See a long dialogue in letters about solutions to homelessness in Guerneville HERE.
Our moral stature
EDITOR: If you go to Santa Rosa from Guerneville and take a right turn to Seventh Street, you will find yourself headed toward a long-established Christian mission that caters to the homeless. If you stick around that neighborhood until late evening, you will see a lot of homeless people bedding down for the night. Some of them seem to have taken up permanent residence, and will order you to “turn off the damn headlights!” after you climb in your parked car and head for home.
What I’m saying here is that all the homeless people in Sonoma County have not migrated to Guerneville. And mentioning the Gospel Mission is a reminder that the Bible repeatedly tells us the (homeless) poor will always be around, no matter how hard we work to get all homeless people housed. We try, however, because we diminish our own moral stature when we refuse to extend a hand to fellow humans. One of the benefits of helping out with the dinners for the homeless is getting to chat with them in a friendly way.
Lynda Hopkins is to be commended for sticking out her neck to try to find the best site for a Guerneville homeless center. I think she knows by now that the final site selection will not please everyone, no matter where it goes. What seems to be the case is that trying to put that facility on that nine-acre property on Armstrong Woods road is going to be particularly tough. Many longtime residents of that neighborhood already feel themselves assaulted by the number of family homes turning into vacation rentals, where strangers party hearty all night long.
Ironically, county officials mislabeled that parcel the “Lonegan” property in their materials about the homeless center search, giving the (repairable?) impression that uninformed officials are coming out here from Santa Rosa to tell us what to do. Sean Loundagin built the house on Armstrong maybe 10 years ago. It’s spelled Loundagin.
Scott Kersnar
Guerneville
Who will be left?
EDITOR: Who can afford to live in Sonoma County? I would guess that we all know someone, if not 10 people, who are struggling to live here. Sonoma County is my home and it has been for 25 years. My mom went to the same elementary school as me, my grandparents bought their forever home for $70,000 in west Sebastopol and it’s where I always imagined myself raising a family.
Unfortunately, that dream of mine is becoming dimmer each time my rent increases. I am so grateful to have been raised in such a beautiful county and I’ve always taken pride in describing Sonoma County as inclusive and community driven. The more I think about it though, how can I say we are a county of inclusiveness and equality when not everyone is able to afford to live here?
I’ve had plenty of friends who have had to pack up their things and move away from their home because they can’t afford to live here anymore and I see myself having to make that difficult choice soon as well. If we continue to be forced out of our own county, then who will be left?
Emilia Sides
Sebastopol
