SE Greenway News

At the August 2020 meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments, approval was granted for the Southeast Greenway to become a designated “Priority Conservation Area”, known as a PCA. These are special locations around the Bay Area deserving of long-term protection within one of the following categories: natural landscapes, agriculture, urban greening, and regional recreation. The Southeast Greenway is the first PCA in Sonoma County located within a city’s limits.

In cooperation with the Coastal Conservancy, MTC has created a funding opportunity using federal transportation dollars to support protection of PCA’s through the One Bay Area Grant Program (OBAG).

Securing a PCA designation will enable the Greenway project to be eligible for future funding through the OBAG program. To date, OBAG has provided Sonoma County with $3.25 million in grants for projects such as replacing a bridge on the Joe Rodota Trail and constructing the Crocker Bridge bike and pedestrian path in Cloverdale.

We want to thank the Santa Rosa City Council for recognizing the Greenway as a regionally significant project, and for recognizing the importance of this PCA designation as we move into the development phase of the Greenway.

Ted Eliot was a very close friend of mine and we worked together on campaigns to start the Open Space District in 1990 and reauthorize it’s funding measure in 2006. Ted was very proud of the fine work that his daughter Wendy did at the Sonoma Land Trust and over the years I got to know her. Needless to say, I was very impressed with her excellent work and her dedication to the preservation of our precious lands of Sonoma County.

Wendy and I spoke many years ago about the Southeast Greenway project and I asked whether the Sonoma Land Trust might be interested in helping the Southeast Greenway Campaign acquire the property. At that time the Land Trust was busy buying and managing various properties, primarily in the rural areas of Sonoma County. One day years later, I went to Peet’s Coffee on 4th Street in Santa Rosa for my morning coffee and I ran into Wendy. She asked me how the project was going and we started to talk about whether the Land Trust might now be interested in joining us in purchasing the property. Wendy was so impressed with our progress in getting community and political support that she convinced the Land Trust to join our coalition of public agencies and non-profits. I was very happy to hear this new development, as the Land Trust has great expertise and a great reputation.

Wendy gave me a call a few days later and indeed, it was true! The Southeast Greenway Campaign and the Sonoma Land Trust have now been working together for over seven years. And it all started that day at Peet’s Coffee. We hail the dedication of 21 years at Sonoma Land Trust and congratulate Wendy on her well-deserved retirement.

The love of nature we all feel was expressed by Lynnie Rabinowitsh with her beautiful plein air paintings. Spending hours in the outdoors, Lynn’s remarkable work capturing the beloved vistas and landscapes of Sonoma County and San Francisco and gave language that many of us find difficult to convey. This past Spring, we lost our beloved Lynnie in her heroic battle with cancer, but her memory lingers on. A beautiful mosaic has been created in Spring Lake Park that blends two of her paintings and favorite subjects- lavender fields and mustard grass.

I hope you will be able to visit and pause for a moment as you remember Lynnie and how much she supported the Greenway and all the beauty of the County. You can find the mosaic on the north facing side of the arch in the Spring Lake Children’s Memorial Grove, near the Newanga entrance to the Park.

Sonoma Land Trust, a 501(c)3 public charity, is the fiscal sponsor of the Southeast Greenway Campaign. Contributions to the Southeast Greenway Campaign are fully tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.