I’m
supporting Measure F, renewal of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation
and Open Space District (the “OSD.”) As
many know, I have not always been on the best of terms with the OSD. If you’ve
been reading my columns, two names will suffice as explanation: Lafferty and Pfendler. If these aren’t familiar, read www.laffertyranch.org/bkgrnder.htm or www.laffertyranch.org/history/timeline.htm.
A majority of our County Supervisors has consistently supported the privacy
desires of power-broker Peter Pfendler over the
interests of anyone who likes to walk to the top of their local mountain.
Now those Supervisors
are asking us to support Measure F, the Sonoma County ballot proposition that
would extend the life of the OSD for a second 20 years. Despite the many
benefits of the District, I was having a hard time endorsing an organization
whose directors – the Supes -- have driven my
colleagues and I to spend thousands of volunteer hours over the past 14 years
trying to protect the public’s right to enjoy public property at Lafferty.
But, as
they say, that’s history… so I’ve come around to an unqualified “Yes on F!”. After all, things aren’t so grim. Cynthia Murray’s
endorsement of Pfendler’s “no-access” position on
Lafferty and his $5200 donation to her campaign failed to get her elected to State
Assembly. Before long we’ll break his
grip on the Board of Supervisors. If in the meantime our City Council is ever
so shrunken-hearted as to attempt selling Lafferty for some quick cash, I’m
confident we can recreate the events of 1996 that saved Lafferty and secured a
pro-Lafferty majority on the Council. I’m sad that my youngest son, who was
five when he last walked across the top of Lafferty in 1995, may be gone for
college before it’s open. But there
are other good things that can be done while we wait.
Despite
(and perhaps because of) their Lafferty debacle, the OSD has made a lot of
progress since 1997, when the 2nd District’s representative to the
OSD Authority told me that the District simply could not purchase land for
parks. He was wrong, technically and politically. Thanks in part to pressure
from Lafferty supporters county-wide, the OSD has learned that people want open
space that is *open* to the public. They began a vigorous and successful
campaign to acquire parklands, often in cooperation with cities. The OSD has
worked with Petaluma to secure property that will connect the new water
treatment wetlands to an enlarged Shollenberger Park.
They are getting involved in the plan to preserve the Paula Lane property, as
well as McNear Peninsula, and other nearby locations.
There are several
other good reasons to support Measure F. To solve the problem of having new
parklands for which there is no budget to open and run, the new charter allows
10% of the collected funds to cover operation and maintenance costs. Responding
to local sustainability advocates, the OSD’s new
Acquisition Plan places a higher emphasis on urban separator purchases that
double as urban edge farms, providing fresh organic food for local schools,
restaurants, and soup kitchens.
I’m most
excited about the OSD – and Petaluma’s soon to be adopted General Plan -- enabling
the Petaluma Ring Trail. The Ring Trail will be an unbroken 25 mile “necklace”
of trails and paths encircling Petaluma, with small parks, peaks, playing
fields and community farms as jewels along the strand (read about it at www.bruce-hagen.com/ringtrail.htm.) Completing this necklace
will require gaining public easements across private property, either through
donation, as a condition of permitting development, or through purchase of the
easement. It’s a wonderful opportunity for an OSD-City partnership to create a
variety of accessible open spaces that are within walking and bicycling distance
of City residents.
One need
only look at the endless subdivisions and shopping centers in Solano or Contra
Costa Counties to see what sprawl pressures can create. A renewed Open Space
District will help Sonoma County, and Petaluma, continue down a different path.
It may be a few more years before we can visit Lafferty – our crown – but in
the meantime we can be creating and enjoying the Petaluma Ring Trail necklace.