Sonoma council race touches on housing, tourism, water issues
Ken Brown isn’t ready to relinquish his seat on the Sonoma City Council, one that he has held for 16 years, making him one of the longest serving council members in the city’s history.
But Brown, 67, will have to fend off a host of challengers if he wants a fifth term. He is the lone incumbent among eight candidates, including a city planning commissioner, retired fundraiser, personal trainer and a doctor, competing for three open seats on the council Nov. 4. Mayor Tom Rouse and Councilman Steve Barbose are not running for re-election.
The candidates have called on the city to create more affordable housing, secure its water supply and balance residents’ needs as tourism continues to expand.
Brown said there’s more he wants to see done on the council, including higher-profile crosswalk striping to make the city safer for pedestrians and approving a ban on smoking in housing complexes and public areas like the historic Plaza.
Last week, he and fellow council members voted unanimously to table until after the election discussions on a measure that could tighten regulations on tobacco retailers. The move pushed off talks on a smoking ban to the beginning of next year, after new council members settle in.
Brown, who first ran unsuccessfully in 1996 and two years later ousted incumbent Dick Dorf by one vote, has won his last three elections with greater margins, despite each race drawing numerous candidates.
“I’m not done,” Brown said. “I’m a much better council member now than ever before.”
The council has no term limits, which doesn’t sit well with Andrew Sawicki, a podiatrist and political newcomer. Without such limits, council members can become complacent and not focus on residents’ needs, he said.
“It just becomes your lifestyle,” he said. “I always felt that at any level (of government) there should be term limits.”
A 27-year Sonoma resident, Sawicki, 59, got his first taste of politics earlier this year when he fought against local government officials’ plans to create a water detention basin in the Montini Preserve near his home to control flooding.
He said his patients aired their city grievances with him and encouraged him to run. One of their top issues: the number of vacation home rentals popping up around the city, a popular local destination for tourists. He said some of his patients saw homes in their neighborhood turn into “big frat houses.”
“No one was policing them,” Sawicki said.
The city has been going after unlicensed vacation rentals for more than a year, seeking to halt the operations and collect back taxes. Sawicki called for tighter regulations on vacation rentals. He is one of several candidates to stress that residents, not tourists, be the focus of city decision-making, starting with moves to address traffic congestion in town.
“When I came here, it was more of a cow town,” he said, adding that “tourism is a good thing. But we can’t let them take us by the neck.”
Cameron Stuckey, 46, a personal trainer who sits on Sonoma’s Community Services and Environment Commission, agreed the city should focus more on local residents and their needs. He said he’s seen an imbalance for the past decade or so as more tourists have flooded the streets.
“Tourism went from a seasonal thing to a year-round thing,” Stuckey said.
Sonoma should provide more activities for residents and more incentives that attract small businesses and retain local shoppers, Stuckey said. He also wants to see more homes that firefighters, teachers, nurses and others in the workforce can afford to buy. A recent report revealed that 90 percent of Sonoma’s workforce lives outside of the city of 11,000 residents.
“There needs to be a shift in focus in our town,” he said.
Stuckey, along with candidate Madolyn Agrimonti, a former mayor of Daly City and retired fundraiser, ran two years ago for a council seat but lost.
Agrimonti, 67, said she’d favor strengthening a city rent-control regulation for mobile home parks to ensure seniors and families aren’t pushed out of their housing.
She also backed stronger limits on vacation rentals. “We have to find a way to protect these people who live here,” she said. “They’re changing the nature of neighborhoods.”
Agrimonti has touted her experience in government and various community service groups, including past stints with the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation and Sonoma Community Center. She is a current board member of the Sonoma Valley Health and Recreation Association, which recently secured enough cash to purchase the former Paul’s Resort in El Verano to build a public aquatic center. She said she also plans to push for improvements to sport fields and bike paths and has cited water conservation as a top priority.
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