoma County Jail. Thanks a lot Barry.
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
Its okay... I found the spot in the video - section 11 around 3min - I showed it to the FEC officials and they've released Michael ~*~
:wink:
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Posted in reply to the post by Michael Anthony:
Who says running for City council can't be fun? Check out this video segment starting at 3:00; by 3:30 I am laughing so hard that I can't keep talking. That's rare for me :)
This thread on the Sebastopol City Council has been all too quiet! Who are you supporting and why? Do you have any questions for the candidates?
I am supporting Craig Litwin, but I am undecided on the second seat. I'll write more about that soon.
In the meantime, the peedee just published an editorial with their recommendation. Any comments?
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PD Editorial: Neysa Hinton and Michael Anthony Carnacchi for Sebastopol City Council
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/opinio...ysa-hinton-and
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD | October 19, 2016, 12:11AM
Four years ago, the focus of the Sebastopol City Council race was a controversial plan to build a CVS Pharmacy and Chase Bank branch at the vacant Pellini Chevrolet site, a project that divided the community and pushed it into uncharted territory for campaign spending. Robert Jacob and John Eder, both CVS opponents, were the top vote-getters in a race that saw one incumbent, Kathleen Shaffer, unseated. Overall, Eder spent more than $12,000, which was second to Jacob, the founder and executive director of two Peace and Medicine marijuana dispensaries, who raised more than $35,000, more than all of the other candidates combined and more than any candidate in the city’s history.
This year, much has changed. Neither Jacob nor Eder is running for a second term, and the candidates this time seem to be in a competition to see who can raise and spend the least amount of money. Three candidates have filed to fill the two empty seats on the council and one other is running as a write-in candidate. Among these four, we recommend the election of two newcomers, Neysa Hinton and Michael Anthony Carnacchi, to the City Council.
Mother of an adult daughter and a son who is an Analy High School senior, Hinton, 52, is new to city politics but no stranger to Sebastopol. The former media sales representative, who once worked for The Press Democrat, is now executive director of a senior care facility in Marin County. An active member of Rotary for 21 years, Hinton has many hours of community service to her credit including helping launch the Sebastopol Farmers Market and serving as its first chairwoman. She defends the community’s progressive credentials on issues such as protecting the environment and promoting green energy and would like to see the city be more creative in fostering affordable housing. Given her background in money management, she also takes pride in being a “fiscal conservative” who would like to see the city build up its reserves.
Carnacchi, 54, the owner of Apple Cobbler downtown and an artisan bootmaker, is a director of the Sebastopol Downtown Association and a 23-year resident of the community. He has been actively involved in attending city meetings including the update of the general plan and is a proponent of continuing to look at a possible bypass route to provide Highway 116 traffic relief downtown. Although new to politics, Carnacchi has shown himself to be a diligent student of the community’s planning issues.
The third official candidate is Jonathan Greenberg, 58, a journalist and owner of a public interest communications firm, who moved from New York seven years ago and quickly made an impact pushing for a ban on leaf-blowers and advocating for expanded funding and hours for country libraries. This is his second attempt at the City Council having run unsuccessfully two years ago. He is perhaps best known for his advocacy for Sonoma West Medical Center, which he believes deserves stronger support from the Sebastopol City Council. As we said two years ago, given his intense interest in keeping open the hospital, and its emergency room in particular, Greenberg would be a better candidate for the Palm Drive Health Care District given that the City Council has no direct role in ensuring the hospital’s stability. Furthermore it’s unclear how much public support there would be for the city offering financial assistance at this point, given the institution’s uncertain future.
The fourth candidate is Craig Litwin, 40, a professional political consultant who served on the City Council from 2000 to 2008. Litwin, a native of Sebastopol, is an experienced and attractive choice. But his explanation for why he did not file on time for this election rings hollow. He says he was on the verge of buying a house outside of the city at the time, but the deal fell through, and he and his family have decided to stay. If that’s the case, why doesn’t he run as an official candidate in two years rather than wage what appears to be an urgent race as a write-in? We fear his motivation is more linked to preventing the election of Greenberg, whom he campaigned against two years ago. Either way, our support goes to neither of these two. The Press Democrat recommends Neysa Hinton and Michael Anthony Carnacchi for Sebastopol City Council.
Jonathan Greenberg for Sebastopol City Council here, wanting to express what I mean, and do not mean, by our City Council needing to take a more active role in supporting our opened hospital. And, hopefully, to hear some community feedback on what others think of this?
To start with, I am not saying that Sebastopol ought to expend General Funds to assist the hospital.
What I am advocating for is a Council that provides active local political support to the hospital to stand with it in the challenging struggle to attract the sort of County, State, and Federal programs and funding that might be required to help it thrive. This has NOT happened at all during these past two years, and it is needed.
As someone who has worked with various government agencies for decades, it seems to me that it is of vital importance that local government stands firmly and clearly in support of requests to larger governmental agencies for help.
In a world of institutionalized health care that stacks the decks against the sort of humane, personal care that a small community hospital provides, Sonoma West Medical Center will need local governmental support (not funding) to thrive and perhaps survive. :waccosun:
My position is different than the other candidates for Council in that I believe that our local elected representatives have a RESPONSIBILITY to our families and our neighbors, as well as our police and emergency services agencies, to take an ACTIVE role in seeing that an emergency room that has saved lives in our community for more than 70 years stays open. We pay the same hospital tax whether the hospital remains open or closed. I find it unfathomable why anyone would support Palm Drive Health District candidate Jim Horn's plan to shut down our reopened hospital and sell the building.
