7/14/24
Fred Allebach, notes and comments on
Small is Beautiful,The Quest to Save the Valley of the Moon
The Consequences of Over-Development at SDC
A movie by Carolyn Scott, first public screening at Sebastiani Theater
Italics are my comments or emphasis
Acronyms
SDC Sonoma Developmental Center
SV Sonoma Valley
SoCo Sonoma County
BOS Board of Supervisors
GP General Plan
LPG liquefied petroleum gas
SSP Springs Specific Plan
USA urban service area
GW groundwater
SMCSD Sonoma Mountain Community Services District
LAFCO Local Agency Formation Commission
SCALE Glen Ellen group to fight SDC
AH affordable housing
EIR environmental impact report
OTB UC Berkeley Othering and Belonging Institute
AFFH Affirmatively Furtherung Fair Housing, CA state law
Intro
The Sebastiani was packed, few empty seats; in attendance was a who’s who of Sonoma Valley protection and preservation. Almost 100% seniors and white.
Georgia Kelly of Praxis Peace Institute was mc.
A list of SDC coalition backers was shown, The Sun, Kenwood Press, Sierra Club and Teri Shore, Sonoma Mountain Preservation and Nancy Kirwan, Sonoma Ecology Center, Wake Up and Josette Brose-Eichar, Valley of the Moon Alliance with Kathy Pons, and all the SVNext100 alliance.
Looking for “the right solution” at SDC. This is a cause, a quest to save SV; there is an element of true belief that the cause is just.
It flashed to me that this overall coalition, under the rubric of Sonoma ValleyNext100, is seeking to put their Sleepy Hollow Stasis land use vision in place of the SoCo BOS and the SoCo General Plan Land Use Element.
-Planners and politicians, corporations, Wall Street, growth, business, are all perceived as malign influences on locals being able to determine their own fate. True enough, yet whose interests in SV get top billing? Those from cohorts with power, resources, time, and energy to defend their turf, i.e. a privileged, landed class
-This class wants self determination against the vagaries of capitalism, even as 1000s of lower income SV workers have already been taken to the cleaners 100 times worse; smaller fish are forgotten in these epic fights to save the character of SV
-the same actors here today to view the film together have weathered all the mythic valley battles to preserve SV paradise: 1960s area plan to put a big highway through SV was fought off, Cows Not Casinos, the raceway, the hotel on the hill behind the city, the UGB, green separators, the Darius hotel and Measure B, the Darius gun cub, the Amazon warehouse, the LPG tankers in Schellville, Ed Routhier, Bill Jasper, Ken Mattson, the SSP, Hanna, SDC and more.
Core movie premise: Small as good is contrasted against growth as bad. Native American land stewardship was invoked as well Jack London’s romantic Valley of the Moon visions
-current locals are posing as the rightful inheritors of the land, theirs to steward and to preserve all the local character; these are seen as the real, local, community values
-these folks arrived in the 1980s and 90’s and 2000s and now want to pull up the drawbridge, land use and occupying space is good enough for them, but not for others
“This historic wine-country region is our home.” Home, is a calculated campaign theme and PR point to rally the local troops, those who actually have homes and backyards here; home, a mythic territory where local property owners, the real stakeholders, rule and reside.
-all others are either rich Wall Street agents or second class worker bee residents whose lowly position as renters and unincorporated labor does not afford them a seat at the planning table
-this is just like colonial America and the early US where only white men with property could vote, membership in society is still limited in this way; as essential workers are consumed by getting by in an over-priced area, retired home owners spend their time fighting to preserve a low density status quo that serves to exclude the renting class even; the homeowner class claims to be pro-equity but their lack of concerted equity action belies that assertion
The movie leads out with scary fire images from 2017 and fire fear and fire danger/ evac solutions are played up for max effect through the whole movie as a self-evident truth, with no look at larger land use, population, class, race, amenity, climate, and lifestyle issues to set a context.
-the movie is a view from the made class’s interrests
The fire imagery is shock and awe, it’s propaganda, the image and message are seared into you: fire, destruction, death, seniors dead, evacuation, SDC, bad; let us at SVNext100 take over everything. The connection is set with no hint of an alternate or larger context view.
