KRCB News Feed

Live Radio

Get our free mobile app

Feed from KRCB News

: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 11 February 2022

Cloverdale leaders Wednesday rejected an appeal, bringing 75 affordable apartments there a little closer to reality.

There's still plenty that could delay or scupper the plan entirely, but barring a lawsuit, financing remains the only major obstacle.

While the project would bring desperately-needed living space within reach of farm workers and others with modest incomes, locals asked the city council to overturn approvals. Their attorney argued bonuses allowing more units and fewer parking spaces shouldn't have been granted.

Recent state housing laws reduced local oversight, especially of affordable housing proposals, something attorney Ron Dering bemoaned. "This density bonus law, it's really an alien piece of legislation and it basically co-opts the ability of the city council to make what used to be a discretionary decision, it basically turns you in to a ceremonial role."

The affordability means more units can be built. As a 'transit oriented development,' fewer parking spaces are needed.

The transit part is a misnomer. There's scant bus service and train service is years away. Council Member Gus Wolter. "I'm not against housing, low income housing, any type of housing, but I don't like the problems that this development is causing the city. I just think it's absolutely despicable that the state would make us give this type of concessions to a development."

City Attorney Jose Sanchez agreed new state laws hamper most local intervention.

"The state law has really handcuffed the city as to the narrow circumstance under which that can be considered."

Addressing the council, local resident Angela says the site, on a road with a 45 mile per hour speed limit is a real danger. "The lighting? It's pitch black. There's no lights at all. I mean, like somebody said earlier, 'going out to your car in the evening, you're just out there playing Frogger, waiting to get killed."

City officials say they will start applying for state and federal grants to pay for lighting, sidewalks and other improvements.

: Written by: Mark Prell; Published: 11 February 2022

This week the Sonoma County board of supervisors authorized a three-year lease agreement with CAL FIRE for use of facilities at the county's 241-acre Los Guilicos Campus.

Sonoma County has been without its own residential camp for hand crews for 30 years. So, this new deal for a year-round live-in fire camp is an exciting opportunity.

CalFire Division Chief Ben Nichols said, “We are super excited to bring this resource back to the county. Fire crews play an instrumental role in our major wildland fires across the state. They’re the ones that help us bring fires under control and contain those wildfire events.”

According to Nichols, the California prison inmate fire crews that used to live at the Black Mountain camp off Fort Ross Road in Cazadero were downsized in the early 1990s.

Ironically, this new site is a former juvenile detention center, but it won’t be housing inmate firefighters. “Through a series of realignments and sentencing changes, that pool of available inmates is not what it was,” Nichols said. “So, we’re looking to alternate resources to be able to maintain fire crews.”

“This facility will be what we call seasonal Firefighter One’s that are nine-month employees,” he explained. “Day to day there will be twelve firefighters and two fire captains supervising that one crew.”

In all, forty-six personnel will be assigned to the facility, according to Nichols.

But it’s going to take a little work to get the campus up and running. “We’re working closely with the county to rehabilitate the building because it has been uninhabited for a handful of years, explained Nichols. “They’re looking at transitioning the facility to us April first. And then there’s going to be some additional work we need to do to make it inhabitable for the firefighter crews,” he said.

Nichols said his department is looking to have the facility up and running by peak fire season in July. But come April first, it’s all hands on deck.

“Oh, yes,” he exclaimed. “Firefighters, outside of firefighting, spend a lot of time doing station maintenance, so this is just like a fire station, only a new facility to us.”

The agreement with the county includes a zero-dollar lease, but the cost of all maintenance, upkeep, and utilities will be borne by Cal Fire.

Nichols said the arrangement couldn't be any more of a win-win.

"This facility is a unique opportunity as we expand the CalFire firefighter crew program because obviously there's not a lot of facilities that can house forty people that are vacant, that allow us to move in and staff a crew out of it,” he said. “So this was a great partnership with the county to occupy an unoccupied building on their property and bring an additional resource back into the county to help us with future wildfires."

And the facility will be unique in another way.

Nichols went on to say, “This facility will be different in that the conservation camps, that we run jointly with California department of corrections and rehabilitation, when they were initially constructed and put into the system, those camps, conservation camps, had space for five crews. At most camps there were five crews assigned into each camp. Obviously, that's a much larger facility. and so those were purpose-built conservation camps. As we transition to the [seasonal] Firefighter One crew model, we have converted some of those conservation camps to Fire Centers. And those now house two Firefighter One hand crews. So, those facilities have a total of eighty firefighters with their company officers assigned to them. as opposed to the Sierra Youth Center here that will be a one-crew facility. So,” Nichols said, “we're half the size of other Firefighter One fire centers that are being staffed up."

While smaller in size, the reestablishment of a year-round hand crew camp in Sonoma County is still a big step towards fighting wildfires, said Nichols.