That is why I am the only candidate to actively support and campaign for Rob Cary and Gail Thomas for the Palm Drive Board to keep our hospital open. And why I am the only candidate for Sebastopol City Council to have received endorsements from the "Doc and the Cop" (Board members Richard Powers and Dennis Colthurst), as well as SWMC Medical Director dr. Jim Gude.
I also support providing free city water and sewage water to the hospital, relieving it of about $50,000 a year in costs. My rationale is that this will not cost our city extra money; there is no incremental cost to our water or sewage system, which operates under Council control with a sizable surplus and its own budget (independent of the general fund), and which has seen a decrease in usage as rates have risen sharply during the past year. If the hospital closes, as all too many local politicians and Jim Horn would like to see it do, then there would be no water revenue coming in anyway. Why not help out, at no cost to taxpayers, until it is on more solid financial footing?
To me, this is a simple solution to assist in a small way without impacting our general fund.
Should our City Council support efforts for SWMC to get federal or state or county programs or funding (as I hope that we would do if I am elected), we can then say that our City, in our small way, is pitching in, and we would like you, the much larger County/State/Federal agency, to pitch in too.
Being "quiet" has merit to it. In my opinion, the presidential and 5th District politicking has been way too loud, so I have had to tune it out, in search of some silence to think, feel, and decide how to vote responsibly, as we seek to preserve our democracy.
We live in dangerous times, both here in the U.S. and in West County. The heat is up and many people, even good people, seem to have lost their cool and civility, preferring instead to threaten others.
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
from Sonoma West Times and News, 10/20:
Stellar candidate
EDITOR: Sebastopol City Council candidate, Jonathan Greenberg, is a stellar candidate with a solid track record of commitment, compassion and volunteerism on local and national levels. He has consistently risen to provide effective and innovative leadership for the greater public good, advancing solutions for public parks, climate change, library hours, clean air and soil, noise reduction, social justice, affordable housing and an open hospital. He has been our city’s single most effective leader in two pivotal grassroots efforts, keeping the life-saving local hospital open and restoring traditional library hours. There is no issue more important than keeping our life-saving emergency room open for local families, seniors, and neighbors. Jonathan is the only candidate that has the endorsement of Palm Drive Board members Powers and Colthurst (the “Doc” and the “Cop”) and Dr. Jim Gude. He is the only candidate willing to create a council subcommittee to assist the hospital in finding government support for funding and program development. He believes in “walking the talk” of a green Sebastopol by adding zero emission electric trucks for our city parks. If elected, Jonathan will provide much-needed transparency, collaboration, and innovative leadership that is truly responsive to the key needs of our community.
Andrea Culbertson
Sebastopol
I heard Jonathan Greenberg's presentation (and also Neysa Hinton's) as a guest of the Kiwanis Club yesterday at noon. I was amazed by Greenberg's range and length of experience and his commitment to our hospital, as well as to resolving other local issues. Hinton, on the other hand, has a real lack of experience and when asked about supporting our hospital answered that using part of it as an assisted living residence is her approach. Her current job, btw, is managing an assisted living residence in Marin County.
Now that I've heard two presentations and been able to ask direct question of all three candidates, including Litwin as a write-in, I have no reservations at all about voting for Michael Anthony Carnacchi (who is both prepared and well informed) and Jonathan Greenberg. I can see them working well together, and honoring the Sebastopol we love.
:2cents: There's much to be admired about each candidate; service given to this community; social justice activists, local natives; business owners, and they each would bring a unique perspective and contribution to the sitting city council.
As eloquently stated by Dusty I am also in favor of Jonathan Greenberg and Michael Carnacchi for filling John and Robert's seats. They both have admirable tenacity and engagement about issues they are passionate about. They both provide a clear candidate statement of what each wants to attend to while seated on the council.
I also like what Neysa Hinton has been sharing and feel she would make a great addition to the council the next time a seat opens; for her to build on her experience and presence around city politics in the meantime. I liked her suggestion of assisted living being introduced to the hospital until I spoke with a Sonoma West Medical Foundation Board Member and learned the hospital is actually quite full; so much so that the offices for the Foundation within the hospital are having to find new locations off-site to free up much needed space.
Lastly I feel Jonathan and Michael have each been actively preparing themselves for this opportunity to serve Sebastopol for the past two years; Jonathan's last run for council and Michael's response to the council's need to fill Michael Kyes's seat. Since than they have remained committed to being a visible voice for Sebastopol's growth and health as a community. :thumbsup:
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Posted in reply to the post by Dustyg:
Sorry, I can't agree about Mr. Greenberg being a stellar candidate for a collaborative City Council. I'm not a Sebastopol voter, but I interviewed him for Sonoma County Conservation Action, and came away with deep concerns.
My concerns are centered on his hectoring manner his statements at City Council meetings, which I have witnessed; issues that he has berated the Council about, which were beyond their purview, and claims I have heard him make as a candidate that I knew were untrue. I don't see him as collaborative or stable.
On his website Mr. Greenberg asserts that he is Sebastopol's most effective advocate for re-opening Palm Drive Hospital, restoring library hours, budgeting bike trails and walking the walk of a green Sebastopol. But how effective was/is he really?
Re Palm Drive Hospital, Mr. Greenberg did urge the City Council to somehow prevent its closure. But the hospital was (and still is) governed by the Palm Drive Health Care Special District—a government entity of the State of California. Sebastopol’s City Council had and has no direct authority, and even if it did, nobody could have repaired the unanticipated effects of the Affordable Care Act’s that resulted in lowered Medicare repayments.
