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: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 02 September 2021

A big chunk of Santa Rosa will be offered to the highest bidder Tuesday, as officials again try to off-load an abandoned 71-acre former hospital campus.

Largely vacant since Sutter Health relocated seven years ago, the last sale attempt failed after neighbors prevented it being sold to developer Bill Gallaher over a lack of environmental studies and reports.

South of Fountaingrove in rolling foothills east of 101, aside from a few county offices, there are few signs of activity on the wooded property, aside from the leavings of deer.

For the most part, nearby neighbors reached by KRCB either support development or acknowledge that it should happen.

Andrew Mikrikov, a registered nurse who has lived nearby for nearly a dozen years, is more optimistic this time around, though he's concerned about shoddy construction and the parcel becoming overcrowded. "Obviously, this is not the first time this is being put up for sale. It seems like it's being done with more transparency at this point, but we hope to see continued transparency. We want things to be fair."

Density is also a concern of Ann Eckelhoff, a neighbor for 33 years, especially in an emergency. "I know we need more housing but putting 800 units like they were originally, I mean, that's just going to impact this area and it's a safety issue now with fires, even more so."

Most neighbors mentioned shopping, affordable and senior housing along with open space, as elements they'd like to see.

Alla Watson, also a registered nurse, wants more creativity from officials and builders. "Instead of apartment buildings--multistory buildings, I would love to see micro-homes, maybe two bedrooms, one bath?"

Neighbor Jim Simpson said he wouldn't object to offices, though he doubts post-COVID, they'll be enough demand. "Probably housing given the shortage that we have of all kinds in the county after the fires and in general."

Seismic reports and other information about the property will be made available Tuesday. Bidding in the on-line auction closes November 9th

: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 01 September 2021

Elected leaders in Santa Rosa met Tuesday to review the city's anti-harrassment policy, last updated five years ago.

Officials say the current policy conforms with an updated state law, but Amy Reeve, director of human resources for the city, says Santa Rosa could go further.

With an eye toward avoiding a tawdry scandal involving elected officials, Deputy City Attorney Jeff Burke reviewed the current process to sanction misbehavior.

"The city could refer a matter to the Grand Jury, that will then make a determination about whether to refer the matter to the district attorney. And the test, that is set up in the government code is whether there is willful or corrupt misconduct in office, that's the language in the state law."

What should be a minor housekeeping effort by local government has gained added attention in the wake of multiple salacious allegations leveled at former Windsor mayor Dominic Foppoli.

Paul Anjeski, with the city's human resources department, praised the current training materials, which have been tailored to local need.

"Our goal isn't just to get the information across and make sure people can state laws or state consequences,

but actually practice using them, and it's a fairly interactive class."

The council will consider future revisions at a later date.

: Written by: Marc Albert; Published: 31 August 2021

Federal marine scientists are halfway through what they are calling their most ambitious and comprehensive fish census off the west coast. Conditions in the Pacific are looking pretty good.

Since early June, the Reuben Lasker, a research ship operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been plying west coast waters. It's mission: detect and count the millions of small, schooling fish. Those species: sardines, anchovies, jack mackerel and pacific herring are in a sweet spot of the ocean's food web. They consume tiny krill, and in turn are eaten by bigger fish, and other predators. They're also harvested commercially.

David Demer is senior scientist at the southwest fisheries science center.

"From the standpoint of small pelagic fish, it appears as though a healthy eco-system, and I'm judging that statement primarily by the state of the anchovy population which is very large, over a million metric tons."

Seven years ago, anchovies were rare, but Pacific sardines were abundant. In 2015 and 2016, when sardines vanished impacts rippled up the food chain "and that had observable effects on the higher level predators--seabirds and California Sea Lions and other animals."

This year, six frequency echo sounder sonar is helping the ship hunt as a dolphin would. There's also A-I, "We augmented the survey effort with autonomous sailboats, they're called saildrones, and they're fitted with multi-frequency echo sounders, as well as instrumentation to sample the oceanographic conditions and the meteorological conditions."

The saildrones allow the ship to cover more space. Nets are also put out to improve confidence in findings, and this year, fishing vessels are collaborating with near shore counts.

