Columns

Graduation Celebration 2017

Sonoma West Publishers is looking to build more community engagement in our newspapers.

In 2008, the folks behind SMART told us that if voters approved the quarter-percent 20 year sales tax they would build 71 miles of train and a 71-mile bike path and that annual operating costs would be $16.5 million per year. They also claimed SMART would alleviate traffic on 101 and help fight climate change. The problem is none of these promises ever materialized and now SMART is asking voters to approve an additional $2.4 billion on a 30-year tax extension nine years before the current tax expires. 

I have a beef. Well, not really a beef, as I am trying to cut down on red meat; call it a “peeve.” Not a “pet” peeve, because I really don’t see this peeve as soft, cuddly and cute. My big peeve is this: these new-fangled chip bags that are impossible to open without a degree from MIT.

Editor:

The Summer of Love of hippies, love-ins, Monterey Pop, LSD, Sgt. Pepper, Haight-Ashbury flower children and Vietnam War protests happened without most of us who are now hearing about its 50th anniversary.