It’s our land, wildlife sanctuary land, not luxury, upscale developer’s land
-Nevermind the land is already developed and drastically changed from former uses by the people who are now defending it
-in a parallel to coastal areas in hurricane areas, if it is the role of government and citizens to limit more building in risky areas, where can anyone go that is desirable, has amenities, and jobs? Land use limitations seems like an ultra-First World luxury exercised by classes who are able to project their interests; the green rally to save the environment might get father if the working class was included, and its clear that the protector’s agenda does not include advocating for workers’ and renter’s interests
The movie then describes a possible transformation of a rural community into urban sprawl. Sprawl, a seared-in hot buzzword to blank out your critical facility and have you believe the message: sprawl, nothing could be worse! Sprawl, growth big, bad, killing innocent animals, frogs and fish; small is good, small dominated by white property-owning seniors
Cumulative impact, Hanna
The movie interviews a CEQA lawyer who points out every deficiency of planning that did not go the way Glen Ellen/ low density locals wanted
Fire evac fear played up throughout
This is the new NIMBY trump card
County said to not be in compliance on SDC and SV plans
Even in current traffic, evac is congested
SDC is a rural area, not mentioned that SDC, and Glen Ellen are are in the USA (urban service area with municipal water and sewer)
-the SSP has fire evac issues; the SSP is being fought by Paul Rockett and the Donald Street group, Rockett will use the new fire evac study and any other ammo he can get; this whole cohort is like a pack of bloodhounds; you can see now the emergence of a wider valley NIMBY alliance, using their money and wealth to commission studies and exert political pressure
-In Paradise, mostly seniors died; Paradise is great scare imagery; so now no one else can live here but the self proclaimed rulers?
Groundwater resources at risk
Traffic will be way up
Degradation of the community’s way of life
Fear is stoked
Sonoma Mountain has not burned in 100 years, a strong fire with the right wind would wipe out Eldridge
Biologist Dan Levitis, notes SDC-area wetlands and close proximity of proposed hotel to creek, says this is no good
The wildlife corridor is played up as if this is the only place wildlife can get through SV, how does it get across Santa Rosa and 101 en route from the coast to Lake Berryessa?
-where is any proof that SDC has a critical wildlife corridor more so than other SV areas? Looms like all the way from Fetter’s Hot Springsato Kenwood is one big corridor across the lower valley
Cumulative impact: SSP, Hanna, SDC, Oakmont Elnoka, MidPen and Krug hotel on Verano Ave, Siesta Apts.
- SDC advocates claim to be pro-equity and pro-AH yet here the movie throws in the Mid-Pen Verano Ave. 100% AH project as part of the congestion problem
-if SV can’t have dense infill near transit in the unincorporated areas northwest of the city, this proves my Green Checkmate thesis, nothing can go anywhere!
-”already overwhelmed rural roads”
Determination to stay in the past and not modernize roads from 1960s and on
The community, of what?
-the community is constantly played up but not defined as to whose interests this “community” represents; there are 10,000 or more working class SV people whose interests are not represented by this “community”
SoCo has no power to resist RHNA and state housing laws
Glen Ellen is small, change is bad
“Follow the money”, developers and politicians will get rich going against the will of the people
-kind of like a conspiracy theory here; large generalizations of systemic corruption; smaller fish look up and see “the community” as just the next fish up in a larger hierarchy of corruption and power hoarding
Fire fear, traffic, people will die
There are laws that prevent sprawl, the state and county are acting in disregard of environmental policy
State housing mandate’s only objective is to maximize profit
State housing laws are roundly vilified, this is as a mandatory Kool Aid drink, a common trope, as if all the impulses of state legislators concerned weight housing is corrupt and sold out; read Conor Dougherty, Golden Gates to see a bigger, more balanced picture of state housing laws
80% of state-mandated housing is asserted by gather movie to be luxury, high end
At SDC, ask Newsom for more AH
Panel discussion
David Bolling moderates: Bean Anderson, Norman Gilroy, Larrry Barnett, Carolyn Scott
Bolling says his back fence is on SDC, it is personal for him
-He mentions 2022 Census of Glen Ellen was 992 with 2000 cars; with SDC plan there will be 2000 people and 5000 cars
-Census of home value and annual income? Fred has done Census studies of Glen Ellen, community separators, and Sonoma Mtn, these areas are VERY wealthy; why would the rest of SV rally to save a privileged area of people who don’t represent little fish and who don’t want to share?