What did Mr. Greenberg actually do? I heard him deliver abrasive statements and attacks on the previous Hospital District Board at City Council meetings, which did little to change the course of events—other than to intensify the bitterness of discourse. Were Mr. Greenberg to be elected, his hands would similarly be tied, given that the Local Area Formation Commission has voted (unanimously) to let Russian River area property owners leave the hospital district. The City Council can take a position, express its hope and preferences, but it has no direct authority over the District.
Re library hours, what has been his effect, other than verbally lashing the City Council and the Library Committee about closures?
At Mr. Greenberg’s candidate interview with SCCA and the Sierra Club, he stated that he did not believe Measure Y can pass, and accused Sebastopol’s City Council of having refused to contribute to proposed funding agreement among the Library Commission members (County Board of Supervisors and City Councils), aimed at extending library hours. Having collected Sebastopol’s City Council Minutes since 2004, and acquired DVDs of the meeting recordings since 2013, I’ve found no such a proposal. What, I had to wonder, was he talking about?
He also claimed the the City has been doing nothing to create or improve bikeways, which is also not correct--although the process has been very slow because limited by funding.
At this same candidate interview, Mr. Greenberg claimed to have led the effort to prevent the CVS project. As it happens, I was a member of the “Small Town Sebastopol” Committee that did organize the CVS opposition and brought a lawsuit against it. Mr. Greenberg was not a part of that group, and the leaders of the group categorically deny the claim he made in the SCCA-Sierra Club interview.
His opposition to GMOs is appreciated, but again it's not something that a City Council decides.
I agree with our wise geologist Jane. I appreciate Jonathan for the good work that he does, outside of being an elected official, as I have told him. It is my opinion that once elected as a council member, one has to represent more than just himself and those who voted for her or him. This person must represent the entire city. From my work with Jonathan, I do not think that he would be willing to do that. It is not enough to criticize. One must also build allies among those with whom he or she disagrees.
I agree with Sonoma County Conservation Action in their "deep concerns" about Jonathan to govern with fairness to all. This is not Big City New York politics. We live in small town Sebastopol and West County. "Hectoring" is not enough. We are all neighbors here. We know each other and must learn to live together, rather than attack each other, even given our differences of opinion.
A vote for my friend Jonathan is a vote for chaos. If that is what you want, vote for him, and suffer the consequences. "Abrasive statements" may be appealing, but they could wreck the work of the Council.
Vote for Measures J, M, and Y, at least, but not for Jonathan, in my opinion.
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Posted in reply to the post by jenielson:
:waccosun: Editorial ~ Craig Litwin for Sebastopol City Council :waccosun:I support write-in candidate,Craig Litwin for City Council (https://craiglitwin4council.com/). I am undecided about which of the other candidates to support.
I support Craig because he clearly has the most experience for the job, after serving 8 year on the council (2000-2008). I was quite happy with his leadership during that time. As his website states, he supported "marriage equality, mandatory green building, medical-cannabis regulations, affordable housing, safely walkable/bikeable streets, restoring native habitats like the Laguna, and local nonprofits and businesses."
This time his priorities are similar: affordable housing, "walkability and bikeability", balanced budgets, park expansion, and supporting local business. He has a particularly deep grasp of the economics and policy options around affordable housing which should be very helpful.
Not only are his values solidly progressive, he has the policy and government chops to make it happen. I urge you to to write in his name "and fill in the box" to return him to our council!
Each of the other candidates has something to offer:
Michael Carnacchi is a strong supporter of a bypass around Sebastopol. He also has offered the most innovative idea of the campaign, a 10 cent tax on disposable coffee cups which could raise a surprising amount of money while reducing waste. He is an unconventional candidate, running an unconventional campaign including not producing any signs, no website and not touting endorsements. He as has been closing following city government since he applied to be appointed to Michael Keyes seat after he passed. He's also a goofball, which may council meetings a bit more tolerable.
Jonathan Greenberg ( GreenbergForCouncil.com) is a strong supporter of Palm Drive hospital and proposes the city offer support in the form of free water and sewage service. This amounts to $50,000 subsidy which may or may not make a difference. While it doesn't "cost" the city anything, it does reduce city revenue by $50,000. But has he points out, if the hospital goes under, that revenue would be lost anyhow.
Jonathan is a passionate and eloquent advocate of many other issues as well including expanding Library hours. While this is great cause, I believe his proposal is short sighted as it may lead to a decrease in county funding of the library.
Jonathan acknowledges he can be "abrasive" which led to a hit piece being produced by Craig Litwin and supported by many community leaders to attack his campaign for council 2 year ago. While I didn't support is his campaign then, I was sorry to see the hit piece come out, because it was both mean spirited and most probably unnecessary since it was doubtful he would displace one of the incumbents running for re-election. Craig did earn a black mark in my book for that but he has campaigned in an honorable manner this time. Jonathan, however, still bristles about that mailer which gives me some concerns about how he would get along with Craig on the council should they both win, or for that matter Una, Sarah and Patrick who he campaigned against.
Neysa Hinton (https://www.electneysa.com/) is a newcomer to the city government scene, but she has been a quick and diligent study. She does have management experience which should be helpful. I have found all her positions and comments quite reasonable, though nothing has really stood out for me. I would say Neysa is the safest choice of the 3 candidates listed on the ballot.
To learn more, scan the many posts, articles and videos elsewhere on this thread.
