S.R. City Council Meeting, Tuesday, September 22nd

Greetings!

Thanks again to Anne Seeley of Concerned Citizens For Santa Rosa:

Friends:   This is an important Council meeting.  For me the most compelling subjects are Courthouse Square Reunification (CSR to me) and also the appeal of a Design Review Board decision on the North St. Apartment Project, which is the subject of the Public Hearing.

2PM Study Sessions

4.1 City Financing Options and Courthouse Square Reunification.  This is a helpful review of the various ways the Council might pay for the City's portion of this project.   Some of it (a new project design plan) is being donated, and there will be  a future donation drive for elaborations on the square after this first phase is complete.   The proposal is the work of a group of downtown property owners and advocates who have produced a much simplified plan for reunifying the square, building the 2 side streets and creation of a water-permeable central area.  In Report items, the Council will choose whether or not to proceed and if so, with which funding mechanism.

I plan to speak for the project in the later item.  Below is more information:

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4022756&GUID=FF5489F0-3532-4F0E-9143-86B00E2E93E3 CSR Financing

4.2 Development Impact Fee Revue, Session #2.  in this session the consultant , Walter Kieser of Economic and Planning Systems will present information on the possibility of a commercial linkage fee for housing, a summary of the concerns of stakeholders and will offer a menu of Impact Fee Options.   The Council will give direction to staff about how they wish to proceed.  BTW: Thanks to our Greenbelt Alliance NorthBay representative, stakeholders other than the building community were consulted.  Teri Shor assembled a group of longtime housing advocates, including me, to meet with the consultant.

The fees being considered for change are the Capital Facilities Fee (CFF), the Southwest Area Fee and Southeast Area fee (both instituted when area plans  were done for new development in those two parts of the city) and the Parks fee. 

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4022767&GUID=DA353E3E-7779-47FA-9AAE-7186ED11D925 Impact Fees

4PM General meeting

Consent

6.1 Proclamation for National Latino Heritage Month.

6.2 Proclamation for Assistant City Attorney Michael Casey, who is retiring.

Consent

12.4 Support of Transportation Funding.  The National Transportation Research Group listed the Santa Rosa area at 3rd in a list of 25 urban regions with populations between 125,000 and 500,000 for our share of major roads with pavement in poor condition that provide a rough ride.  City staff has provided the Council with a list of projects that might be funded by the League of California Cities.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4022996&GUID=2CFB7894-7E55-41C0-8E1A-1E8133FEBB13 Transportation Funding

Report

14.1 Financing Options for the Courthouse Square Reunification project.  It is recommended by the City Manager and the Chief Financial Officer that the the Council, by motion, select a financing method and direct staff to begin the process of pursuing the selected financing method to fund all or part of the project.  My opinion: It is time, I agree, for us to stop discussing and get on with this better project.

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4023041&GUID=D845443A-8C50-409D-864D-23CFA08217FD Courthouse Square funding

14.2 Authority to Issue Design-Build Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to build solar panel arrays on the rooftops of selected public parking structures.  Engineering studies have been done and a couple of downtown parking structures have been ruled out.

Public hearing

15,1 Appeal of the approval by the Design Review Board of the North Street Apartment project.  A complex of apartment buildings providing 20 apartments is proposed, involving a 3-story building next to a 2-story building on the site next to the Bekins warehouse on North St.  The neighbors are not objecting to something being built there; they object to the style of architecture, as not being compatible with the McDonald Avenue Historic Neighborhood to the east and the Ridgeway neighborhood to the west.  This will be difficult, as the City Council members are seeking housing development (although this is not a low-income project).  The architect took as his influences building in other places, not the local neighborhood styling and neighbors believe it doesn't live up to the city's infill policy. 

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4023357&GUID=58E6B205-32D1-4ACD-8F74-C8D59DE0D87B North St.

See you there!   Anne

Wednesday, Sep 30th, Paul Gullixson

League of Women Voters of Sonoma County invites you to -

THUMBS UP – THUMBS DOWN:

A look at what readers are talking about

featuring Paul Gullixson

Editorial Director, The Press Democrat

   Wednesday September 30, 2015

6:00 – 7:30 pm

Santa Rosa Central Library

211 E Street

Refreshments will be served

S.R. City Council, Sep 15th

Greetings!

Thanks to Anne Seeley of Concerned Citizens For Santa Rosa:

Hello friends!

The Council is holding a lot of Study Sessions over the next two months to help them fulfill their recently affirmed goals.    The one for Tuesday starts soon after 3PM and is titled:  

Fair Housing/Ordinance Banning Discrimination Against Persons who Use Housing Vouchers. This is an overview of what's happening and what the law says about it.

4PM Meeting 

Consent   There are several items for bid awards for products and services.

