Homeless Issue Dominates Sonoma County District 5 Supervisor Race

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County District 5 Supervisor Lynda Hopkins is running for
re-election against Santa Rosa resident Mike Hilber. The dominant issue in the district during the months leading up to the March 3 primary election has been clearing a homeless camp that had grown to 250 people along 2 miles of the Joe Rodota paved bicycle and walking trail between west Santa Rosa and Sebastopol on county-owned land in Santa Rosa.

Homeowners who live along the trail have complained about the lack of public safety, unsanitary and squalid conditions, dirty needles, human waste and a rat infestation. The Sonoma County Regional Parks department advised people not to use the trail.

Hopkins, 36, of Forestville, bore the brunt of the criticism toward the Board of Supervisors about the encampment in her district.

A Santa Rosa man on Jan. 2 filed a notice of intent to recall her with the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office. The notice requires the petitioner to collect 8,200 signatures within 160 days.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Dec. 23, Hopkins pressed fellow board members to find an alternative site for an emergency campground and set Jan. 31 as a date to clear the campers from the trail.

The board approved spending nearly $12 million to house the homeless. The funding included $2 million for a 90-day emergency camp comprised mostly of 64-square-foot shelters with heat, light, electricity, and outdoor portable toilets, a shower trailer and a dog run at the camp in the Los Guilicos Juvenile Justice Center complex off state Highway 12 south of Santa Rosa.

The emergency campsite is scheduled to be disbanded April 30.

"We will continue to work to find residents permanent housing solutions, and after three months will transfer remaining residents to a new site. We hope to establish two separate sites: one site will re-use these Pallet Shelters, and an additional site would utilize yet to be determined structures," Hopkins said on Facebook.

Hopkins said her first-term achievements include increasing rural community representation and investing in roads and infrastructure.

Hilber, a taxpayer advocate who said he won't raise money to challenge Hopkins, proposed that the county lease large vacant commercial buildings to house the homeless, buy property and set up a structure with partitions between beds or erect several smaller structures. He said expanding homeless shelter capacity is the most cost-effective way to address homelessness.

Hilber said if elected, he will protect the public from wasteful spending and support only reasonable new taxes that provide a real benefit.

He supports renewal of Measure M, a quarter-cent transportation tax, if the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District is prohibited from using that funding.

Hilber said he opposed the SMART train system serving Sonoma and Marin counties since its inception, but he has supported county library and parks tax measures.

Hilber also said the over-concentration of wineries with special events needs to be addressed.

RELATED COVERAGE:

• Sonoma County Supes Approve $11M Plan For Housing The Homeless
• Sonoma County To Buy 2 Residences For Homeless Trail Campers
• Sonoma County Homeless: $2M Emergency Outdoor Shelter Approved
• Housing Sonoma County's Homeless: It Takes A Village

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