ARE YOU PREPARED FOR "RIVER CITY"?
IF NOT, YOU JUST MIGHT HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE WAY!

RRCF wins 1st round in Redevelopment Litigation.

The RRCF filed two lawsuits last August challenging the establishment of a redevelopment district by the Board of Sups. on 7/11/00.
The county has hired a special outside consul, Lee Rosenthal of the S.F. office of Goldfarb & Lipman.
Mr. Rosenthal had filed a challenge against RRCF's 1st lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Report. Mr Rosenthal wanted it thrown out on technicalities.
Honorable Judge Knoel Owen, after listening to the arguments from both sides ruled in the RRCF's favor and the suit continues in good standing.
Lawsuits cost money, lots of money. The RRCF legal cost for 2000 will probably exceed $7000.00.
Donations are needed to continue to pay the monthy legal bills. Please send your checks made out to the RRCF to:
P.O. box 142 Monte Rio, CA 95462.
The next RRCF meeting will be 12/20/00 at 7pm in the senior center, all are welcome.

Please forward this information to your friends and neighbors and anyone else who might not have access to e-mail. Hardcopy will be distributed at the meeting.

Become a regular participant in the fight against redevelopment. We need your help!


"There would be a substantial change in the character of the community.
Over the long term, the population will increase by 55%.
The rural character of many neighborhoods will be replaced by more typically suburban densities.

[Monte Rio Wastewater DEIR;
Leonard Charles & Assoc.; Aug., 1999, p. 227:
listed as an "impact which cannot be mitigated"]"

This language, taken from the Environmental Impact Report (Draft) for the Monte Rio "Pollution Control" project, is a rare piece of direct honesty regarding the inevitable outcomes of processes which are currently in motion. If the image portrayed here is disturbing to you, then you belong in our broadening circle of concerned citizens.

The County has made it clear in public meetings and direct communications with several of us, myself included, that there won't be a vote, and that empowered local control is not an option. We believe that if a way to do these things cannot be found, then at a minimum, the Plan should be delayed so that there can be sufficient time for some serious public discussion, and, if warranted, major changes.

We will be having a public, Russian River Community Forum Meeting, with Mike Reilly present, on APRIL 27. Guerneville Vet's Building 7 pm (as before). Act One, Scene three.

And what a good, lIvely meeting!
Head here for a goood review review...

Questions...?

  • Are our communities "blighted"?
  • Do our roads need to be widened and straightened?
  • Are we major sources of pollution in our River?
  • Is the "solution" to our wastewater problems only to be found in pipelines and high-tech treatment facilities?
  • Are there too few of us living here?
  • Can our schools handle a possible doubling in enrollment?
  • Do we need a massive infusion of outside investment capital to have a healthy local economy?
  • Is the revitalization of our fisheries possible if we increase the "built environment"?
  • Will people with low and/or fixed incomes be forced to live somewhere else? (Where?)

    This partial list of questions only scratches the surface of the issues before us. All of these questions, and many more, are being answered "YES" by Sonoma County government.

    Indeed, the biggest question of all, overriding the others, is:

    DO THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE HAVE ANY STANDING IN THESE DECISIONS?

    What you need to know, whatever your answers to the other questions may be, is that there are no plans currently to put any of these questions to a vote!

    The keys to successful political activism are EDUCATION and INFORMED PARTICIPATION.
    In order to educate and foster this informed participation, we have come together under the banner of a Russian River Community Forum. Our idea is to present the facts from a constructively CRITICAL perspective, to HEAR your views and ideas, to SHARE experiences, information and insights so that we can all exercise the fundamental rights of citizenship in a democratic society.

    These are our communities and neighborhoods, streams and forests. We think these decisions should be in our hands.

    April 27th
    Guerneville Vet's Building
    7 PM
    BE THERE!!!

  • Come look at the maps: are you in the proposed Redevelopment Area?
  • Look at the projections on population, traffic, demands on services:
    what will this cost, and who will pay it?
  • Who benefits? Who doesn't?
  • How will local Special Districts (water, sewer, fire, lighting, etc.) be affected?
  • What about the Schools?
  • Where will the water come from? Where will the water GO?
  • What will our towns look like in 20 years under this Plan?

    Let's Talk About It!

    **Agenda** (general/draft)

    *We will be presenting the Plan's basic elements, goals and assumptions as they are stated in the documents:
    ...Chairman of The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Mike Reilly will attend.
    ...others who have studied this will speak
    ...the documents themselves will be available to look at (they're also at the library and Chamber of Commerce)

    *We will also offer a variety of views and analysis of the long- and short-term impacts, in a panel format:
    ...even the panelists will disagree among themselves on particulars
    ...we INTEND to provoke thought and civil debate

    *You will be encouraged to participate directly after the panel presentations:
    ...ask questions of panelists
    ...make brief and concise statements
    ...whether you agree with our critical stance or not, you will be heard
    ...we will inform you about when and where to assert your views to County government

    *We will encourage you to help us get this question ON THE BALLOT FOR A VOTE, and to participate in future Russian River Community Forums where alternative ideas will be presented and discussed.

    WHO ARE WE:
    We are a diverse group of people who live in and around the communities along the lower course of the Russian River. Some of us have been active in environmental and social issues for many years. Others are relatively new to political activism. What we have in common is a love of the PLACE in which we live - our rural surroundings and our villages, and a deep respect for all living things around us.

    WHY WE ARE:
    We have come together because of our concerns about the on-going thrust of County plans to urbanize and "sub-urbanize" this very special and ecologically sensitive geography we inhabit. Though we are not of a single mind on all things, our common cause is our critical stance regarding the currently proposed Redevelopment Plan.

    There are other specific issues and proposals which are related -- wastewater facilities, logging in residential areas, vineyards and fisheries (the list is long), but the Redevelopment proposal is the "Master Plan" over and above all the others. We all need to understand this proposal because, if it is implemented, resisting its smaller components will become an exercise in futility.