Report

13.1 The Community Advisory Board (CAB) will present its work plan for the coming year.  

   https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4013034&GUID=B5525AAB-A685-4AD5-BB14-1A7054F8168F CAB Workplan

13.3 Expedited Permitting for Small Rooftop Solar Systems

13.4 Water Bill Assistance Program.   The Council asked for this to help low-income people with increasing water bills.  It will allow all users to "round up" payments of their bills to fund assistance for low-income households.

Upcoming meetings:

https://santa-rosa.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=4011997&GUID=A41483E1-5F61-4156-9BDD-71038A6C162D Upcoming meetings

See you there!   Anne

Ideas for Civic Engagement

Greetings!

Here are some links to news of recent innovations in civic engagement, funded by the James L. Knight Foundation's Prototype Fund:

Public Space, Public Life

Reimagining the Civic Commons in PhiladelphiaInternet Archive

Open Data to Open Knowledge

CitizenDetroit
DIY Walkability Toolkit for Cities
Welcoming America, Welcoming Cities
Design Guidelines for Robust Engagement
PopUp Archive
Silicon Valley Talent Partnership
Veritza
Check out the Internet
Online Community Platform
GovLoop Academy
Open Data Philly
Jane's Walk
Creative Interventions Tours
Better Block
Better Block - Akron
Project for Lean Urbanism
Civic Insight
The Gov Lab

What community projects are you involved with?

Greetings!

SRT is interested in helping distribute information about what community projects our members are a part of.  Use the comments feature below to write up a short answer.  If needed, we'll contact you to gather more information to best inform all of us.

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.

SRT Newsletter Issues: Homelessness

Engaging our City to Address the Needs of the Homeless

Recently, SRT successfully advocated that the city establish a community dialogue on responding to homelessness as part of it’s approach to the affordable housing crisis we are experiencing.  We’d like to further explain our case for this approach.

1) This would not be just “Another Taskforce”

Addressing the needs of homeless people will not be accomplished by better coordination among and funding for our governments and not-for-profit organizations. We have all learned this lesson many times over in our work to address complex issues like preventing crime, improving education, and addressing environmental challenges.  Our governments and not-for-profits can do great work, but they, by themselves, do not have the resources or ability to address these issues.  We know that it takes a community-wide effort that can engage a broad number of our community members at all levels to make real progress on any of our complex challenges.  We need the resources and ideas of our community members at all levels to address the needs of the homeless.  Just as importantly, we need to find common ground and develop a common plan to address this issue so that we are all working together.

We don’t need another taskforce, we need a new process that can engage our community and provide an opportunity for everyone to contribute to the planning and work to address this issue.  We need a process that brings the expertise of our governments and not-for-profits together with the ideas and resources of our community and its many organizations to succeed.

2)   Broad engagement sounds like too much work. Is it worth it?

We have the opportunity to create a broad and effective community wide effort to address the needs of the homeless –an effort that could finally begin to address this issue in significant ways.  In addition, creating a process that brings everyone together, this effort will give us all a chance to get to know each other and learn how to work together more effectively.  This will be a major step forward for our city, increase our ability to address all of our future challenges, and begin to shape the kind of democracy we need to create a great city. 

3)  What would the process of truly engaging our community look like?

Let’s take a close look at an outline for this process, so that we all understand both the time and resources that would be required as well as the potential of that this kind of effort would have.  This outline is based on successful experiences in other cities that have worked to engage their communities.

·       To engage more of our community members and leaders, take this conversation out to the community by forming small groups for facilitated conversations.  Hold these conversations in our neighborhoods, organizations, churches, and schools to give a large number of community members a chance to have a voice and be part of the solution

·       Let’s set a target of at least 50 small group discussions

·       Let’s prepare well so that these discussions have the best chance to succeed:

·       Train facilitators for each of these discussions to ensure that everyone has a voice and to encourage listening and learning from each other,

·       Provide these small groups with the information they need for an informed discussion by forming a group (students, homeless leaders, homeless staff, interested community members, journalists) to produce discussion materials that frame the question, provide information on the homeless and current efforts to address their needs, and known options and costs for addressing the issue from best practices around the world.  Work with the Press Democrat to print and make these materials widely available.

·       Small groups will meet and discuss these materials and their own experiences and work together to find solutions

·       Ideas from small groups will be circulated on city web site and in PD

·       Representatives from all the small groups will convene in a city wide meeting to discuss and work towards a common plan for a community wide effort to meet the needs of the homeless.  Recommendations for City and County action will be presented to Council and the Board of Supervisors for consideration.  An organization, if necessary, will be established to implement the plan.

Let us know if you are interested in hosting or attending a neighborhood meeting on homelessness!  Contact us at:  Pkuta@sonic.net.