Santa Rosa council candidates debate issues at chamber breakfast

The race for Santa Rosa City Council is warming up as eight of the nine candidates on the ballot outlined their visions for the city’s future Thursday morning, with two more public debates right around the corner.

As they seek to fill three seats open on the council this fall, the candidates used the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce’s “Wake up Santa Rosa” event as an opportunity to introduce themselves to the business community and explain where they stand on issues such as economic development and the perceived dysfunction at City Hall.

“The good news is change is coming to Santa Rosa,” former Press Democrat columnist and SMART rail spokesman Chris Coursey said. “The question is what kind of change will that be?”

Several candidates noted that the arrival of a new city manager next week combined with three new council members - no incumbents are running this year - make this election an important opportunity for voters to change the course of city politics.

“I think we are in an exciting new time where we can actually make some change here,” said land use attorney Ashle Crocker.

Most candidates stressed how they would try to change the working environment at City Hall, which has been marred by bitter infighting.

Lee Pierce, a former councilman and lobbyist for a local recycling company, said if elected he would propose council members go on a retreat and dine together regularly after council meetings.

“You have got to get to know one another as people and human beings before you can try to work together,” Pierce said.

Councilman John Sawyer, who previously served with Pierce on the council, seconded that idea, saying that breaking bread with fellow council members is an important way to improve council relations.

“That culture in City Hall, in some ways, doesn’t exist,” Sawyer said.

Crocker, a member of the city’s Open Government Task Force, stressed that she’s working hard on that body to propose policies that could clarify some of the transparency issues dividing the council.

“It seems that there has been some confusion on council and (with the) city attorney as to what’s open government, what’s closed government,” Crocker said.

Issues aired during the forum included reining in pension costs, reunifying Old Courthouse Square, the militarization of the police and the need to stimulate economic development.

Former Santa Rosa Police Chief Tom Schwedhelm cautioned that there are limits, however, to what the city can accomplish with its revenue base, and council members need to set priorities.

“If everyone tries to please everyone on every thing, I’m sorry there’s only so much money to support that,” Schwedhelm said.

Most seemed to agree, however, that robust economic development was the key to expanding the tax base and giving the city more money to work with.

“I do believe that the largest number of ills in this community could be solved by having more money and more resources to get the job done of improving our city,” Sawyer said.

Coursey suggested he’d focus on downtown economic development, backing the reunification of Old Courthouse Square and implementation of transit-?oriented development plans for the areas around the city’s two future stations planned by Sonoma-?Marin Area Rail Transit, for which he previously worked as spokesman.

Crocker, whose practice focuses on environmental law, said she’d like to help Santa Rosa become the “family-friendly stop on the wine tour” by supporting the development of restaurants, boutique hotels and family attractions. Crocker is a married mother of young twins.

“I think our motto is live, work and play. I live here, I work here, I want to do more to help us play here, and I’

The theme of change versus experience popped up throughout the forum, where candidates with less political experience stressed their independence and fresh ideas while those with more experience highlighted their trustworthiness and ties to City Hall.

“To be the change that you want to be - that’s what we were taught in my household,” said Curtis Byrd, a blood bank spokesman and planning commissioner.

Coursey urged people to vote for the “real change” he claimed to represent instead of settling for “moving that partisan line a smidgen one way or another.”

“The reason that I’ll be different is I’ll put my city first, with no agenda, no partisan politics,” he said.

By contrast, Sawyer, who served two terms on the council, Pierce, who served one, and Schwedhelm stressed their past public service as reasons they could be trusted to lead the city forward.

“I have a three-decade track record of community service that I believe will serve this community well,” said Schwedhelm, who retired from the Police Department in 2013.

One odd element emerged during the forum when Keith Rhinehart tried to align himself with Coursey and Crocker, repeating the line “Vote Rhinehart, Coursey and Crocker for Santa Rosa City Council.” Coursey and Crocker appeared perplexed by the move and said afterward their campaigns have no association with Rhinehart, who lives in Wikiup and says he is looking for a place to live in the city while he runs. At one point Rhinehart even referred to Crocker as his “running mate,” though he later said he had misspoken.

Anti-war activist Colleen Fernald, a Sebastopol resident who also claims to be looking for a place to live in the city, also participated in the event. Santa Rosa resident Chuck Simms did not attend.

The forum was the first of several aimed at helping voters make informed choices this election season.

The next is hosted by the North Bay Organizing Project. It takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Community Baptist Church, 1620 Sonoma Ave.

The League of Women Voters holds its candidates’ forum at 6 p.m. Monday in the City Council Chambers, 100 Santa Rosa Ave.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.