Won’t be positive for surrounding businesses who are trying to work and make an honest living. There should be no homeless housing in a city. The homeless individual should not be privileged or rewarded. The homeless individual does not need to be near businesses or people’s homes. If they want to live in society they must have the mental capacity to make their way in society just like the rest of us. If you want to live off the land then set aside some government land that’s not favorable but can sustain vegetation. Be supplied with minimal food and water and sanitary places to defecate. It should be supplied with personnel for nurturing and teaching of such needed skills to make it in the general public. If they are determined unable to do so then they are obviously handicapped in such a way they will need medical attention (physical and mental) to further help the individual.

I work in downtown Sebastopol. I believe that converting a boutique hotel in the midst of all the various downtown businesses including such close proximity to the new Barlow & adjacent businesses (many of which are getting back on their feet after last years floods) is an inappropriate location. I don’t believe that it can best serve homeless folks and will most likely be detrimental to downtown Sebastopol businesses. It seems the money to purchase the hotel could be spent on building an appropriate facility in a more appropriate location. Thank you.

We. Need hotels for the economy of Sebastopol

West Sonoma County has limited lodging as it is. Politicians should not be responsible for converting an already scarce resource into a facility which will increase crime and danger in a small town. This is the opposite of progress and protection.

Sebastopol inn for the Homeless would be a disastrous idea for the Small town of Sebastopol. Horrific idea. A better idea is to create living spaces in Santa Rosa near Employment, Medical, etc.

I love living in Sebastopol . Can’t support this. Much more planning is needed.

Homelessness is clearly a problem but this is certainly not the answer. How about using any one of the number of abandoned buildings on the outskirts of Sebastopol/ Santa Rosa

My family has used the Inn to house our visiting family and friends over the last decade because it feels like home and because it livens up downtown Sebastopol. It is of concern to me just as the Barlow is settling in (following flood and fire issues), that loss of the Inn for visitors will affect the vitality and attractiveness of downtown. We think this county community has to provide supportive housing but downtown Sebastopol is not the location. Vulnerable people need health care, cooked food and household supplies, and other social services not available in downtown Sebastopol.

It is without question, the worst possible idea, to set up a homeless shelter in the heart of a business district. The Barlow has survived fires, flooding and already on life support due to the shut down as a result of the pandemic. Shops And restaurants can’t survive closed too long. They’re paying expensive commercial rent. No one will want to come to spend money on wine tastings and outdoor restaurants and peruse the shops, in a location that’s full of individuals lingering around panhandlers and addicts who syringes strewn throughout the grounds. Etc in addition to the fact crime always increases in such areas. Cars get broken into and other such criminal activity. It’s a cancer. That parking lot alone in the Sebastopol inn will become a ghetto. There’s a reason why virtual games like the sims, which is designed to let you be in charge like a mayor, teaches you how to build a successful city/town. All of the things you need to do in order to get residents to move in, and shops for the to go to, etc, and to put prisons and power plants far out, as to not cause decay to the area. Planting a seed like this will be the destruction of the peace and Beauty that exists in that specific area and in town in general. Moreover, to do so with a pandemic in progress, is adding insult to injury. This is a bad idea that’s not just wrong, it’s disastrous. That said, the homeless need care and attention. In cases of addiction —and alcoholism which are sadly common, the Sebastopol Inn would end up what was known as a crack den in the 80s. You can’t just fill dozens of motel rooms without assigning a monitor to have sign-in sheets and track who is visiting, as they can be part of a drug transaction or a user needing a spot for the night. This is how it all begins if you look at patterns in San Francisco or New York City or any city, and then it’s a nightmare that makes real estate plummet, and invites a bad element and then it’s nothing anyone wants but hard to get rid of. It sends everything good away and invites in all the things a town doesn’t want. The crimes may start out with breaking into cars and stealing bikes, but it will grow and become far, far worse. If the owner is desperate to sell and that’s what I was told, well, that doesn’t give the owner the right to destroy everything here after selling and leaving town. Again, this is a pandemic and Sebastopol has faired well, so that on top of everything is just absurd to do is bring in people who can kill the many seniors here and those with other conditions. There is plenty of room in Sonoma county and by any measure, Santa Rosa is far better equipped to oversee such a thing and police it. Sebastopol businesses are unique and attractive to many in the Bay Area and across the country and the world — Especially during harvest season, I have had many friends stay at the Sebastopol inn— and they have always done well because there was rarely a vacancy! The American economy will be in lots of trouble during this pandemic and there is not a lot we can do about it, as stores and restaurants and shops across the country shut their doors on able to pay the rent and order to remain closed by their own government, but we can control a lot more Inn Sebastopol, and it doesn’t have to end like this.

This is important to me because I want to see all people thrive but not at the risk of others

They need real help, not just a free room and a place to do drugs and alcohol

My kids play in that area and I would no longer feel safe letting them be alone in town anymore

My civil liberties are important to me

my civil liberties are at stake.

I am a business owner on the downtown Sebastopol square I feel that having a permanent homeless shelter in our small already congested city would negatively effect our community.

I have friends who are business owners in sebastopol.

I do not feel like this project is appropriate to the proximity of downtown Sebastopol. It would not benefit Sebastopol businesses and may increase crime and drug abuse.