“Hand crews or fire crews are a critical piece or our larger wildfires,” he explained. “When Black Mountain closed, that left Konocti Camp up in Lake County, and Delta Camp in Fairfield as the closest Cal Fire camps. So, when we have a fire here in the county, it's over an hour 's response time for that fire crew to arrive at the fire to assist our engine company and bulldozer personnel. So having a crew here in the heart of Sonoma County greatly reduces that response time for wildfires, but then also adds a resource that is able to assist with those critical pre-fire projects,” Nichols said.

Pre-fire vegetation management is a year-round activity, Nichols said, but is mainly accomplished outside of fire season, during the traditional wet months of the year.

While the county's designation for the facility is Sierra Youth Center, Nichols says the camp may adopt a new name.

"The crew that will be coming here is the Blue Ridge Crew,” he said. “They've been over in Solano County for the last two years. So we anticipate keeping the Blue Ridge name to give them ties to their roots when they were initially created," said Nichols.

: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 10 February 2022

There's no presidential election, yet some Sonoma County voters will cast as many as three ballots this year.

The first voting is just around the corner in Windsor. That's where, on April 12th, locals will choose from among three hopefuls vying to replace Sam Salmon on the town council. Salmon became mayor when alleged sex scandals drove Dominic Foppoli from office. Stephanie Ahmad, Evan Kubota and Michael Wall are the remaining candidates for the city-wide council seat. A fourth candidate, Jeffrey Leasure, withdrew from the race.

Ballots will be mailed March 14. New rules also change some of the mechanics of voting. Deva Proto, Sonoma County's clerk said there are several options voters can use to return ballots other than mailing them back. "They can also drop it at any of our ballot drop boxes, they can go drop it off at any of our vote center locations. Some of those will open 10 days before the election, some of them four days, our office will be open the full 29 days and then they can also vote in person at any of the locations."

On June 7th, voters county-wide choose candidates to fill four federal and a baker's dozen of state offices, along with judges and a half dozen county offices. Local seats include successors to District Attorney Jill Ravitch and Sheriff Mark Essick; neither are seeking re-election. Carla Rodriguez, a deputy district attorney is so far the only candidate running to replace Ravitch, while Eddie Engram, Dave Edmonds, Carl Tennenbaum and Kevin Burke compete for sheriff. The county clerk/recorder/assessor and auditor/controller/treasurer/tax collector will also be selected. Additionally, Supervisors David Rabbitt and James Gore are up for re-election. Rabbitt faces Petaluma Planning Commissioner Blake Hooper, while Gore is unopposed, at least for now.

While fundraising and endorsement battles are well underway, the official nomination period hasn't started. That means more candidates could emerge. "People are declared candidates, but they can't actually file to be on the ballot until Monday at the earliest." Proto said.

Races not decided in June will be settled, along with a laundry list of statewide propositions and initiatives, November 7th.

: Written by: Eli Walsh/Bay City News; Published: 09 February 2022

California's full-time workers will have access to up to 80 hours of COVID-specific paid sick leave through the end of September under a bill Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday.

The policy, which state lawmakers approved earlier this week, requires businesses with more than 25 employees to provide at least 40 hours of COVID-related paid sick leave to workers that get infected or care for another person who is sick.

Workers who present proof of their positive COVID test result are eligible for an additional 40 hours of paid leave. The policy is retroactive and applies to all workers who have or will contract the virus through Sept. 30, 2021.

"Businesses cannot thrive in a world that's failing," Newsom said during a signing ceremony at Nido's Backyard in Oakland. "And that's why sick leave is foundational: Keeping people healthy, keeping people safe is so important."

While California's employers are required to provide general paid sick leave to their workers, the state's paid sick leave policy specifically for workers exposed to COVID-19 or those exhibiting symptoms expired Sept. 30 last year.

That policy, which Newsom signed into law in March 2021, required employers with more than 25 employees to provide an additional 80 hours of paid leave, ensuring workers could avoid working when sick.

Also included in the legislative package Newsom signed is $6.1 billion in relief funding that includes some $500 million in tax relief for restaurants and venues that have received federal relief grants, $150 million in small business grants and $5.5 billion in tax credits and deductions for employers.

"This much-needed tax relief is not only essential for the immediate health of employers, but it also creates a pathway and lays the foundation for long-term economic recovery for our employers," California Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Barrera said.

The state has previously dispersed roughly $3.56 billion in pandemic relief grants to more than 300,000 businesses, Newsom said, and estimated that an additional 13,500 businesses would benefit from the funding package he signed Wednesday.

Newsom said that the state intends to make additional funding available, if necessary, to help business owners afford the cost of providing paid sick leave to COVID patients.

He added that state legislators have been highly cooperative about supporting the state's small businesses throughout the pandemic.
"There's no convincing or coercing this Legislature -- quite the contrary -- on helping our small businesses," he said. "And I would expect, as needs present themselves, we will indeed do more."