The Issues We face

• We don't need 4 more years of the same thinking and same "solutions" that come out of our pockets at tax time with nothing to show for it. 
• Residents of District 5 are routinely not represented and kept out of the loop of major decisions that affect safety, home ownership, property values, and livelihoods.
• We need balanced political interests, greater perspective from life and small business experience, and common sense represented in the Santa Rosa City Council to address the challenges we face right now and in the years to come.

Santa Rosa's District 5 has seen a dramatic increase in its population without the infrastructure to support this growth.

• Has anyone asked where are all these people coming from and who is telling them to come here? There has to be a reason beyond chance.
• Our officers need support to enforce city codes and laws effectively. Utilizing professionals in mental health and substance abuse to support response calls is an idea worth exploring. Defunding police: no.
• We need more funding for the recruitment, training and retention in our police, Sheriff's and fire departments. Our officers and agents need encouragement and to know their community appreciates the profession they choose to do voluntarily. If Sonoma County can find money to create a $1 million Office of Equity (with no apparent opposition from our current City Council), surely we can support our officers in their growth and development.  

We have to get back to the basics of a civil society and be motivated to uphold our local civic duty. 

• The same rules must apply to everyone.  
• Our streets have increased traffic, more red light violations, and reckless drivers. Trash is strewn regularly on both highways and local streets and into storm drains. We don't have to accept this.
• General lawlessness and uncaring has become the norm. When street lamps are out, streets and landscapes go neglected, residents' morale goes down. Every precinct within the District must reflect the standards we set for our city. 

Our Housing First model is not enough to break the cycle of homelessness  that have been policy priorities year after year and affect District 5 directly. We must demand results from strategic partnerships and re-open long-term care facilities. 

• Enabling unhoused or temporarily housed substance abusers, criminal vagrants and possible sex offenders to congregate and be anonymous within the community does not create a safe environment for elderly, women, children nor those LGBTQ in our community. 
• Establish community markers of success. Programs and projects need significant oversight, measurable outcomes, and high levels of accountability. A hand up, not a hand out.
• Support for certified apprenticeships and training programs in the trades, firefighting, and agriculture. Self-sufficiency is an achievable goal.   
• Women need to be empowered in these assessments and conversations about housing, locations of halfway houses and group homes, and when state and federal prisoners are released into the community because of COVID-19 preventative measures. 

End wasteful spending and the support of wasteful spending. 

• The $10 million makeover to "revitalize" Downtown. 
• A City Council Member living in Ecuador while holding public office. 
• The $123 million Caritas Village project right in the St. Rose Historic District. 
• A proposed $15 million purchase of the Hotel Azura, breaking down to $341,000 per individual permanently housed at a motel. Ridiculous. *Edit: $11 million as of October 9, 2020. Still about $250,000 per individual.
• Neighborhood residents and business owners are unanimously opposed, but again and again go unheard and unsupported by the City Council.

There is already a heavy tax burden on property owners and small businesses, increased insurance premiums and a drop in property values that has come with the increase in vagrancy, crime and apathy. We have to support the residents of the community who are producers and housed and stretched thin with equal vigor as we have for the more vulnerable members of our community.

• Excessive rent control and just cause eviction laws do little to solve the problem of housing, homelessness and affordable housing. 
• California has enough laws in place to support tenants and very few—if any—in support of landlords. Proactive landlords making annual improvements to their rental properties should get a local tax rebate.
• Mom-and-pop landlords in our community are reliant upon rents for primary income. When tenants don't pay, these folks can lose their property. Where is the equity in that?

As a city, we have proved our resilience in fires, floods and other emergencies, but we must also prepare our youth for life off-line and our precincts within District 5 for survival in the worst economic times.

• Resident evacuation readiness, emergency shelters and temporary housing for fire evacuees will be a policy priority. We can prepare for these events before the fires ignite.  
• There are excellent models for sustainability, trainings for personal safety and traditional communications tools to keep us informed and engaged in extreme situations that we need to fund and implement.