Before I respond to Jane Nielson's mysterious vendetta against me, the only person in this race who is an active environmental activist, I would like to take some time to respond to Shepherd's reference that he is my "friend," and provide some context to the unfriendly folks who are stepping forward to publicly assail my character.
Shepherd and I worked together six years ago to lead the campaign to reduce leaf blower noise and provide cleaner air in our parks, city, and senior facilities. We did this, by the way, with no assistance from Sonoma County Conservation Action, or the Sierra Club, or Jane Nielsen. Both these organizations in fact endorsed the leading advocate FOR unregulated leaf blowers, Patrick Slayter, who was also the deciding vote to approve the CVS project, when I ran against him during the last election, despite these anti-environmental credentials.
The leaf blower effort resulted not in a ban, but a significant change in the city, and what's been perhaps a 90% reduction in the use and noise of leaf blowers. That's because our effort resulted in the Council voting to alter the decibel level to keep the blowers quieter, as well as ending the practice of weekly leaf blowing in our city parks, where the noise and air pollution impacted our children and seniors and nature lovers.
During that challenging campaign, Shepherd, who initiated the effort by writing a few columns, insisted that I do all the political work in terms of contacting people for meetings, as well as writing and producing and programming this entire website, researching and citing all the facts that are on it, getting 80% of the names on our petition, and eventually writing the compromise solution that out group, the Sebastopol Peaceful Air Effort, offered. Shepherd said that because of his PTSD, and his difficulty hearing, be could not call even one person on the phone to get to a meeting, or do any part of the research, so that I would need to handle all of the grunt work that such an all- volunteer campaign entailed.
Two years ago, when I was running for City Council and so-called progressives were attacking me in the media and starting a negative PAC, run by Craig Litwin, to send a smear mailer about me around the city, I was shocked to see Shepherd write posts and letters denouncing me (as he does here on Wacco today) as someone unworthy of public office, and suggesting that I took credit for work other people did, including the work that he, Shepherd, did on the leaf blower campaign.
I take no issue with Shepherd's needing to collaborate as he is capable--we all offer what we can and I have no judgment of this. But given that he asked me to take the burden of most of the actual work off his shoulder, and that I did that, and then he publicly discredited my role in it as part of his list of reasons to oppose my election, demonstrates the type of "friend" that Shepherd Bliss has been to me.
With "friends" like Shepherd Bliss, you don't need enemies.
Now I read Shepherd's comment below, which suggests that my seven years of volunteer activism for the the public interest in our community as it relates to leaf blowers, restoring library hours, keeping our hospital open, purchasing electric vehicles for our city fleet, creating bike trails, challenging the CVS traffic report, fighting GMO's, creating the non-profit award winning public interest media site, The Sonoma Independent, co-founding the Sonoma County Attainable Housing Coalition and developing a solution that helps address the housing crisis, amount to, in his term, "hectoring."
And that because I have done nothing but "hector" the local government, a vote for me would be, in his astonishing words, "a vote for chaos."
How on earth are the important public interest causes that I work to advance going to cause "chaos?" How could advancing these important causes in our city, as Shepherd suggests, "wreck the work of our city council?"
What does fear-mongering language like "cause chaos" and "wreck the work of our city council" have to do with civil political discourse, Professor Bliss?
I am not attacking people, Shepherd, when I advocate for change. I am not, like you just did, saying that anyone will bring chaos, or wreck our city. I am instead advocating for the public interest. What is so disconcerting to you about the transparency that my advocacy for issues the council is not addressing will bring to our community? After all, I will be just one out of five votes there.
During the last election, five out of five of our council members endorsed Jim Horn, who was dedicated, as he is now, to closing the hospital and using the money to pay bankruptcy and provide service other than the hospital that our parcel tax was created to pay for.
This year, council members Glass, Eder and Jacobs again endorse Jim Horn, who still wants to close the hospital down. Sarah Gurney and Patrick Slayter have made no endorsement yet, suggesting that they are indifferent as to whether someone gets elected who wishes to keep the hospital, by far our city's largest employer, open, or sell the building out from under it to shut it down.
Am I outspoken about the hospital issue? Yes I am. Have I criticized the council for it and for endorsing board members who wish to keep it shut, or shut it down again? Yes I did. Do some people receive me as "abrasive" because I talk, during public comments, about issues they would rather not hear discussed, like the unwillingness of the city to walk the talk of a green Sebastopol to buy a single electric vehicle for our city;s parks, despite a unanimous resolution proclaiming their intention to do so? Yes, they do.
Do I, to this day, speak out for the need for our local government to actively support the hospital by standing alongside them in an effort to secure grants and programs from the county, State and Feds, and provide water for free? Yes, I do.
I am proud of the role that I, and dozens of others played in leading the most successful truly grassroots effort I have ever been part of: to overwhelmingly elect the Doc and Cop during the last election, and get an open hospital, despite the opposition of the virtually every politician in our area. And groups like Sebastopol Tomorrow, whose leaders also supported Jim Horn, and whose members, like Jane Nielson, vehemently oppose my candidacy.
It is, I believe, my public interest leadership on this issue, my outspoken writing and comments to bring transparency to the backroom powers that want this hospital closed, led by the influential Nancy Dobbs, Executive director of KRCB, member and wife of the late co-founder of Sebastopol Tomorrow, and the former Palm drive District Board chair (who steamrolled the closing of the hospital, in record time, despite public outcry) and not my purported character defects, that have caused the attacks against me. And a prime reason for posts denouncing me as though I was going to do something awful once I got elected (like support our hospital).
