
On November 3rd, cities in Sonoma County will elect their city councilors. Homeless Action! believes that our elected leaders should know about the lives and difficulties of our unhoused friends, be willing to work on reducing those difficulties, and help us implement solutions which we demonstrate will work. We also believe that we have the ability to elect, or deny election, to candidates who demonstrate they are not willing to address our issues. It’s important, therefore, for us to learn what candidates for elected office know about our issues, and what they will do to resolve them.
- Questions for the Candidates
- List of Cities and Candidates – and their responses to questions
- Candidates Forums – video recordings and register to upcoming forums
- Candidates’ Contacts
- Sonoma County 2020 General Municipal Election Webpage
- Let’s Talk Housing: Election 2020 Guide to the Human Right to Housing – Published by the National Homelessness Law Center
Questions for the Candidates
Homeless Action! has sent a list of questions to each of the candidates. We’ll post their response in this blog after we received them by our deadline on September 15, 2020.
- What are the short-term policy and program actions you will propose in your first three months in office to improve the lives of our un-housed?
- What do you find satisfying about the operation of program services the cities or county funds or provides for our un-housed? What could be done better or more effectively?
- What proposals do you have to expand shelter, transitional, permanent-supported, and permanent housing for the un-housed in your jurisdiction? (Please define these types of housing in your answer).
- Do you support the concept of an overnight or 24/7 safe-parking site in every town and every district in the County? If so, what sites do you propose in your city and/or district?
- What else can your city do to support our unhoused neighbors?
- What (to date) do you see the most significant challenges for local governments to identify and administer homeless programming? What model do believe would improve the results we’ve been experiencing?
- Check which best describes your thoughts about the un-housed.
- A. I feel sorry for our un-housed, but they cause trouble and trash. Many are addicted or mentally ill. They cannot be allowed to set up camp sites on city property.
- B. Un-housed people are my neighbors as much as anyone. Until we can build enough housing for all income levels, I’m in favor of providing some kind of shelter and sanitation on public property.
- C. Other: ______________________________________________________
- What policing policy is needed related to unhoused people? Is this a change from what is being done in your city?
- What general policy changes do you suggest to better address the needs of the un-housed and the residents of your city?
- Would you be interested in attending one of our weekly Homeless Action! Zoom meeting to meet us & introduce yourself?
List of Cities and Candidates
All terms are 4 years, unless specified.
* indicates that the candidate is an incumbent for the office.
- City of Santa Rosa Area 1, Elect 1
- City of Santa Rosa Area 3, Elect 1
- Harrison “Jack” Tibbetts (no statement of qualifications submitted)
- City of Santa Rosa Area 5, Elect 1
- City of Santa Rosa Area 7, Elect 1
- City of Cloverdale, Elect 2
- City of Cotati, Elect 3
- City of Healdsburg, Elect 3
- City of Petaluma, Elect 3
- Dennis Pocekay – (Response to questions)
- Mike Healy* – (Response to questions)
- Susan Kirks
- Gabe Kearney*
- Lizzie Wallack
- Kathy Miller* – (Response to questions)
- Brian Barnacle
- Robert Conklin (no statement of qualifications submitted)
- City of Rohnert Park Area 1, Elect 1
- City of Rohnert Park Area 3, Elect 1
- City of Rohnert Park Area 4, Elect 1
- City of Sebastopol, Elect 2
- City of Sonoma, Elect 2
- Town of Windsor Mayor, Elect 1
- Town of Windsor Area 3, Elect 1
- (Special District) Graton Fire, Elect 3
- Torrey Farmer* (no statement of qualifications submitted)
- Jason Nunes* (no statement of qualifications submitted)
- Linda Tripoli
- Zane W. Gray* (no statement of qualifications submitted)
Candidates Forums
- Santa Rosa (Mon, Sept 28, 6-8 pm, Generation Housing – REGISTER HERE or WATCH after the event)
- Santa Rosa District 1 (League of Women Voters video recording )
- Santa Rosa District 5 (League of Women Voters video recording)
- Santa Rosa District 7 (League of Women Voters video recording)
- Cotati (League of Women Voters video recording)
- Healdsburg (Generation Housing video recording)
- Petaluma (Tue, Sept 22 at 7 pm, Generation Housing – REGISTER HERE or WATCH after the event)
