Looks like we have three solid votes for updating Tree Ordinance. Thank you.
Today at the Supes meeting Supervisors Zane, Gorin, and Hopkins said a couple of times each…it needs to be on the work plan! Solid support. We submitted 480 signatures with your help.
You all did it. Thank you to those who signed our petition and spoke in favor….wrote letters too. Awesome!! This will be confirmed on June 6 so a bit of vigilance will be appropriate.
Next will be the fun part – crafting an amazing 21 st century tree policy that can withstand all the pressures we face including immense development pressure including more wine grapes…..
As a wise woman said today, mitigation for tree loss is not the best we can do. …save them where possible. In the first instance. In all age classes.
Thank you and excellent work everyone.
KB
Dear Supervisors:
Looking at the proposed allotment of TOT funds, it appears that tourism is proposed to get a big chunk. ($500k – 2.2 conservatively speaking).
This appears to be a very specific give back not a tax and would be very unfortunate, especially considering how much “unfunded” work there is and how many impacts from the industry should be properly mitigated with these funds. Maybe we can be creative here and get the money where it is needed. We already help the tourism industry quite a bit by all County staff currently does. 7.5 millions visitors seems adequate to meet our “holding capacity” in the summer. 8-).
Please re-prioritize funding – leaving at least $45,000 for updating the TREE ORDINANCE and for items that mitigate the impacts of tourism and mitigate our significant contribution to climate change. This is another opportunity to demonstarte that we in Sonoma County get what the Green New Deal is about — a significant effort to re-align, with alacrity, our approaches and square them with our present and future situations.
How we budget funds, as you well know, speaks volumes.
BTW with respect to the acreages at stake, many hundreds of acres of natural areas are left unprotected due to absence of tree protection measures. We are slated to lose many acres of healthy old trees just this year through deliberate bulldozing.
In an approximately five year period, we have permanently lost 950-acres of trees. The trend is continuing.
Just one of several large tree removal proposals just about to be approved in the vacuum that is Chapter 26-88-01 (m). Civilizations used to be ignorant of such trends, but thankfully we are not.
Thank you for engaging and helping.
KB