I believe that this my outspoken public championing of the Doc and Cop campaigns and the effort to reopen the hospital in 2014 was the main impetus behind the opposition political action committee created by Craig Litwin and Helen Shane to raise money for the smear mailer about me. This mailer assailed my character as "inexperienced" because I "wanted to wave a magic wand" to reopen the hospital. Many of the signers were the very same people who were endorsing Jim Horn's bid to keep the hospital closed. It was signed by people like Sebastopol Tomorrow's Helen Shane, Jane Nielson, Kathy Oetinger, Bill Shortridge,and Annie-Hobbs Kramer (Nancy Dobbs' daughter). as well as Horn endorser Craig Bobbitt.
I want to point out that neither Jane Nielson nor Shepherd Bliss have ever brought up an issue or a position that I have worked for and supported that they take exception to. They are simply unable to find anything I have stood and advocated for about which they can publicly disagree.
Instead, both Jane and Shepherd diminish their own reputations, and those of the organizations that they have worked for, by persisting in the slimy political tactic that many of us in our community are tired of: attacking someone they want to denounce for my style, my character, where I come from, my effectiveness, my tone, etc.
It seems that both Shepherd Bliss and Jane Nielson have missed the civility memo, despite Shepherd, just earlier on Wacco, endorsing civility in political discourse for other people.
So here it is again:
Most of us here in Peacetown, and indeed all over, would prefer that our political discourse focus on issues and solutions, not mud slinging.
I am pasting below what Dusty, a woman whom I do not know had to say about my capacity to have a constructive, collaborative impact on our city council.
It is not "New York politics," as Shepherd suggests, but the politics of advancing the public interest, for me to campaign for public office on the positive platform that we, as a community, as neighbors, have a responsibility to work together to keep our emergency room open, to restore library hours, to walk the talk of a green future, to complete the sidewalk on Bodega near Burbank Housing, or to add to the supply of attainably priced housing.
And it is not a "friend," Shepherd Bliss, who writes dismissive, misleading, and nasty screeds about well intentioned, hard working neighbors running for public office.
DustyG:
I heard Jonathan Greenberg's presentation (and also Neysa Hinton's) as a guest of the Kiwanis Club yesterday at noon. I was amazed by Greenberg's range and length of experience and his commitment to our hospital, as well as to resolving other local issues. Hinton, on the other hand, has a real lack of experience and when asked about supporting our hospital answered that using part of it as an assisted living residence is her approach. Her current job, btw, is managing an assisted living residence in Marin County.
Now that I've heard two presentations and been able to ask direct question of all three candidates, including Litwin as a write-in, I have no reservations at all about voting for Michael Anthony Carnacchi (who is both prepared and well informed) and Jonathan Greenberg. I can see them working well together, and honoring the Sebastopol we love.
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Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
According to Random House Dictionary, the word "goofball" is defined as such: "extremely eccentric person." According to the same dictionary, the word "eccentric" is defined as: "deviating from the customary character, practice, etc."Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
Magick, Sebastopol activist and Tarot Reader tells that my Tarot life card is 22, which among the Major Arcana, I am both the Fool and the Emperor. The Fool is the most powerful card in the Tarot deck because it is assigned the number zero [like zero waste campaign].
In Old English times, the Fool was invited into the courts of Kings and Queens to bring forth serious issues among the citizenry through comedy and whose head would then be spared.
To be specific, below is a short list of the city government meetings that I have directly participated in:Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
1) I have been to nearly every city meeting regarding the Sebastopol General Plan [no less than 20] since its inception 2.5 years ago.
2) I have been to every city meeting concerning the proposed Sebastopol Hotel.
3) I have been to every city meeting regarding the proposed KOWS antenna.
4) I have been to every city meeting with regard to the relocation of the Sebastopol Charter School.
5) I have been to every city meeting throughout the adoption of the Sebastopol Uniform Business Ordinance [prevents future CVS type projects in the Downtown Core] in my official capacity as a director of the Sebastopol Downtown Association, where I have been an active member since 1994.
And that's just to name a few of the hundreds of city meetings that I have attended because democracy is a participatory concept.
It looks like the thread has "woken up" Barry! I also feel like I ought to have heeded Shepherd's words in an earlier comment about how nice the silence is* :waccosun:
Yet we were all on the edge of our seats wondering who Barry's second choice would be.
And that led me to chime in again.
I will concede I am not clear on my second choice despite my previous comment; I know for certain Michael Carnacchi has my vote and I am surprised Barry that you didn't feel similarly.
First, I appreciate that Michael has a business on Main Street and has his thumb on the pulse to what is happening on a daily basis in Sebastopol. He has also been a member of the Sebastopol Downtown Association for the 23 years he has been a Main Street business owner; with a dedication to seeing a revised Downtown District Plan be written and for it to be mindful of engaging the Barlow businesses.
He is currently completing the Citizens' Police Academy; attends the city government meetings regularly, and sees an opportunity to partner with the County and Caltrans around developing a strategy to add more vitality and livability to Sebastopol's downtown core.
His choice to run a "zero waste" campaign is unconventional yet we are an unconventional town that makes the "unconventional" mainstream as Craig has often pointed out in the forums. Michael is able to hear both sides of a situation which is vital when seated on a council and will educate himself as needed for being an informed council member. His eight years spent fighting U.S. Bank is proof enough to his ability to dig in deep and research as needed.
Perhaps Craig and Michael would most fittingly work together with the seated council; my concern is whether there is a conflict of interest between Craig's consulting business where he specializes in cannabis policy reform and being able to weigh in on said topic as a council member. That's an area I would be curious to have clarified.
