Candidates For Sonoma County Supervisor District 1 Address Issues

SONOMA VALLEY, CA — In 2012, Susan Gorin was elected to her first term as Sonoma County's District 1 Supervisor, and David Cook was elected to his first term on the Sonoma City Council. Cook, a former volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician and a fourth-generation farmer, is challenging Gorin's attempt for a third term on the board in the March 3 primary election.

At a candidates' forum Monday, Cook and Gorin both alluded to the 2017 wildfires in the Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley area.

"I know what it's like to breathe smoke," Cook said.

"I'm the only elected public official who lost their home in the fires," Gorin said.

The candidates then responded to around two dozen questions submitted by the public.

Regarding rent control, Cook said the Sonoma City Council rejected it but he is willing to study it further as a supervisor. Gorin said the Board of Supervisors has not yet addressed the issue, but said the county needs to build housing for middle-income workers who are priced out of the
housing market and employers must increase wages.

On wineries and their special events, Gorin said the Board of Supervisors was working on that issue before the fires and it was put on hold. The board has drafted guidelines and the county needs to locate wineries carefully, avoid over concentration and define and set limits on
special events, she said.

Cook called for a comprehensive plan and a balance on the issue.

"We have to get our quality of life back," he said.

Cook opposes cannabis cultivation in the cities and Gorin said thecounty has been trying to keep the grows out of residential areas.

"We want the black market to get legal and pay taxes," Gorin said.

She said she also is concerned about the proximity of legal hemp cultivation on agricultural land.

Both candidates acknowledged the poor state of the county's roads. Cook said the city of Sonoma included $1.2 million in its budget for roads two years in a row.

"We have the second-best city roads in the county next to Windsor, but people are getting desensitized to potholes in the county's roads. My No. 1 priority is roads," Cook said.

Gorin said paving the roads in District 1 would cost $290 million, and there is very little funding to improve the county's 1,376 miles of roads.

"Sonoma County has dedicated the most money to its roads than any other county in the state. We're trying to prioritize our roads," Gorin said.

On the topic of temporary, 90-day emergency homeless shelters, Gorin said she opposes relocating campers currently on the Joe Rodota Trail in the west Santa Rosa area to the Juvenile Justice Center complex on Los Guilicos Road in east Santa Rosa.

"I voted against Los Guilicos not as, 'Not In My Back Yard', but because it's so far from services for the homeless and I want a more central location. I'm confident it will be successful, but I will do what it takes to get a central, preferred location with transportation and available services," Gorin said.

Cook said he also opposed the Los Guilicos location and preferred a more central one.

"I think it will be there for longer than 90 days," Cook said. "There should have been town meetings in Sonoma."

On the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train tax extension also on the March ballot, both candidates said they support the 30-year extension until 2059 of the quarter-cent sales tax, which would continue funding for the train between Sonoma and Marin counties. The existing tax expires in 2029.

"It's absolutely the right thing to do. We need to continue the train's expansion and increase its frequency through Schellville and to Napa and onto the Capitol Corridor to serve Sonoma Valley," Gorin said.

"I support it, but most of Sonoma Valley doesn't see the benefit. I'd like to see the train go east to west. The city of Sonoma feels isolated," Cook said.

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