SRT Newsletter Issues: What's Happening in Southwest Santa Rosa?

Greetings!

As you may recall, the Santa Rosa Together Steering Committee recently adopted a set of Strategic Initiatives for 2015. One key initiative is focused on southwest Santa Rosa (SWSR) and the Roseland Annexation. The key objectives for this initiative are:

1.   SRT will partner with others to form and then work in a broad coalition of community leaders and organizations to:

• Ensure that the residents in SWSR have a strong and organized voice in ongoing city and county outreach efforts, and
• Work with community leaders to form a community-wide organization in SWSR that is community led and gives the community a strong and organized voice

2.  SRT, working as a part of the broad coalition, will work in and with the existing city and county outreach efforts to ensure that:

• The efforts are coordinated to ensure that community participation is maximized and that the participation helps to build the capacity of the community to work together
• The community has a strong and informed voice in the process
• The community’s voice is heard and incorporated into outcomes
• The need for an ongoing community voice and organization in SWSR is discussed and supported

SRT members have been active participants in the Roseland Area Projects Steering Committee (the advisory group to the Santa Rosa Roseland Area Specific Plan and the Roseland Annexation Process) and community meetings held in June. SRT members Arthur Deicke, Gregory Fearon, and Pat Kuta are representing SRT on the Roseland Area Projects Steering committee. SRT member Duane DeWitt is also on the Steering Committee as a representative of Roseland Action. SRT members Beth Dadko, Lee Dibble, and Hank Topper have also been involved in various SWSR projects. An update on the Roseland Area Projects was presented to the Santa Rosa City Council on August 11. Click here to read the staff report for more details.

Several SRT steering committee members met with City Manager Sean McGlynn in mid-June to discuss concerns regarding the lack of coordination between the many projects impacting Roseland and the broader southwest area. In addition, members emphasized the importance of city support for the development of a strong community based organization in southwest Santa Rosa.  The city has taken the following steps to address our coordination concerns:

•  City staff participates in monthly meeting of representatives from all projects impacting SWSR to provide updates and coordinate plans. A group calendar was created for coordination of meetings/events in SWSR to avoid conflicts.
• The city has recently made changes to the Roseland project web site -- adding Spanish translations; adding a new page listing all the projects underway in SWSR; and launching an online survey and discussion group to provide another way for the community to provide inputs to the Roseland Area Specific Plan and Annexation projects.

Less progress has been made in developing a strong community based organization in SWSR, so Santa Rosa Together, working with the forming SWSR Health Action Chapter, and others, will focus in the coming months on helping the residents of SWSR form the organization they will need to monitor implementation of current planning efforts and take the lead in the ongoing work to strengthen their community.  Overall, the city now seems to be taking community engagement seriously, but there is still a lot of room for improvement and more work to be done.

Finally, we are excited to announce the launch of a campaign to fund a library in Roseland, something the community has dreamed about for many years. To learn more about the plans for the Roseland library and how you can help make it a reality, go to https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/roseland-village-library/x/8197669#/story.

If you have any questions or feedback on SRT’s work in SWSR, please contact Pat Kuta, Gregory Fearon, or Tanya Narath.