LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – 6-7-12

So long Mayor Wilson
Editor: I have decided not to seek re-election to the Sebastopol City Council. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as councilmember, vice-mayor, and mayor these past 3 and 1/2 years and am grateful for having had this wonderful public service opportunity. I will continue to work on the many issues and challenges confronting our community over the next six months, until my term expires in November. Beyond that, however, I do not feel I can make a commitment to serve an additional four years. I hope that my announcement will encourage others to consider running for City Council. Thank you, everyone, for all your kind support and for caring about our great small town.
Guy Wilson
Mayor of Sebastopol
 
Project Grad works
Editor: On behalf of all of us at the Sebastopol Police Department I would like to publicly thank everyone involved in this year’s Analy High School Project Graduation. As has been the case with prior Project Graduation events, we did not experience any collisions or make any DUI arrests that evening.
Historically, prior to the advent of Project Graduation, the night of High School graduation was fraught with potential dangers, usually involving DUI-related collisions. Now, with Project Graduation in place, our graduating seniors have a safe, fun, exciting place to enjoy their last night together as classmates.
This was the first year I volunteered at the event and I was astounded at the tremendous effort put forth by our community to honor AHS’s graduating seniors. I would like to personally thank those who conceived of, designed, constructed, and implemented this wonderful gathering.
Most importantly, I’d like to thank the 255 students who attended, representing over 80 percent of their class. Seeing these capable, energetic, friendly, and responsible young people enter the event reinforced my view that Sebastopol’s future is in good hands.
Volunteering at this event was fun and rewarding and I would encourage other AHS parents to volunteer their time at future Project Gradation events.
Jeff Weaver
Sebastopol Chief of Police
 
Library stonewall
Editor: The Library Commission meeting on Monday, May 7 was remarkable for the Commission’s inability — or adamant refusal — to listen to points of view other than their own, especially with regard to their pet project, self-check machines. The documents that were meant to inform an incisive conversation about the self-check equipment were over 58 pages long and did not include any information from the employees who have been the “testers” for the equipment. The documents were posted on the website less than two days before the Commission meeting and were still being revised hours before the meeting itself.
A large number of employees and community people came to the meeting, and several commented on the self-check machines.
According to the users, the machines frequently exhibit confusing error messages. They do not process CDs or DVDs as well as they do books. While Sonoma County materials can be piled on the scanner to be read, items from other counties (with whom the library has reciprocal exchanges) need to be separated and treated differently.
Some employees prefer not to use the self-check machines at all, because they take longer than simply checking out materials as before. Many patrons have also encountered problems with the machines, but the Library management is insisting on “100 percent usage of self-check,” prompting appeals to be reasonable from both employees and patrons.
Worst of all for Rohnert Park employees and patrons, the self-check machines trigger the security alarms. According to testimony at the meeting, this occurs about 20 times a day at Rohnert Park library, but out of the thousands of alarms sounding since the gates were turned on, only four have been actual cases of theft. The union has pleaded with management to turn off the security alarms, but management refuses to do so.
Commission Chair Julia Freis appeared at a Library Advisory Board meeting in Cloverdale the next day, reported that the self-check machines are working fine, just fine, with “just a few glitches.”
In the Agenda Packet for the June 4, 2012 Commission Meeting, Document #12.1.1 Appendix C (page 27) shows that close to $1 million has been paid to Envisionware for the above technology. At the same time, the Commission and the Director assert that there is no money to reopen the library on Mondays.
One wonders if the Library Commissioners are even capable of listening to divergent viewpoints or to admitting any errors on their own part. Unfortunately, the Commission is the only body with the power to oversee library management and the Director. It is not clear how any disagreement can be even heard, much less taken seriously.
Virginia R. Harris
for SOCOSOL Steering Committee
 
Height of foolishness
Editor: In the past few weeks there have been several letters on these pages disparaging folks who do not live within the Sebastopol city limits. It is as if the writer thinks that the buying power, talent, and commitment to the future of Sebastopol of the tens of thousands of folks who live outside the city proper is not as valuable or as important as that of the 8,000 who do live within the city limits. We may not be able to sit on the City Council but we can and do join and support the Chamber, can and do serve on the Palm Drive Hospital Board and Foundation Board; can and do care every bit as much about building a healthy, vibrant, and safe Sebastopol. To reject that talent and commitment which is freely and happily given, when we have so much work to do together, is the height of foolishness.
Nancy Dobbs
Sebastopol
 
DRB or tribunal?
Editor: I attended the DRB meeting concerning the CVS project last week. First, there was sincere testimony of a few people who object to the project because CVS and Chase represent the worst of Corporate America. I wondered if I was attending a DRB meeting or a tribunal?
The DRB is being asked to exercise their authority in the design review to block the project due to the character of the potential businesses. Ultimately, the DRB found the latest submission of proposed building plans unacceptable yet again. The plans were criticized by the majority of the Board due to a variety of perceived shortcomings. I found their responses to be vague and not very informative about what to do next.
Prior to moving here I served on an architectural review committee, so I do have familiarity with the process. A denial decision resulted in years of litigation and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees for each party. I learned several things that are relevant for Sebastopol:
• The DRB must point to existing written standards to justify their actions. They cannot deny applications due to a dislike for the applicant;
• They must act in good faith and be helpful to the applicant if they are not approving the project;
• While a DRB has design discretion that discretion is not absolute and needs to be consistent with precedent and defensible in court.
Driving through downtown there is RiteAid, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Safeway and other major chains whose buildings look the same here as in other places. That is, they appear to be copies of designs in other locations that do not reflect what I hear the DRB requiring for the CVS/Chase project. There is a large drab tent in the town square and I wonder how that was approved?
We hear a lot about the difficult financial situation of the City and like many others we do shop locally and patronize locally owned businesses over the chains.
At some point it is the responsibility of the City Council to assess what has happened and assure that the actions of the DRB are consistent with the applicable requirements as a matter of fairness and to ensure they are not exceeding their authority and creating a financial liability for our city.
John Moise
Sebastopol