Santa Rosa Snippets - by Elaine B. Holtz - May 2018

The City of Santa Rosa will transition from at-large to district-based elections starting November 6, 2018

In July 2017 Santa Rosa City received a certified letter from the law firm of

On Tuesday, April 17 the Council made their final decision and voted unanimously to approve the maps received after several public meetings and input from residents in the community to create seven electoral districts for future City Council elections. To see the final map of all the districts go to: arcgis.com/apps

This decision set in motion a dramatic change in the city’s political landscape with the hope that district elections will improves representation of minority communities.

The change means voters from three newly formed districts—in the northwest, north central and southeast parts of the—will get to pick a council member in November 2018, with the four other districts electing council members in 2020.

There were some concerns about aligning the districts this year so that incumbents who live within those boundaries and who are up for re-election could run. “The fact that we now have District Elections in Santa Rosa is historic and victory for those of us who have been trying to open up the election process in Santa Rosa for over 20 years, at the same time, we are very concerned that the map that was selected by the council keeps incumbents in and continues to marginalize communities of color and low-income people,” said Caroline Banuelos, President of the Sonoma County Latino Democratic Club. Banuelos believes that the majority of the council demonstrated exclusion by insisting that the newly annexed Roseland will have to wait until 2020 to elect their representative.

For additional information go to srcity.org/2593/District-Based-ElectionsAlthough no decisions were made council members up for election in November are, District 2, John Sawyer, District 4, Chris Coursey and District 6, Tom Schwedhem.

Art as a message—A Community Responds

On February 14, 2018 Tony Speirs, a local fine artist known for his pop culture and political art, heard about the mass shooting that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where seventeen people were killed, fourteen of them of high school age, and seventeen more were wounded,making it one of the world’s deadliest school massacres, he thought to himself, “not another shooting, there must be something I can do.” With that thought in mind he began studying the faces of the victims and doing sketches of them. After he drew three of the portraits he became aware that the photos could have been portraits of his high school friends when he was a teenager. It was at that point he decided to post the portraits he drew on Facebook.

Judy Kennedy, a local artist responsible for several murals in Santa Rosa saw the portraits and felt compelled to contact Speirs and share her idea of a mural which included all fourteen of the students. “I felt like these were my kids and I did not want this shooting to be forgotten,” said Kennedy. After she got the ok from Speirs she then had the challenge of finding a place to install the portraits and getting the fourteen 24”X36” portraits printed. Having done murals before, she knew to whom to go. She contacted Draftech Blueprinting, Inc. (1544 Terrace Way, Santa Rosa - draftechblueprinting.com - (707) 578-9442) who felt the same way and donated the printing of all fourteen portraits.

Kennedy found a wall for the 84 ft. mural on the southwest busy corner of College and Cleveland intersection in Santa Rosa and as this was going on, Speirs was contacted by two of the parents who saw the portraits on social media and asked if he could send them one of their child, which gave Speirs the idea of sending all the parents an original drawing of their child. Speirs was then contacted by Corrick’s Stationery & Art Trails Gallery in Downtown Santa Rosa who requested to display the complete mural.

To make that happen, Frame of Mind in Sebastopol, hearing Speirs mission donated the frame and framing cost. The piece was displayed in their window for several weeks.

As I write this I want to let my readers know that all fourteen portraits have been shipped to Florida, but before they go to each individual family will be framed by a local shop, be displayed at the Parkland Library in Florida, at the parents request and then given to each family.

To me, this is what community is all about, and the installation of those portraits is a reminder that what happens to one mother’s and father’s child can happen to any child. As a culture, as a community, we must continue to fight to bring forth common sense gun laws. Our children are the future and we must never lose sight of that.

Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) Honored:

Two members of the SRJC community were honored as education heroes at 15th Annual Real Heroes Breakfast, presented by the American Red Cross of the California Northwest. The Real Heroes Breakfast is a signature event in support of the lifesaving programs and emergency service.

Santa Rosa Junior College recipients are, Matt Markovich, Athletic Director at SRJC and Dean of Kinesiology, Athletics and Dance, andStephanie Jarrett, Manager of Training and Compliance, introduced the “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes®: The International Men’s March to Stop Rape, Sexual Assault & Gender Violence event to SRJC in 2017. Approximately 350 students participated in a mile-long walk wearing high heels, then broke into discussion groups to have the often-difficult conversations about how to identify warning signs of sexual assaults and how to be more active in preventing them.

Something to think about: “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.” George Stanley McGovern was an American historian, author, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the 1972 presidential election.