The oldest people in Sonoma County can remember the days of Prohibition (1920-1933) and we still have a cluster of World War II survivors who can tell stories about food and gas rationing and local coastal blackouts to hide from Japanese submarines. Our most elder Baby Boomers can recall when the county’s population almost doubled between 1950 and 1970, from 103,405 to 204,885. (Today’s population is 486,000.)
These old-timers mark their long lives with distinct eras, historic milestones, life-changing inventions and generational shifts. What markers will we use? When we look back across our years, what will be our most indelible memories, our favorite times or our most-telling contributions? Will there be more to tell our great-grandchildren than just the devastation of wildfires, floods and a global pandemic? Will the earliest generations of Sonoma County’s 21st century (us) be remembered for making other kinds of history, too? How much will the years of the COVID-19 pandemic define us? What will be the lifelong effects on today’s children and young students who have lost the most from the pandemic?
These days we all drive on Highway 101, but plenty of folks are still around to reminisce when the old Redwood Highway went through — and not around — the downtowns of Petaluma, Cotati, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Geyserville and Cloverdale. Those were the days that Sonoma County was known as part of the Redwood Empire. So, when exactly did we start living in Wine Country instead?
Following the post-World War II population boom, Sonoma County’s voters approved a “city-centered” general plan in 1978. The plan mapped out green spaces for “community separators” to protect the character of our many small towns. In 1990, the county’s Agricultural Preservation and Open Space program was created that further defined the land uses of our hills, valleys and heritage farm lands.
That doesn’t mean Sonoma County stopped growing. Rohnert Park sprang into the county’s third largest city and the Town of Windsor was developed in rapid fashion into the county’s fourth largest municipality in less than a decade, incorporating in 1992.
Citizens of Sebastopol held a series of anti-growth votes in the same era under the leadership of a grassroots group called Sebastopol Tomorrow. In Healdsburg, city leaders commissioned a R/UDAT study that opened the gateway to becoming the tourist destination and expensive second-home community that it is today.
The Tubbs Fire of 2017 and subsequent Pocket, Kincade, Walbridge and Glass fires among others weren’t the first wildfires to scar and scare county residents. The Hanley Fire (northwest Santa Rosa) in 1964 and the Creighton Ridge Fire (Cazadero) in 1978 were early historical markers on what potential risks come with living among Sonoma County’s natural beauty.
Our 21st Century Sonoma County era has not been given a name yet, but one thing we know we will be known for is the recover, rebuild and resiliency playbook we wrote titled Sonoma Strong.
What else will we add to our legacy? Will we answer our affordable housing crisis over the next two decades? Will we strengthen our national reputation for fighting climate change with local actions and private-public initiatives? Will we fulfill our promises to end racism and extend living wages to all?
What would we call a 21st century generation that accomplishes these lofty goals? Imagine the societal dynamics where the older Baby Boomers join with the younger Gen X’ers, Millennials and Gen Z’ers to emerge from our current COVID-19 pandemic into a newly imagined future of new leadership, collaborations and community institutions.
A previous Sonoma County generation turned back the threat of suburban sprawl 50 years ago. Way back then, newly elected leaders and grassroots environmental organizers imagined and created a collection of communities with deep agricultural and multi-generational roots. Maybe it is time to reinvigorate those roots.
