At a March 23 meeting presided over by club president Rick Massell, Windsor Mayor Deb Fudge touched on a variety of topics during her presentation. She began by discussing the reaction to the United Community Resolution passed by the Town Council at its March 1 meeting. Similar in intent to a sanctuary city declaration, the resolution was cited on CSN News, an alt-right commentary website founded in 1998 by Brent Bozell III, whose motto is “the Right News. Right Now.” Following the story on CSN, numerous hate-filled e-mails were sent to Ms. Fudge, which surprised her; she now considers those to be a “sign of the times.”
Mayor Fudge discussed Windsor’s Urban Growth Boundary, which will be placed on this November’s ballot. The proposed boundaries will be generally unchanged from those in place for the past 20 years, with only an insignificant expansion. She also reported that the SMART train opening is quite close with the permitting and testing process nearing an end. Trains will be running on real-time schedules without passengers in the coming days as a final “dry run.” A parking lot of 42 spaces has been created at the airport station, although she conceded that station parking is a work in progress. Riders are encouraged to use bikes and services such as Uber to get to stations, or to just walk. The Bay Area Clipper card is the encouraged means of payment for SMART travelers; that card can be used on many Bay Area transit systems including BART and the Golden Gate ferry.
Ms. Fudge spoke about her work as a Climate Reality leader with the Climate Reality Project, founded in 2006 by former Vice President Al Gore, with the mission of “moving the climate revolution forward with action.” She introduced Sonoma County Democratic Chair and former Sonoma City Councilperson, Laurie Gallian, who recently completed training as a Climate Reality leader at the organization’s Denver leadership training in early March. Mayor Fudge continued with the environmental theme by discussing a Windsor area business, BamCore, which has developed a unique building system using naturally sustainable bamboo as the key component for its hollow wall system. The system was invented by BamCore founder William McDonald as an environmentally-friendly replacement for traditional lumber.
In addition to Mayor Fudge’s presentation, club member Denise Dixon reported on a “Know Your Rights” seminar on March 22, which was co-sponsored by the Town of Windsor, Fourth District Supervisor James Gore, and the Sonoma County Public Defender’s Office. The seminar, held at the Furth center in Windsor, was intended to get the word out that everyone has rights, including our undocumented community. Instructions were shared on how to deal with an encounter with representatives of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (A full explanation of these rights is on the National Immigration Law Center’s website at www.nilc.org ).
— Barry Hirsch