Carolyn Scott
Moved to Glen Ellen in 1990, it’s her backyard, she lost her home in the 2020 Glass fire, things are getting worse
Small is beautiful is her big inspiration
Create community, make it intimate
Bean Anderson
Lost house in 2017 fire
SDC is now porous, well-spaced, lower density
East campus, as-is could be AH, it’s historic
Could lose historical character
Rogal’s build out will be very dense compared to current spacing
Dyat and Bhatia ignored all public comments
Plop a whole town down in Eldridge
SCALE, won lawsuit, EIR was shot down by a judge
SoCo had to start over
State then did an end-run, put out an RFP to buy the land, two bids by developers, one by Norman Gilroy, state gave to Rogal
Rogal took builder’s remedy law, got density up by 50%
Last Friday SoCo supposed to decide on builder’s remedy…
How did things go so wrong? We don’t get to elect the people who make decisions for us; taxation without representation, only one supe per district
-this assume that BOS or any larger porical body) cannot act for greater good, and that city councils themselves cannot either bc each member is beholden to their constituents and allies more than to than the greater polity
-this above assumes that all US gov’t does not work bc everybody doesn’t vote for everybody; parallel here with Springs annexation and inequitable voter representation in the SV unincorporated area
-this all goes to show that whose interest are at stake is critical to know, Anderson acknowledges a Machiavellian world, a Hobbesian war of all against all, and here we see the SV landed stakeholder class fighting hard to protect their interests
-builder’s remedy is reasonable but is subverted by big developers
-big, rich, elite, greedy, the framing of an enemy; all bigger fish are relatively sold out to their level of inherent power and exploitation of fish below them; this is a class society analysis and the landed and shop-owner bourgeoisie lord it over the renter/ labor class, just as they themselves (and all others) are lorded over by the new aristocracy, “Wall Street”
Norman Gilroy
“A happy band of citizens”
Retired here in 1990s, “thought we were safe in paradise”
-filed Next100 Plan for SDC, a long view
-wildlife corridor (an article of faith)
-GW impossible to manage with too many people at SDC
Public ownership, preserve history and rural character
Buildings can be converted, SoCo ignored this
“The community needed to have a voice for itself”
-there we go with that ”community” again, that includes who and leaves out who?
Sonoma Mountain Community Service District, SMCSD, “where we could put the right people in place”
LAFCO will need to approve
Need a think tank, a SV Community Trust, bring in experts, adaptive re-use, a 501c3 non-profit to raise funds for the SMCSD
-SMCSD will raise its own funds as well through a parcel tax, which Norman doesn't say here
-alliance of SMCSD and SV Community Trust will position itself to take control of the SDC land
SMCSD will need SoCo support
-Strategy, SDCNext100 will lobby the BOS to get three BOS votes to approve the SMCSD
-they have challenged SoCo at every step of the process
Now they are challenge the demolition permits about asbestos-laden construction debris/ concrete transported to NV waste site
SV Next100 theater flyer says it has three objectives
1 form the SMCSD as the democratic voice of the community, and position the SMCSD to take over SDC land when the time is right
2 challenge to CA Dept of General Services on how it plans to transfer the core SDC campus
3 negotiate for a lasting solution at SDC that keeps land public, preserves rural landscape, provides housing for all income levels, protects wildlife corridor, retains key elements of existing campus, and designs within the capacities of key services: water, sewer, roads, evac
-this latter point will allow them to essentially stop any changes, it postulates an impossible future for AH in this area; combined with Sopnkma’s UGB and recalcitrance to upzoning, the upshot will be an SV where NIMBYs and the Green Checkmate rule and where the unincorporated working class, BIPOC, and Latino immigrant essential workers are hung out to dry for lack of representation, power and a democratic voice
Bolling
“If we can’t get it right, does not bode well for SV or Sonoma”
-exactly what “getting it right” means goes back to the interests of the people trying to save the Valley of the Moon
Larry Barnett a city view