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Finally Michael was recently appreciated in a couple of editorials I want to include here:
Taken from a recent editorial in the Sonoma West Times,
EDITOR: Sebastopol Planning Commission kicks the KOWS antenna can down the road again. In the latest chapter of the proposed KOWS antenna project, the Sebastopol city planning commission approved a new KOWS antenna project submission. The city planners focused solely on the application process in their decision-making. It appeared the neighborhood association SHARPwatch is being relegated to the sidelines as emotional appellants rather than true stakeholders in the process. Shoemaker and prospective city council candidate Michael Carnacchi was the only advocate of a compromise, which could satisfy both parties. With this approval, the city planning commission has most likely drawn the city into a long and expensive legal battle over a project for a private entity and not a city utility.
Patrick Norton
Sebastopol
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And by Jim Corbett in Mr. Music's Musings:
Michael Carnacchi, is a world class boot maker, who has had his shop on Main Street for a long time. I admire him because he has probably gone to more City Council meetings over the years than any other citizen in our town. He certainly knows what is going on in the town and how local policy effects local business. He has been a big part of the Downtown Association and organized shopkeepers to come out of their stores on Friday at noon and wave to the other shop owners. It was a small gesture of cooperation in an otherwise competitive environment.
Thanks again as always Barry for providing the community resources to weigh their decisions upon. :thumbsup:
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Posted in reply to the post by Barry:
I am sorry that Jonathan now apparently considers me one of his "enemies." I still consider him a friend.
Perhaps I made a mistake by entering this fray by challenging Jonathan, on the basis of my work with him, and apparently getting now added to his enemy list. I appreciate his persistent presence in the Sebastopol political scene; it is the potential consequences of being on the City Council--with all the work that it needs to do--that concerns me. There is enough chaos and attacking in the international, national, and West County political arenas without adding to it here in Sebastopol.
I agree that Jonathan has numerous clear merits. Some friends and I initiated the leafblower challenge. When Jonathan joined us, he added substantial high tech and video skills, which were very helpful, which added to our success. I thank him for that. I do not remember things the same way he does on other matters, especially as I continued to work hard on the leafblower issue. I am often on the phone with people, for example, and perhaps too often on Wacco and online.
My main concerns are not with Jonathan's ideas, but how he pursues them, which I do consider to be in "Big City" styles. For example, in this email he is attacking long-time activist Jane Nielson and groups such the Sierra Club and Sonoma County Conservation Action. I do not think there is anything "mysterious," as Jonathan contends, about Jane's detailed reasons for objecting to him as a City Councilperson.
He has also been known to attack Sebastopol City staff whom he disagrees with, as well as City Council members whom he will need to work closely with. My concern is that if elected he may not work well with other elected officials and staff members. This is why I have honored his work outside being an elected official and suggest that he continue his good work in that arena. He has a strong voice with substantial merit and enthusiasm to it.
I do not consider his description of himself in terms of representing a "Peacetown" approach to solving difficult issues that many of us are working on, each in our own ways with our own merits, as accurate. Because we differ on certain issues and work styles, that does not have to make us "enemies." Jonathan has a long list of people whom he not only disagrees with, as he notes below, but attacks.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Peacetown Jonathan:
sorry, Shepherd, your claim to be his friend is lowering the credibility of your other points. As such, who cares who is friends with who - this is a political discussion. But challenging someone's temperament (which has a weird echo of the larger political scene) while professing friendship reminds me of the beach scene in Lewis Carroll. Nice little oysters, we do love you so.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
(video added by Barry in case my reference was too obscure :wink:. Plus it's a fun video)
Wowzeeee-- you Shepherd --and Jonathan are so full of hot air- maybe hot air is what makes leafblowers blow the leaves about?! i've had to read from both of you the holier than thou posts regarding the Hopkins/Evans debate and
and you both harang people about the tone of posts from people and when on and on about how people can't stand
to read this stuff, are turned off to this stuff and don't even want to go on Wacco because of the crappy tone of the debate.
But, i suppose the Sebastopol City Council debate is a free-for-all and i guess when one is passionate about their candidate, then Their point of view is Valid!?
this back and forth is a turn off-Boys!
of course, i'll give you both this one- Just don't complain any more, after all, it just might sound toooo negative to
Wacco readers and we dare not do THAT...ugh
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by Shepherd:
Crappy tone, Beshiva? Re-read your posts, you are consistently the Wacco leader in that category.Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by beshiva:
i am sorry. guess you did not get the point! and you felt the need to anty-up.hmmmm..
it was never my intention!
as you may have noted, i do not post any longer on the Hopkins/Evans debate, i finished...
i was merely, noting that the same propensity to be taking place between Bliss/Jonathan, as they were spiraling into personal, instead of staying with the facts. and they have still yet to acknowledge their own transgressions.?
So, maybe, you should check "yourself", and perhaps, see that you are part of the problem too and not the solution.
i try to walk my talk, do you?!
if we don't acknowledge that some debates need to become a little uncomfortable sometimes, maybe, we will never get to understanding our perspectives on issues to make changes that need to be made.
having lived in this County for over 40 years, i have seen too much white privilege and within THAT white privilege is soft-skinned psuedo-activists who have attempted to quell other peoples harsh criticisms and want it to remain on some nice/nice (white privilege) level....to hell with that!
