I’ve spent months talking to people around South Sonoma County and beyond to build this platform. We will continue to roll out new issues in the weeks ahead. If you want to find out more, please email me so we can find time to talk.
The time for change is now. The people to make it happen are in this campaign. Please read below, and then join us!
Want to know more? Reach out and someone from the campaign will answer your questions.
Housing that’s in reach for everyone
To build a life in Sonoma County, you need a home in Sonoma County. Everyone in Sonoma County deserves the dignity of secure, affordable, and safe housing. We’ve been in a housing crisis for over a decade: young people who grew up in South County have to move out to find a home they can afford. Seniors in South County are increasingly unable to keep their homes, let alone retire here near their families. Service workers have to commute for hours from neighboring counties, while many of us commute the opposite way to stay here. More and more people find themselves homeless in South County.
We need a leader who can bring the county and our cities together to build a regional approach to housing that will let more people imagine their future in Sonoma County.
As your Supervisor, I will work to:
- Fast-track housing projects that focus on easy access to public and active transit over the next 4 years by building meaningful partnerships between cities and the county
- Develop a general plan update to take effect within 4-6 years to enable development of more affordable housing through infill projects, and the transit corridors to support that housing, while minimizing sprawl
- Turn the county into a region-wide funding body for affordable housing
- Provide tools to our cities so that they can be effective partners in meeting our region’s housing needs
- Build a regional approach to housing with our cities so new development aligns regional transit, equity, and climate goals
- Plan for our future water supply to allow for equitable housing growth, even in drought years
- Pass countywide tenant rights so that more people have the opportunity to live in stable, long-term housing
- Lead at the county level with our cities to address the homelessness crisis in South County
Building resilience to our changed climate
Our climate is changing and Sonoma County has already felt the impact of that change. Our summers are longer, hotter, and drier than ever, and we’re now in our second once-in-a-lifetime drought in the last decade. We could predict the current drought was coming. Our county should have planned in advance for this moment, but we lacked the leadership to do so. Let’s not make that mistake again.
We need a leader who understands that we need to mitigate and adapt to our changing climate right now, a leader who will work with our cities and communities to reduce our impacts on climate change and work to reach, and move beyond, net zero carbon emissions.
As your Supervisor, I will work to:
- Immediately plan how we can shore up our water supply when rain returns, so we’re better prepared for the next drought
- Ensure that our housing growth isn’t at odds with our climate response
- Support Sonoma Clean Power to invest in large-scale solar projects, and work with businesses to get more solar installations on industrial and commercial properties
- Lead development of more grid-scale batteries, and encourage municipal microgrids, so we can be resilient during PG&E power shutoffs
- Increase incentives for residential solar, especially on rental properties
- Build public engagement programs to help South County residents understand how they can contribute to reducing climate change
- Include climate and drought-restricting goals as part of the county’s binding planning processes, and build alignment to make sure our cities do the same
- Grow our EV (electric vehicle) charging network, especially in remote coastal areas, to make sure drivers are supported following the City of Petaluma gas station moratorium
- Investigate a gas station moratorium in unincorporated areas
- Help build sustainable agricultural and dairy practices throughout Sonoma County, to ensure our land, and our dairy and agriculture industries thrive for generations to come
Accountability for Law Enforcement
Building a life here means everyone feeling safe here, and actually being safe here. Effective law enforcement requires mutual accountability: for law enforcement to fulfill its special position of ensuring accountability in society, society needs to trust that law enforcement is also accountable to the public. We have a culture where our Sheriff’s Office is unwilling to be subject to scrutiny, let alone be held accountable to the public.
We need a leader who will stand up for transparency and accountability over our law enforcement agencies, and will stand up for South County’s overwhelming demand for effective oversight of our Sheriff’s Office.
As your Supervisor, I will work to:
- Encourage a culture of mutual accountability between our community and law enforcement
- Ensure success of our Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO) as a meaningful and effective community oversight body for our Sheriff’s Office
- Provide that future IOLERO directors are recruited through a nationwide search
- Increase the scrutiny of expensive settlements of law enforcement-related lawsuits
- Build IOLERO’s capability to offer contract services that support city’s police oversight boards
- Increase the scrutiny of the Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s budgets
- Create specialized response teams for mental health incidents independent from law enforcement units, and offer these as a contract service to our cities and towns
Inclusive, Transparent and Accountable Community Engagement
Building a life here means trusting that your leaders will have your back, and be there for you. In South County, our Supervisor doesn’t show up at community meetings or during crises, doesn’t take the time to understand our concerns, and has a habit of blaming other people when things go wrong.
We need a leader who is ready to show up for you, who understands the value of accountability, and understands that we need to work together if we want to build a better community together.
As your Supervisor, I will work to:
- Provide equitable language access in all public events that I host or am invited to, in Spanish, ASL, and other languages commonly spoken in each community as needed
- Build a true community-focused engagement process for board appointments I oversee, with proactive outreach to historically underserved and relevant community groups
- Hold regular town halls in each city and unincorporated community in the district, scheduled in advance, even when we’re not in a crisis
- Increase access to the Supervisor’s office by meeting people where they are, holding regular office hours throughout the district, Coffees with your Supervisor, emailing a regular newsletter and remaining active on social media
- Encourage a publish-by-default attitude throughout the County, so that vital information isn’t hindered by the records request process
- Propose a Sunshine Ordinance to improve the community’s trust in the county by increasing community awareness of the time and purpose of county meetings, decision-making timetables, access to records, and access to participation in meetings
- Establish clear, accessible language standards in county communication, making sure important documents are easy for the public to read and understand, with translations easily available whenever people need them
- Create municipal, city-style representation for unincorporated neighborhoods in District 2
