From the Club Secretary:
WDC Tuesday Feb 17, 2026 meeting notes below:
1. Will Coolidge, a club member, spoke about the threat of commercial self-driving vehicles in his PowerPoint presentation, “Choose People Over Profits”
-Labor is being degraded, Coolidge said. Ride-share drivers already are in a precarious position since they are not unionized and, as independent contractors, are not eligible for pensions or unemployment insurance. Google’s Waymo and others including Amazon’s newer start-up Zoox, threaten to displace human drivers, further eroding workers’ ability to make a living.
-In 2025, Waymo accounted for an estimated 27% of all hailed rides in San Francisco.
-The California Department of Transportation recently expanded the permitted area of operation for self-driving taxis in Northern California to cover the entire Bay Area including Sonoma County, as well as Yolo and Sacramento counties although no vehicles will be in operation before at least May 1, 2026.
-At a recent Senate hearing Waymo’s chief safety officer admitted that these ostensibly autonomous vehicles receive assistance from human operators in the Philippines.
I’m not against tech, Coolidge said in conclusion, but I want to see it applied the right way. I want to see the profits go to local workers, not some CEOs in Mountain View.
2. Jon Davis, Windsor Town Manager, along with Tim Ricard, Economic Development Manager, and Nick Walker, Administrative Services Director presented the case for placing a measure for a 1% local sales tax on the November 2026 ballot. Lauren Berges, Senior Management Analyst, was also present.
-Inflation has hit the town just like everyone else. Costs have risen for salaries, pensions, insurance and materials. Road repair that used to cost $1 million per mile for a single lane now costs $1.5 million per mile for a single lane, or $3 million per mile in both directions. Meanwhile revenue has been flat. Unlike a private contractor, the town can’t just unilaterally raise rates on its services to make up the short-fall.
-The town has already cut $1 million in expenses by cutting three police officers and leaving vacant staff jobs unfilled. Deferred maintenance has saved the town another $5 million. Despite the $6 million in savings, the town had to dip into almost $8 million in reserves to cover on-going expenses. Without an additional source of revenue, the town faces an $8 million shortfall over the next two years.
-Through study, the town staff has determined that a local sales tax of 1% is the most cost-effective and fairest way to raise additional revenues. A 1% local sales tax would generate an estimated $5.5 million a year, equal to Windsor allocated 1% share of state sales tax. Out-of-town visitors and customers would pay some share of the tax, unlike a business tax, a parcel tax, or a tax on utilities, which would only impact Windsor residents. Many necessities including food, diapers, prescription medications, educational materials and utilities are exempt from sales tax by state law.
-Windsor is currently the only town in Sonoma County without a local sales tax.
-The Town Manager’s Department is currently exploring whether to ask the Town Council to place a measure for the 1% local sales tax on the November 2026 ballot. Since the tax is intended for the general fund, the measure only needs 50% +1 to pass, unlike taxes earmarked for specific programs which require a two-thirds vote.
-The measure would appear on the November ballot, meaning it would not be in competition with the SMART sales tax extension on the June primary ballot.
The bottom line is with less money, we can do less, Jon Davis concluded. An investment stimulus will allow us to maintain and increase services.
Windsor Police Chief Greg Piccinini echoed this. Windsor currently has a School Resource Officer (SRO) who, by forming personal relationships with students, can avert trouble before it happens. If the town cannot generate additional funds, this position might have to be cut at a great loss to the community, Piccinini said.
During question and answer, VP of the Club Cathy Meylor-Hooper commented that the people she has been talking to at the Cloverdale Citrus Faire and other community events are very angry about taxes. The only things they are angrier about are ICE and Trump. Can we frame a tax increase as being against Trump? she asked.
All the material and information presented to the club is available on the Windsor Town website: https://www.townofwindsor.ca.gov/1598/Sales-Tax-Measure-2026
Public feedback is encouraged.
End Notes:
At the end of the meeting, Rick Massell presented a proposed amendment to the club charter to add two additional officers, a Communications Chair, currently held informally by Kayla Oseguera, and a Membership/Outreach Chair. As required by the charter, the vote on this proposal will be held at the next club meeting.
On Sunday March 22, Bay Resistance will present a Non-violent Resistance Training at the Petaluma Veterans Building from 12-6pm. Information about the training and sign up are posted in the club newsletter.
The Windsor Democratic Club’s next meeting will be Tuesday, March 17, 6:30-8:30pm, Windsor Round Table Pizza, 8499 Old Redwood Highway.
