PD Editorial: Pitching in to get past ‘Sonoma Uncertain’

We've written before about milestones and setbacks on the road back from last fall's devastating wildfires.

And there will be plenty of both for a long time to come.

To that end, Keith Woods, the always quotable executive director of the North Coast Builders' Exchange, may have coined a second slogan for the recovery.

“There's not only the theme of Sonoma Strong,” he told Staff Writer Kevin McCallum. “We're also Sonoma Uncertain.”

Woods was specifically addressing the cloudy time frame for rebuilding the 5,283 housing units destroyed in the fires, but he could just as easily have been talking about the local economy.

There has been plenty of good economic news in the past six months, capped by the most recent unemployment report, which put Sonoma County's jobless rate at an 18-year-low of 2.8 percent in March. The economists most familiar with the region, including Robert Eyler of Sonoma State University, foresee continued growth despite the fires.

That's the Sonoma Strong.

We hear the Sonoma Uncertain from business owners such as Jimmy Chen of Kaede Japanese Restaurant in Larkfield, where hundreds of homes were destroyed by the Tubbs fire. Many of Chen's regular customers have moved on, leaving him to contemplate closure of his business when his lease expires at the end of the year. “Most of them came here just to say goodbye,” he said.

The cleanup crews that provided a short boost for Molsberry's Market and other small businesses in the Larkfield Shopping Center have moved on, too.

Meanwhile, post-fire replacement of cars, furniture, clothing and other lost times has slowed down.

And businesses that rely on tourists are anxiously wondering how many visitors will arrive this summer. Tim Zahner, the chief operating officer of the county's tourism agency, says an uptick in visits to the visitor's bureau website is a reason for optimism.

“Did we lose business after the fires?” he asked. “Of course. But are we seeing signs of more people signaling an interest in coming here? We are.”

Sonoma County residents generously donated millions of dollars to relief efforts for fire victims, and we can help local businesses get through these uncertain times, too.

This may be a good year for a staycation and to explore restaurants and other businesses in the areas hit hardest by last October's fires. Buying something through Amazon or another online supplier may be cheaper or more convenient, but dollars spent in local stores will directly benefit this community in a time of uncertainty.

The uncertainty should ease as homes are rebuilt.

And there has been some promising news on that front, with 135 permits issued for rebuilds in Santa Rosa, and 75 homes, including 50 in Coffey Park, under construction.

Two developers are moving ahead on large-scale projects in nearby Larkfield, with the first home expected to be done in June. Elsewhere in the county, 11 permits have been issued in Glen Ellen, four in Kenwood and one in Sonoma.

These are small steps, given the scale of last fall's disaster. But they reflect a certainty: Sonoma County is on its way back.

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