"The fisheries managers are able to forecast through models...used in the policy formation to decide how much of these species can be harvested."

The ship, surveying an area from off Vancouver Island to Central Baja California, stopped in Bodega Bay in mid-August and is currently in San Diego. It's scheduled to set sail again on the 7th.

: Written by: Greta Mart; Published: 31 August 2021

Pacific Gas and Electric is installing dozens of weather stations across Sonoma County to get real-time, localized data to anticipate and respond to wildfires, as well as working towards breaking up its electric grid into smaller pieces called microgrids, a company spokesperson told KRCB Friday.

Microgrids can lessen the widespread impacts of proactive power shutoffs, which have been used by California utilities since the early 2000s. But it wasn’t until two years ago, when PG&E shut off electricity—affecting more than two million customers for days—that the practice of proactively shutting off power to prevent wildfires came into the public glare. At the time, state regulators launched an investigation into PG&E’s handling of the October 2019 shut off. PG&E CEO Bill Johnson told the California Public Utilities Commission in an emergency hearing it will be about ten years before the utility can take its public safety power shutoff events off the table as a “solution of last resort.”

For most, proactive power shut offs are inconvenient and disrupting. But for many others who depend on electricity for medical needs, it’s life threatening.

Richard Staff is the executive director of the nonprofit Designing Accessible Communities and advocates for seniors and the disabled community. For him, electricity powers both his wheelchair and hospital bed, which he lowers to drop himself down into at night.

“And then in the morning, when I want to get back in my wheelchair, so I don't have to lift myself up, I raise the bed and drop down into my wheelchair,” Staff said. “And all night I have an alternating air mattress that I have operating via electricity.”

For Sonoma County photographer and author HolLynn d’Lil, electricity is necessary for her wheelchair and adjustable bed as well. And when all cell phones went down during the massive 2019 power shutoff, she said she was terrified.

“Without cell phones and without being able to find a place to go to...and I couldn't, because at that point they had 180,000 people evacuating and I could not find a hotel that had an accessible room,” said d’Lil.

Luckily, she says, she had a resource, but using a wheelchair limits many options some take for granted.

“So I ended up driving at three o'clock in the morning in this incredible wind, and went to a friend's house...she let me sleep on her window seat but I could not get into her bathroom,” d’Lil said, adding that she lives relatively independently. “I'm fortunate... I'm not diabetic, I don't need a refrigerator to keep my medicine cold. I don't need a respirator. I can breathe on my own. Electricity is essential for many people with disabilities.”

Sonoma County PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras says during the recent August 17 power shutoff, just under 2,000 Sonoma County homes and businesses lost electricity, and 69 of those were medical needs customers.

Contreras also says PG&E, “Completely understands how shutting off the power impacts our communities, especially those with health and medical needs and those who need electricity for medical reasons.”

PG&E does provide portable batteries via what the company calls its medical baseline and other programs. According to Contreras, 220 Sonoma County customers received equipment to sustain them through power shut offs between 2020 and the end of July.

The equipment is distributed in the county through the Disability Services and Legal Center in Santa Rosa. Juan Orantes is the agency’s program director and said the nonprofit works with 300 to 400 active Sonoma County clients a year. He said over time, support for those who medically depend on electricity has gotten better.

“From when we first got the program—we had about 30 batteries and 200 people calling us to say they needed one—but now we have a surplus of batteries,” Orantes said. “So PG&E has at the very least worked with us to make sure that we do have an adequate supply of backup power to give to our consumers.”

To lessen the impact of preemptive blackouts on the disabled community, both Staff and d’Lil urge the state’s utility regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), to force utilities to move faster on breaking up the electric grid into small sections.

“Vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities weren't the cause of this need now to have de-energization events...we didn't cause that, PG&E and the other two for-profit utilities caused that because they didn't maintain their grid and upgrade the grid,” Staff said. “It should be an appropriate grid, with microgrids.”

“PG&E has to stop giving raises to their CEOs and to their stockholders and use the money that we pay them every month to do maintenance and to create small grids across the state, or across their area,” d’Lil said. “And that's something that CPUC should demand of all the utility companies in California...so that when it's necessary to shut down, it only impacts a small area at a time and it doesn't take days to restore.”