Newsletters

April 11, 2022

The opinions expressed in the Soapbox are not necessarily the opinions of the ECA. I am speaking my own mind and not stating any collective ECA opinions.

***

Did You, or Didn’t You?

As we approach 30 days until voting commences in Sonoma County and Marin County, I want to do more to see that David Rabbitt wins reelection to the 2^nd District fof Sonoma County Supervisor. While I also want to see James Gore win, his race is not as contentious and competitive as Rabbitt’s. For those that live in Marin County, I also understand there are a few political races of great importance for you as well. I will speak to those in a later Soapbox. This Soapbox is intended to reach out to those that are in a position to influence employees, coworkers, neighbors, friends and family, and ask them if they are doing all they can to ensure Rabbitt does get reelected.

Hopefully, I do not need to speak to the reasons why Rabbitt is the best candidate for Supervisor. His track record is exemplary, and his work ethic is admirable. He is known as the “budget hawk” that watches out for our tax dollars and refuses to bend to pressures that try to get the Supervisors to vote on frivolous and costly stuff like buying the Sears property. Rabbitt held firm on that fiasco, and ultimately the deal was mercifully killed (Sonoma County scraps plan for government headquarters in downtown Santa Rosa (pressdemocrat.com)).

Rabbitt is being challenged by a former staffer from Jared Huffman, Blake Hooper.

In the recent debate, here is a direct quote from Blake Hooper–“It doesn’t make sense to develop out our county that much further,”.

I don’t know about you, but I believe basic economics would tell you that if a community does not continue to have some sustainable growth, businesses are not going to stick around, workers will not have a place to live, and young people who want to have a good paying job and a healthy community to raise their children, will look elsewhere to put down their roots and call it home.

Blake Hooper is from the political camp that wants to drain Lake Pillsbury, give money to everybody (yes-including homeless and non-citizens), and get more money from anybody who is still working and paying taxes so they can pay for the ever increasing costs of County services being paid by fewer and fewer people.

Blake wanted to have the County buy the Sears site, and obviously does not understand construction costs as he claimed the cost of building an 18 story office complex on an 8 acre downtown site that the County did not own, would be the same as building on an 80 acre site that the County does own. Want Blake to be your contractor?

Enough said, I hope. We cannot afford to have Rabbitt lose to this guy. So how can we help David Rabbitt? Let me give you a few ideas:

Put up a sign on your land, or your yard. To get signs contact Andrea Krout at 707-799-9932. She can arrange to get signs put up and taken down. Can political involvement be any easier?
Become an endorser for David Rabbitt. (Contact David Rabbitt’s Reelection Campaign)
Contribute to David Rabbitt’s campaign reelection (Contact David Rabbitt’s Reelection Campaign)
Talk to your family and friends and make sure they know which candidate is going to actually do the work as a Supervisor. Be an influencer. Influence them.
Let your employees and co workers know, to ensure their futures, they need to vote for the candidate that has done the work before to support their jobs, and will continue to do the work to support their jobs.
Let your subcontractors and suppliers know the best way to keep working together, is to have opportunities to bid on projects and only one candidate is the best option for that!
Write a quick letter to the editor (believe me the other guy is doing it-there is a letter writing campaign starting now to support Hooper and we need to be doing the same thing!):
Press Democrat-Letters, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Bay Area Newspaper, CA news

B. Argus Courier-Online Services | timesargus.com

Bohemian-Submit a Letter | Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Sonoma County Gazette-Submit an article or column (sonomacountygazette.com)

Sample Letter Templates: click on this here, use the template of your choice, please modify it with some of your own words, and follow the directions in A:D to send it to one, or all of the local newspapers

Social Media-many of you have Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn accounts. Post something positive and constructive that Rabbitt has done for the community. Make it fun and positive!
Pick up a sign at the ECA Public Officials Night on Thursday, April 14, and put it up in your yard! I have arranged to have signs there for you to pick up!

When the votes are done being counted for this critical race, will you be able to look in the mirror and tell yourself

“I supported Rabbitt as best I could”?

Did you, or didn’t you?

For all of our sake, let’s hope you did!

That’s All Folks!

John

February 14, 2022

ECA Newsletter

2-14-2022

John’s Soapbox

The opinions expressed in the Soapbox are not necessarily the opinions of the ECA. I am speaking my own mind and not stating any collective ECA opinions.

***

Stay Put!

Last Tuesday the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors discussed moving forward with purchasing 7 plus acres where the vacated Sears Building currently stands by the Santa Rosa Mall. I am happy to report at least two of the Supervisors were able to delay the $21 million purchase of this property unless and until more information is processed on the overall costs of well over $1.2 billion has happened. Supervisor Rabbitt and Hopkins expressed their reluctance to “pull the trigger” on buying the Sears site until staff has provided a plan that they can study and discuss on how to finance the biggest dollar commitment the BOS has considered in several decades. This is a huge decision. And a complex set of circumstances needs to be thoroughly vetted and considered prior to moving forward, in my humble opinion.