- Rohnert Park Districts 1, 3 & 4 (League of Women Voters – WATCH)
- Rohnert Park (Generation Housing video recording)
- Sebastopol (Tue, Sept 29 at 6:30 pm, League of Women Voters – WATCH)
- Sebastopol (Generation Housing video recording)
- Windsor, Mayor & District 3 (League of Women Voters video recording)
- Windsor (Wed, Sept 24 at 7 pm, Generation Housing – REGISTER HERE or WATCH after the event)
Candidates Contacts
- City of Santa Rosa Area 1, Elect 1
- Duane De Witt – dewittveteran@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/DeWitt4SRCityCouncil/
- Elizabeth Valente –
- Jorge Inocencio – jorgeforcitycouncil@gmail.com, (707) 703-0758, https://jorgeinocencio.com
- Eddie Alvarez – info@imwitheddie.com, https://www.imwitheddie.com/
- City of Santa Rosa Area 3, Elect 1
- Harrison “Jack” Tibbetts –
- City of Santa Rosa Area 5, Elect 1
- Chris Rogers – Chris@VoteRogers.com, http://voterogers.com
- Azmina R. Hanna – red@hannaforcitycouncil2020.com, https://hannaforcitycouncil2020.com
- City of Santa Rosa Area 7, Elect 1
- Natalie Rogers – natalierogersforsrcc@gmail.com, https://www.natalierogersforsantarosa.com
- Eric Christensen – elect-Eric@sonic.net, (707) 755-5472, https://ericforsantarosa.com
- Daniela Pavone – dmpavone@gmail.com, https://pavonefor7th.com
- City of Cloverdale, Elect 2 (no information)
- Melanie Bagby* –
- Jenny Candelaria-Orr –
- Todd Lands –
- Nicole Garcia-Hinchliffe –
- Mary Ann Brigham* –
- City of Cotati, Elect 3
- Susan Harvey* – sharvey55@aol.com, http://cotaticityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_BoardMember.aspx?ID=1011&ShowAllItems=True&DateFilter=a
- Ben Ford – ben.ford.cotati@gmail.com, http://web.sonoma.edu/users/f/fordb/
- Brittany Murphy – Brittany.ridley@gmail.com
- Laura Sparks – laura@sparks2020.org, https://sparks2020.org
- City of Healdsburg, Elect 3
- Charles A. Duffy – Charlie.duffy@duffyforcouncil.com, http://www.duffyforcouncil.com/
- David Hagele* – dhagele@ci.headsburg.ca.us, https://votehagele.com
- Doralice Handal – sharpandnutty@gmail.com, https://www.facebook.com/dontleavehomewithme/?ref=page_interna
- Ariel Kelley – ariel@arielkelley.com, https://www.facebook.com/ArielUKelley
- Skylaer Palacios – skylaerpalacios4headlsburg@gmail.com
- David R. Jones – david@ensowealth.com
- City of Petaluma, Elect 3
- Denis Pocekay – dpocekay@gmail.com, https://www.pocekayforcouncil2020.com/
- Mike Healy* – mhealy@cityofpetaluma.org, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004254787018&sk=about
- Susan Kirks – (no information)
- Gabe Kearney* – gkearney@cityofpetaluma.org
- Lizzie Wallack – lizzie@lizziewallack.com, http://www.lizziewallack.com/
- Kathy Miller* – kmiller@cityofpetaluma.org
- Brian Barnacle – barnacle4petaluma@gmail.com, http://www.brianbarnacle.com
- Robert Conklin – rconk78@gmail.com, https://www.instagram.com/conk4petaluma
- City of Rohnert Park Area 1, Elect 1
- City of Rohnert Park Area 3, Elect 1
- City of Rohnert Park Area 4, Elect 1
- Jake Mackenzie – blumacjazz@aol.com, https://www.jakemackenzie.org/
- Jackie Elward – jackie4citycouncil@gmail.com, https://www.jackieelward.com
- City of Sebastopol, Elect 2
- Diana Rich – electdianarich@gmail.com, https://www.electdianarich.com/
- Michael Carnacchi* – mcarnacchi@cityofsebastopol.org
- Vaughn Richard Higginbotham – https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=2034699593254321&ref=watch_permalink
- Neysa Hinton* – nhinton@cityofsebastopol.org
- Evaristo “Everet” Fernandez – Evert.Fernandez@lpl.com
- City of Sonoma, Elect 2 (no information)
- Jack Ding –
- Amy Harrington –
- City of Windsor Mayor, Elect 1 (no information)
- Rosa Reynoza –
- Dominic Foppoli –
- Tanya Potter –
- Sam Salmon –
- Town of Windsor Area 3, Elect 1 (no information)
- Debora Fudge –
- Jeffrey Leasure
Let’s Talk Housing: Election 2020 Guide to the Human Right to Housing
Published by the National Homelessness Law Center for the 2020 Election
Ask the candidates, “Do you believe housing is a human right? What are your plans to end homelessness and create affordable housing in America?”
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty is launching an election guide for the 2020 United States presidential race. The Election 2020 Guide to the Human Right to Housing seeks to promote the human right to housing as a major issue in the 2020 election. The Guide is an evolving project and is subject to change. Keep up with it by following us on Twitter and Instagram @NLCHPhomeless!
[Read]
* The Law Center is a non-partisan organization and will not be endorsing any presidential candidates.