Some Healdsburg voters live in predominantly west county district
And so it begins. The first candidate has declared herself in what promises to be a long and complex race for the fifth district supervisorial seat, representing western Sonoma County. The fifth district meets the fourth district west of Healdsburg and some Healdsburg addresses are in the district.
Lynda Hopkins, a writer, farmer and former journalist, issued a press release last week announcing her candidacy. “There are many pressing issues that we as a community need to address, including the need for affordable housing and childcare. I don’t want to wait any longer,” said Hopkins in her press release.
Hopkins and her husband, Emmett, own Foggy River Farm, an organic vegetable farm off Eastside Road, on land that has been in the Hopkins family for four generations.
They live in Forestville and have two daughters, Gillian, age two, and Adeline, age eight months. As a couple, the Hopkins’ moved to Sonoma County nine years ago to farm in an area that Hopkins said has a supportive climate for small farmers. She and her husband took over seven acres from Emmett’s parents’ 80 acres of vineyards and converted five acres to vegetable farming and two acres to grain.
The small farmer has based much of her platform on personal experience on the high cost of living and crumbling infrastructure in Sonoma County. Hopkins hopes to address the high cost and low availability of childcare in Sonoma County by reducing permitting fees to start an in-home daycare.
The mother of two young children said there is little or no choice between staying at home and entering the work force without the availability of affordable childcare. “A lot of my friends have had to make a choice between working and staying at home that really wasn’t a choice. They had to stay at home because they couldn’t afford to send their child to daycare or there wasn’t a daycare available,” she said.
Hopkins said that if she is elected, she intends to raise awareness of the childcare issue and to seek solutions to a lack of affordable housing in the county. She hopes to invite developers to the table and discuss how to encourage affordable house development. Like childcare, reducing permitting costs is a possible solution, she said. Infill and multi-unit housing is one solution she suggested to the newspaper and wants to hear from developers on what they look at when considering projects.
Hopkins’ farm is located on Eastside Road, just west of Windsor. She said that poor road conditions in the west county cause her to have to replace her windshield at least once a year. She proposes using money from Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) to boost funding for road repairs. In addition, she said she will propose a plan for residents to voluntarily contribute to a fund that the county would match in order to get roads higher on the priority list for repayment or repair. Hopkins noted that property owners in Duncans Mills have recently threatened to withhold their property taxes over the low priority of road repair in their region. “I completely understand their frustration,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins is a published author and a former journalist for Sonoma West Publishers.
The fifth district seat is currently held by Efren Carrillo, whose term ends next year. Carrillo has not said whether or not he will run for re-election, and could not be reached for comment on this story.
Carrillo was easily elected twice to the seat, but his political future has been in question since two highly publicized run-ins with the law. Carrillo has been detained twice by law enforcement in the last three years. In September of 2012 he was allegedly involved in a late night brawl outside a nightclub in San Diego, but charges were dropped. In July, 2013, he was arrested in Santa Rosa outside a neighbor’s apartment, while clad only in socks and underwear. A later jury trial resulted in a not guilty verdict for attempted peeking, but his neighbor filed a civil suit, citing emotional damages, which is still pending.
Carrillo offered an appeal for compassion at a Board of Supervisors meeting later that summer and said that he had entered an alcohol rehabilitation program. He has since resumed his active schedule as a supervisor, but so far has not announced his intentions regarding his political future.
Former fifth district supervisor Eric Koenigshofer, a Carrillo ally, has made no secret of his interest in the seat, saying that he supports Carrillo but will run if Carrillo does not. Former State Senator Noreen Evans is also considering the race, according to published reports.
Hopkins said she is ready for the hard work and endless fundraising that goes along with a high-stakes supervisorial race. “I want to knock on thousands of doors and have as many conversations with constituents as possible,” she said. “I know I will have to work hard and run a campaign from the ground up. I want to earn the endorsement of my neighbors – to run an old-fashioned campaign.”
Hopkins has been active in the north county recently. Her family’s farm is near a large development planned by the Lytton Tribe outside Windsor, and she has spoken out against the scale of the development.
Hopkins says she knows that the fifth district race will be costly. “I am aware that this is a very expensive race. I’m hoping that when people hear about my ideas they’ll support me.”
She said her “passion for policy and love of community” make her a strong candidate. “I want to bring a grassroots perspective to the campaign.”
– Tony Landucci contributed
to this story