To see a short view of the presentation staff presented, click on this link:

5-Presentation Sonoma Co

Now for the editorial part of this newsletter. Remember, this is my opinion only, not an official opinion of the ECA’s.

I hate the idea of moving County admin to Sears.

The County owns 82 acres of land easily accessible off of Steele Lane, Mendocino Avenue, and Bicentennial Way off of Highway 101. Currently, the County Courthouse, Jail, and the Sheriff are all on site and even if the County buys Sears, they will all stay at the current site off of Mendocino Avenue. Yes, the old admin buildings are old and in need of replacement. But they all sit on land the County owns and has control of, right now.

Here are some of the talking points that I have read and heard about supporting moving to the Sears site:

Close proximity to the bus terminal and SMART train.
Close proximity to the Federal and State buildings on the corner of E Street and Sonoma Avenues.
A County move of 1800 workers would revitalize downtown Santa Rosa merchants, bars and restaurants.
Moving County offices could “free up” land on the current County admin site for building much needed affordable housing that would be closer to Kaiser health care facilities.

All of the other arguments in favor of moving downtown have to do with getting rid of deferred maintenance costs which go away with either site, and with modernization of facilities that would be more energy efficient which also would be true with either site.

Here are some of the arguments against moving County administrations to the Sears site:

Construction would be more expensive-tougher site to build on-7.8 acres vs 82 acres to access and lay down and stage. Some estimates say the per square foot construction costs would be 20% higher at Sears site. Or more.
Advocates for the move are “hoping” that County workers will stay in the downtown area after work and go to restaurants, merchants, and bars. I do not think that will happen because it is pricey to go out in downtown SR (anybody been to CA Bianca lately?) and County workers are not highly compensated unless they are administration heads. County workers will simply go home after work. Downtown SR will not be “revitalized” with 1800 workers working at the old Sears site during the day.
Parking will be a nightmare. Advocates for the move are banking on County workers taking public transportation to and from work. “Not Gonna Happen” in my opinion. Most workers with families, have one or two stops to make at their lunch time, and/or after work to pick up kids, take kids to practice, go shopping for groceries, or other errands. Public transportation will not allow that freedom of movement, so I see most of the County workers driving to work. With less than 1200 parking spaces onsite and adjacent to the Sears site, ALL parking will be used up by workers, and NO parking will be available for residents and businesspeople to go get permits, meet the County staff, attend County Committee meetings, or otherwise go to the new County offices. People driving around looking for a parking spot will negate any benefit from carbon friendly construction of the new buildings!
Spreading out the County workers is the antithesis of efficiencies in my opinion. Right next door to our office at the NCBE is 37,000 sf of office space being leased by the County right now. All of the remote office rental space should be consolidated into a new County planned facility near the existing Courthouse and Jail which are not moving anytime soon. I think the benefit of having State and Federal offices near the Sears site is far less efficient overall than having all of the County on one 82-acre site.
If properly planned on the existing 82-acre site, the construction could be easily staged in such a manner as to make the operation of existing services cheaper than staying in the old buildings while new construction goes on at Sears. My thought would be put a bunch of modern trailers on site now, demo the existing buildings, construct the new 18 story facility, and maybe a “twin tower” somewhat smaller next to it, and then the move is onsite rather than across town. Much cheaper in the long run.
If the County thinks they can house 1800 employees on a 7.8-acre site at Sears, then certainly they could house all 4,000 employees on 40 acres at their current site. And with lots more parking spaces!! That leaves 42 acres they could develop for the much-needed affordable housing and a park like setting to enhance both the work environment and the ambiance for the affordable housing units.

I know my opinion is at odds with the Santa Rosa Metro and several of the current Supervisors. Either site will see the construction be under a Project Labor Agreement so there is not an advantage to labor either way. I just think it is “folly” to go to a very tight site that “hopes” workers will ride the bus to and from work, instead of how they get to their work now. If Sears is to be considered seriously, I would highly recommend/demand an intensive survey be done of all the County workers at their current and remote sites to see if they will ride public transit to and from work, and if they will hang out after work and eat and shop downtown. I bet the survey does not happen, but if it did, and the workers were honest, you would cross off Number 1 and 3 from my list above advocating for the move. And if a good plan for the existing County site can be developed to include affordable housing units, you could cross off Number 4 from my list advocating for the Sears site. That would leave the only good reason for moving to Sears being close proximity to the Federal and State buildings. No way would that reason wipe out the cost increase for building on the Sears site.

This to me in a no brainer. Stay put County!

That’s All Folks!

John

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B. Argus Courier-Online Services | timesargus.com

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