Size of audience proves community organizing can work
-his mission is to protect “home” from predatory corporations
-can sometimes prevail against corporate greed
-as part of SV, Sonoma is a gathering place for the valley
-pressure on city to deliver services to whole SV is up, many of these service are to take up slack for low-income folks who serve the city but who have been externalized firm the city by elite land use policy that protects low density zoning
-city runs a deficit, .5 cent sales tax ballot to fix it
-Sonoma not a big rich city, even if residents are rich
-”an endless desire by predatory capitalism to exploit the ambience and character of what we have”; the city has made a Faustian Bargain with the wine-tourism-hospitality combine here and Barnett often finds himself at odds with city staff
-state income from SDC sale will be very small in proportion to whole budget
Questions
Carolyn Scott
Can’t get film publicly now, can ask for a free small-group screening
-she wants to tell the story of state mandates more
-a lot of blame is on the state, blame everywhere except on the people complaining
Norman
Hard to plan next steps when they have just been reacting to the SDC process blow by blow
-they plan to intervene with the real estate division of the state
-keep pressure on, Gorin needs help, easy for other BOS “to dump (RHNA) housing units in SV”, other BOS members will be happy enough to do that
-SMCSD can help on this uphill battle
-A David and Goliath kind of feel here
How to handle builder’s remedy?
Larry Barnett
-State makes rules to remove local control, streamlining, five meeting limit for example; state laws usurp power (just as bigger locals usurp power from smaller fish locals)
-he does not mention NIMBYIsm
-state housing law bills are passed under the guise of a housing emergency; this group sees state housing laws as uniformly corrupt; alignment of state laws with very liberal UC Berkeley Terner Center and OTB Institute policy is not seen, anti-state housing law views are backed by NIMBY think tank Embarcadero Institute research; housing emergency is seen as a false flag; does this "community" see The Fair Housing Act and AFFH as one more corrupt housing law?
-corporate housing and Wall Street, all they want is to make profit
-Sonoma had a builder’s remedy case, threatened to go to court and the developer backed off;’ DeNova?
-gov’t has to fight corporations, see Fred’s Cooperage analysis of local interests
Hopefully there will be continuity between Susan Gorin and Rebecca Hermosillo, Hermosillo feels like a wild card to many people, don't know her positions and interests
Norman
Need to tell SoCo and Permit Sonoma, “this is not welcome”
Take each chance to push back
Change Rogal’s mind or get him to leave
-if there is a SMCSD with a Trust to back it, “we can move” on SDC
-need public ownership, need a scale that makes sense
Status of fire evac study?
Bean Anderson
-fire districts have improved a lot since the fires
-yet no one knows how long to evac from certain areas?
-guesses are not good enough
-hired a national firm for an evac study
-by early September they will know evac times, hints are that it is terrible
-consultants all tell clients what they want to hear, they deliver on the client’s ask, to make their client’s point; how can it be otherwise? there will be other gov’t evac studies to measure against and all must be considered biased depending on the interests of who commissioned the study
-”we’ll own the data” and can depend on Norman to rally the troops
-just realized i signed up for MobilizeSonoma email, have got none
Repurpose buildings?
Norman
-2nd skin
Panels made to exactly match existing walls, external or internal, with all utilities in the wall panel, old is sealed in, put 2nd skin on
Common areas of SDC cohort with Sonoma Valley Collaborative housing policy?
-Ask Newsom for more AH
-East campus, as-is could be affordable housing, repurpose buildings, 2nd skin
-find out how they propose to support AH at SDC and still be low density, low resource use? If they figure out how to produce low density AH, then all (Sonoma, Permit Sonoma, BOS) can proceed with that model
-if lower-income inclusions in market rate projects are not acceptable as a path to get AH numbers, what path is there left? Where is the will and policy effort for the 100% AH projects (40-120% AMI) we all want and need?
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