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Economic Summit seeks unity of vision



ECONOMIC UPTICK — Local entrepreneurs Mark Inman of Taylor Maid Farms Organic Coffees (left) compares notes with Alexis Bauer, owner of My Friend Joe coffee kiosks. Inman believes that Sebastopol is a “natural hub” for sustainable enterprises. - Photo by David Abbott

Economic realities meet optimism for local solutions
by David Abbott
Sonoma West Editor
Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:27 PM PDT


SEBASTOPOL — Despite a gloomy forecast for the national economy presented by Dr. Robert Eyler, professor of economics at Sonoma State University, business leaders in Sebastopol remained confident that the city could become an economic hub of the West County.

More than 100 business leaders and entrepreneurs packed into the Sebastopol Community Center last Thursday (Sept. 24) to hear from local leaders and a prominent economist, and brainstorm for ways to move forward economically.

Sebastopol’s Mayor, Sarah Glade Gurney, a 31-year resident of Sebastopol, encouraged the gathering to create a vision for the community that rejected an “us versus them” mentality, and cited a need for new thinking because, “growth and consumption aren’t working.”

“We need to define a new paradigm, creating a common vision, building relational health,” Gurney said. “We need to thrive in a way that’s meaningful to the community, to not choose paralysis, but to move forward.”

Eyler, the keynote speaker who has deep roots in Sonoma County, painted a fairly bleak picture of the macro-economic forces that affect local economies, including the unstable state of the state.

Eyler blamed the passage of Prop. 13, in part, for California’s financial crisis, which created a system that needed a 2/3 majority to pass taxes, but a simple majority for expenditures.

He blamed defined benefits packages and the state tying its tax revenues to “boom cycles” for the structural deficiency in education funding, which he said gives the biggest return on investment.

“There’s a tug-of-war between prisons and schools. Don’t look for it to end soon,” Eyler said. “California has the lowest spending on K-12 in the country. We need budget and political reform.”

“There doesn’t seem to be a lot of heat in Sacramento to solve the problems,” he added.

Eyler sees the recession lasting until at least the end of the year, with California lagging behind, but he is also concerned about the larger trends in national monetary markets. He said that we are in the 11th recession since 1948, and that banks are not putting money back into the economy, indicating they have not “seen the light in the open market and are hoarding.”

Eyler tracked the historic reserves that national banks have been hoarding, particularly since 9/11. At the time of the first Gulf War, there were $1.6 billion in modern dollars in reserve, and after 9/11 the reserve was $18 billion. The spike has gone up since September 2008 to $900 billion.

“It’s weirdness,” he said. “Any economist who tells you they know what’s going to happen, they’re crazy.”

But Eyler was optimistic about what he sees in the Sebastopol area. It’s at the crossroads of highways 12 and 116, and it’s a microcosm of Sonoma County, with agriculture, retail, and manufacturing. He believes it’s a good place for clustering high-tech, food production and eco-tourism industries.

He warned not to spend too much time debating the issue, or “other communities will take advantage.”

“But you need to make a plan and stick to it,” he said. “You can’t sell a vision if it changes every year.”

One member of the community who had a vision for the future was Mark Inman, a fourth-generation Sebastopol resident and co-founder of Taylor Maid Farms Organic Coffees.

Inman believes that all the pieces of a sustainable future for Sebastopol already exist if the people are willing to use them. He cited the Sebastopol Farmer’s Market as a good model for future sustainable growth.

“People don’t say, ‘let’s go to Sebastopol and go to Safeway,’” he said. “I don’t know why we haven’t tapped into this.”

Inman proposed a center that would offer a concentration of gourmet foods, arts and other local products, and advocated getting to it quickly in order to “beat Santa Rosa to the punch.”

The summit was sponsored by several local businesses, the city and the Chamber of Commerce, who are seeking a way to weather the worst of the recession, and who have seen the loss of two car dealerships and several other small businesses over the course of the past year.

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Sonoma West > Sonoma West Times & News > Opinion

Pretzel logic
Published: Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:27 PM PDT

At last week’s Economic Summit sponsored by the City of Sebastopol and chamber of commerce, keynote speaker Dr. Robert Eyler, an economist from Sonoma State University, urged the room full of attendees to “shape” Sebastopol’s future growth instead of “fighting” it.

We think that’s a great suggestion because the current shape of Sebastopol’s growth and economic development needs straightening out.

These days, much of Sebastopol’s thinking about “growth” is the same shape as its grid-locked traffic pattern and its downtown redevelopment map. It’s all twisted up like a pretzel.

We have long suffered the daily congestion of too many vehicles commuting through town on two state highways. We’d prefer to call Main Street our own and reclaim it for local shoppers, more pedestrians and a more inviting space and pace.


Equally entangled at both ends has been most of the recent debates over growth, economic development, tourism and the now-dead Northeast Area Specific Plan.

Dr. Eyler and others at the summit urged more collaboration and newly organized efforts to create a common vision on how Sebastopol can “grow together” with an expanded downtown, new industries and a sustainable balance of economic, environmental and social vitality.

The well-attended, four-hour Summit appeared to be a good start. There was a purposeful discussion and some exchanging of names and proposed next steps.

This year’s event was triggered by a couple of economic setbacks. First came the rejection the Northeast Area Specific Plan, a road map for redeveloping Sebastopol’s 55-acre mostly-vacant, mixed industrial area east of the downtown core and adjacent to the Laguna de Santa Rosa. That proposal was perceived as too big and too growth-inducing.

Next came the national recession which has seen Sebastopol lose both of its car dealerships among other business closings here. The city’s government budget also was adversely impacted by the economic downturn and state government takeaways.

Still, Dr. Eyler and many others at the Summit found plenty of reasons for optimism about the shape of Sebastopol’s future growth.

Sebastopol retains a healthy mix of clean technology, ag-related businesses and locally-owned retail, Dr. Eyler pointed out. The curse of the two dissecting state highways also means Sebastopol is still a hub for the nearby coast, wine country, kindred Marin County and all of western Sonoma County.

Because Sebastopol has come to be known as a place with a lot of views — divergent, politically stubborn, passionate, traditional, progressive, anti-nuclear and many more — it also has become a place where consensus and broad collaboration is not always easy to achieve.

The city officials, chamber members and business community leaders behind the idea of the Economic Summit are hopeful the early dialogue might take shape into ongoing working groups and brand new business initiatives.

One participant, Mark Inman, of Taylor Maid Farms proposed that Sebastopol become a mecca for sustainable agriculture and food processors, by expanding its farmers market to a year-round operation and luring more businesses like his coffee company, Guayaki Yerba Mate and others. “Why wait for Santa Rosa to do it,” Inman challenged, “Sebastopol should do it first — and do it better.”

Chamber Executive Director Teresa Ramondo told the Summit attendees “it’s time to give better support to our many, many local and small businesses. When they succeed in business, we all win. We all get a healthier community to live in.”

At the same time, Dr. Eyler warned that every city in the county is now advancing a “buy local” campaign of its own. “It’s time to plan,” he said. “Build a war chest and be ready to make some tough decisions.”

Untwisting Sebastopol’s pretzel should be too tough a decision to make right away.

— Rollie Atkinson