And, i'm done with this debate too
nite xo
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by jbox:
A few weeks ago, Jane Nielson made a number of comments challenging my record of advocacy during the past five years or so, with a series of questions that require complex answers. I have been pretty busy doing the type of advocacy work that she suggests I only talk about doing, so I have not found the considerable amount of time it takes to refresh her selective memory about the answers to these questions until now. These activities include advocacy work that one would think the Sierra Club and Sonoma County Conservation Action, organizations for which Ms. Nielsen sits on the endorsement committees, might find laudable. They include the effort for Native Hawaiians to win an anti-GMO majority on Maui’s County Council, and an ongoing campaign to fight the Monsanto Doctrine, including its potentially democracy invalidating impact here in Sonoma County.
I would like to start my answer by calling on the reading public to notice exactly what Jane Nielsen is accusing me of as her rationale for denying me, a lifelong environmental activist, the support of the Sonoma County Conservation Action endorsement group that she sits on. Did I vote or lobby against issues important to our local ecology? No. In fact, I have longer and more demonstrated environmental activism and policy development experience than either of the candidates that SCAA did endorse. It seems that the reason Ms. Nielsen says that she is speaking in opposition to my candidacy is because I am not as effective a public interest advocate as I claim to be. She takes exception to the claim on my website that “Jonathan is Sebastopol's most effective advocate for sustaining our hospital, restoring library hours, reducing noise, buying electric vehicles for our parks, and walking the walk of a green Sebastopol.”
Jane’s accusatory questions reflect a selective memory loss of facts that I provided to SCAA in 2014 and 2016 that are inconvenient to the “unfit for city council” narrative that she, and her fellow hospital-closing surrogates at Sebastopol Tomorrow, who seem to hate me for my advocacy on behalf of an open hospital, use as the framework for her accusations.
I will go down the list. I realize that these are too many details for a casual reader to follow, so I will provide links and let those who want to go deeper into these issues do so.
Palm Drive Hospital: “What did Jonathan do besides complain to the Council, which can’t do anything anyway?”
The six month long award winning series of articles that wrote, all accessible from this link, revealed critical information that went unpublished elsewhere in the county. This Informing to Empower disclosure shifted the narrative of the hospital closing, and the false reasons that Jane’s politically powerful friends gave to the public before closing it. I also wrote more than a dozen posts on this subject here on Wacco, and helped lead the grassroots effort to get the Doc and Cop elected. Their campaign, not coincidentally, was opposed by our city‘s political insiders, including the leading members of Sebastopol Tomorrow, and Jill Nielsen’s political ally and close friend. Nancy Dobbs (Nancy was the Chair of the Palm Drive Board that decided to close the hospital and reject the foundation led plan to keep it open in April 2014) . I continue to assist the grassroots advocacy effort to maintain an open hospital, including this recent expose about the new effort to close it.
(PLEASE VOTE FOR CARY AND THOMAS ONLY for District Board to keep our hospital open!
What can the Council do to help the hospital?
I answered that here on Wacco in 2014, and again at Wacco this year as part of a series of hospital-related posts that I wrote in this long series on wacko. I am pasting below what I think our Council could and should do to help sustain our hospital and its life saving emergency room.
THE CAMPAIGN TO RESTORE LIBRARY HOURS
I started the campaign to restore library hours (website here) about four years ago, after writing this award winning article on the cover of the Bohemian about the worst funding crisis in county library history.
Jane cites a reference to Measure M, which I helped get to the ballot two years ago (with a series of widely-signed petitions and volunteer lobbying), instead of Measure Y, which is in the ballot next week. When she wrote this I had not yet revised my website and was referring to Measure M: the description of the measures and my work with them was updated and presented here. My work and advocacy for Measure M can be seen on the Restore Library Hours website here, which I created to help get that measure to the ballot in 2014.
Could Sebastopol help fund libraries?
Jane suggests that she has done extensive research and found no record that there was ever an option for our City Council and community to help fund the restoration of library hours. She is incorrect about this, as the attached documents to this post (below) attest. There was in fact a robust debate at the Council that our campaign to restore hours initiated. I wrote about that debate and the lobbying we did for it right here at Wacco, which can be read, with a poll we created, right here. This was only one of the instances during the past five years where this issue has come up. On two occasions, I was told that members of our City Council would not support the co-funding of these hours from the general fund (about $50,000 a year) because there was not enough money, and it was not their responsibility. I have always disagreed with that position. I hope that Measure Y passes and have supported it through emails to petition signers and my campaign literature, as well as our Progressive Sebastopol Voter Guide work. But if it does not pass, I have done a fair amount of spade work on the County’s only Plan B for restoring library hours, which can be read here.
Jane Nielsen falsely claims that I did not work to oppose the CVS project and its faulty traffic report
"Mr. Greenberg claimed to have led the effort to prevent the CVS project. I was a member of the “Small Town Sebastopol” Committee that did organize the CVS opposition and brought a lawsuit against it. Mr. Greenberg was not part of that group."
Jane is recycling the same argument that fellow Sebastopol Tomorrow’s Helen Shane wrote here and everywhere that would print it two years ago. Their self-absorbed argument is that because I did not join their organization, then I was not part of the opposition. Here is part what I wrote about that then with the hyperlinks:
“Certainly, the word “leader” is open to interpretation. Ms. Shane’s odd interpretation seems to be someone who joined her organization and funded its lawsuit. I never did that. What I did do, however, was spend hundreds of hours, over the course of more than two years, to research and publish the County’s most extensive investigation, legal analysis, and commentaries about the CVS issue, lawsuits and related politics. I did this independently, without pay, and on behalf of the public’s right to transparency, information and responsive government.
