Editorial

When we look at our Sonoma County ballot for the Nov. 8 election with the many individual tax increases we wonder why some items are missing. County leaders want us to raise our taxes for parks, libraries and tourist activities to upkeep “the luxury of living in a world class destination.”

The No on R signs with their ominous “Protect Healdsburg” byline remind me of the dad we met at the farmers’ market whose icebreaker question was “What do you do for work that you can live here?”— as though we belong to a special club and not a town. Or the guy in Parkland Farms who told me he wasn’t concerned about the Saggio Hills development because, “That’s all going to be high end stuff … What I’m worried about are the apartments they want to build downtown— it’ll look like Rohnert Park.”

Alliance Medical Center (Alliance) has recently been recognized as one of the best federally qualified health clinics (FQHCs) in the country. FQHCs are nonprofit outpatient clinics that are required to adhere to several quality initiatives and serve patients regardless of their ability to pay.

In Measure A, Sonoma County voters are being asked to approve yet another general purpose sales tax. Members of the County Board of Supervisors and others out on the stump are promoting Measure A as a “roads tax” that if approved would be spent 90 percent for road repairs and 10 percent for public transit items such as free bus passes for students, seniors and veterans. Unfortunately, the ballot language itself belies a different intent. The plain language of Measure A identifies a list of spending objectives starting with public safety and concluding with the troublesome catchall “other essential services.” Roads don’t even top the list.