This Week's Rohnert Park Headlines

Issues are heating up with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit again. Interim chief Farhad Mansourian at opponents of the regional commute line this week following a proposal to measure, passed in 2008 to fund SMART.

Stay tuned to Rohnert Park Patch this week for an update on how the change in management, timeline and cost will impact Rohnert Park and the idea to relocate the station from the north end of the city to a more central location.

Mansourian recommended July 22 increasing the cost of the rail line and pedestrian/bicycle pathway between San Rafael and Santa Rosa by $57 to $69 million and completing it one or two years behind schedule.

The city also this week announced the  meant to make it easier for residents to go online to make a service complaint, request a public document or alert the city to a problem like a street light out or a power outage. For the program, about 10 city employees will get smart phones. It's expected to be implemented sometime in September.

As cities of a countywide plastic bag ban, the Rohnert Park City Council has asked for more information before they make a final decision. An article published earlier this week has generated 25 comments already, and it's growing. What do you think? Should elected officials enact a ban? to post your comments, or submit a letter to the editor by emailing angela.hart@patch.com.

The city this week announced from every Tuesday to just the third Tuesday of the month until October, when it plans to stop the market altogether, until further notice. Officials cited declining attendance, bad weather and competing markets for the closure.

What do you think about the court mandate that requires state prisons release their populations by 34,000 — shifting thousands inmates from state prisons to county jails? The plan, proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, aims to . But it'll bring more crime. 

Rohnert Park recently got , falling behind most other Sonoma County cities. What do you think? Do you like bicycling or walking in the city? Is it easy to get around on foot for your errands? What's your favorite thing about living in Rohnert Park?

Lastly, according to a LA Times report, Rohnert Park's City Council makes significantly less money than hundreds of other cities statewide — a move that was largely made with 2009's council change-up. .