I also brought these uncovered issues to the public and City Council attention by speaking out at public meetings. In December, 2011, I strategized and launched the second CVS petition (pledge to boycott if they moved their store), and introduced it to the Occupy Sebastopol volunteers, who circulated it for months at their town square table (Helen Shane was invited to join this action, but chose not to participate).
The reporting, letters and columns that I voluntarily contributed appeared numerous times in the Press Democrat, Sonoma West, and on Wacco BB. They were read by thousands of West County citizens, and provided a legal and argumentative framework that significantly influenced the public debate, built public support for both lawsuits, and provided policy insight for our public officials. The hard-hitting columns and voter guide that I collaborated on and distributed helped to unseat one of the two Council boosters of the CVS Project—Kathleen Shaffer.
A list of CVS related exposes that I uncovered, for the first time, and on which I reported extensively and exclusively, with documentation here on Wacco, include: ( See further detail here)
What Sebastopol's City Council can do to help Sustain Our Open Hospital:
( see a more detailed version of these points here on WaccoBB)
1) First, do no harm. During the last election, every member of our City Council, that means Robert Jacobs, John Eder, Una Glass, Sarah Gurney, and Patrick Slayter, endorsed Jim Horn...
candidates Rob Cary and Gail Thomas, who will work to keep it open, or candidates Jim Horn and Eira Klich-Heartt, who will force it to close.
2) Provide water and sewage for free. If the hospital closes, there will be no water income from the closed building. Providing free water and sewage is a way for our city to help its largest employer without spending a dime from our general fund. Water and sewage are billed from and to a separate city fund, which runs at an ample surplus, especially with recently increased rates. Our city does not buy water and there is no incremental cost of supplying it, or sewage costs, to the hospital. This will save the hospital about $60,000 per year. Not a lot, but something, and, more importantly, it demonstrates "skin in the game" to other potential governmental and institutional funders.
3) Assist and support the District Board and hospital in seeking funding and program support from County, State and Federal agencies.
...
What I am suggesting is that this is a very important way that Sebastopol's City Council can, and should, be part of the solution. Our City Council needs to create a sub-committee to assist with this important effort for our collective future. If elected, I would be honored to serve on it.
These three specific suggestions work in tandem with one another. Other government agencies need to see that a local hospital has local government support before committing to provide county, state or federal support. And the District Board and hospital need to see that the Council truly supports its existence, and future.
I believe that Sebastopol's City Council can, and should, do more to provide this support. It is one of the main reasons that I am running for office, and one of the main deliverables I will work to provide if I am elected.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by jenielson:
This sweet surprise greeted me in today's Press Democrat Letters Page:
EDITOR: Jonathan Greenberg is plugged in. To what, you might ask. To us, and to our well-being. He must spend 12 hours a day reading about topics that affect us all. His interest and concern about what is happening around us seems insatiable. Every time I see him he enlightens me about another topic. I do my best, but Greenberg is light-years ahead of me. I can’t think of anyone I would want more to sit on the Sebastopol City Council. He has no ego about his work. He only wants us to be part of a transparent system so that we can create an informed democratic society. Jonathan Greenberg is a true community asset, and we are lucky to have him watching our backs. I just wish I lived in Sebastopol so I could vote for him. ---- GUY ERDMAN, Forestville
According to the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters, the results for the Sebastopol City Council election are:
It's hard to imagine these are the final results, since it's quite possible that all absentee ballots have not been counted since, again according to the Registrar "Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked before or on Election Day and delivered to the Registrar of Voters office via USPS or a bona fide private mail delivery company no later than three days after Election Day."
Assuming the results stand, congrats to Neysa and Michael! May your wise leadership serve us well! :waccosun:
Here's the PD's article on this race. I just checked the results at the county and they haven't changed yet.
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/wacco...4_15-56-29.png
Sebastopol’s Neysa Hinton a clear winner for City Council
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6285588-181/sebastopols-neysa-hinton-a-clear
MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | November 9, 2016, 5:51PM
A four-way race for two seats on the Sebastopol City Council has produced a clear winner in candidate Neysa Hinton, who closed out Tuesday night with more than 39 percent of the ballots counted, one of the strongest showings in recent city history, according to county election results.
Hinton, a political newcomer and director of a Novato senior care home, drew a far larger share of votes than anyone else in the race, though current runner-up Michael Anthony Carnacchi appears poised to win a council seat, as well.
Carnacchi, an artisan boot maker and cobbler, won 24 percent of the votes counted so far, despite eschewing campaign contributions, organizational endorsements and campaign literature.
But only 162 votes separate Carnacchi from presumed third-place candidate Craig Litwin, a former two-term councilman who joined the race later than his competitors. Litwin, a local political consultant, ran a write-in campaign that required voters to know about his candidacy and add his name to their ballots.
The Sonoma County Elections Office has so far reported 1,065 write-in votes, and, while it’s unclear if some may bear names other than Litwin’s, most, including him, assume the majority will count toward his candidacy.
City Mayor Sarah Glade Gurney, a Litwin supporter, said his vote count reflects an impressive effort, given the challenges he faced as a write-in candidate.
But she said she thought it was unlikely that the final results, while numerically different, would change the outcome of the race, leaving Hinton and Carnacchi to assume seats on the council next month.
“Chances are pretty slim” of overcoming Carnacchi’s second-place standing, Litwin said Wednesday. “I went into the race with my eyes wide open.”
The fourth-place candidate, Jonathan Greenberg, collected about 16 percent of the vote, and said the uncounted ballots could still change the race.
But Greenberg was philosophical. “I have a lot of confidence that Neysa and Michael are going to do a very good job,” he said.