Green Watcher
05-16-2003, 06:50 AM
Pull-quote from article below:
About the Greens...
"I felt they balanced a lot of different interests and I think that's a good thing for the long-term health of the community. It's ironic, actually, that (the Greens) take a very conservative view – they're concerned about creating a town that's a great place to grow up in."
"Long-term" is a favored term among Greens on both coasts. Larry Robinson, the first Green candidate to win election to the Sebastopol council, uses the phrase as often as New Paltz Mayor-elect Jason West.
"At the local level, it's all about potholes, and we don't ignore that fact," Robinson said.
~~~~
The whole article:
May 16, 2003
Village of New Paltz has Green twin on left coast
By Jeremiah Horrigan
Times Herald-Record
jhorrigan@th-record.com
New Paltz – It's tucked into a landscape that once encompassed a thriving apple industry, it has traffic problems on Main Street, a sister city in Japan, a 27-year-old mayor and a Green Party majority in office.
No, It's not New Paltz, despite the recent Green Party victory here; it's Sebastopol, Calif., a near-twin sister of the Village of New Paltz.
The small (pop. 7,000) City of Sebastopol went Green in 2000 and has stayed that way.
Despite apocalyptic predictions from Green opponents, Sebastopol has yet to fall into the sea; and despite early promises, the Greens have had to struggle to get thr message across to the electorate during thr three years as a majority.
If New Paltz (village pop. 6,034) was once known as "the Berkeley of the ," Sebastopol, located 50 miles north of San Francisco, is still known in some quarters as "Berkeley North."
Despite Sebastopol's reputation for the innovative and the unusual, its cosmopolitan air and New Age sympathies, the coming of the Greens was greeted with as much anxiety as excitement.
According to several observers, much of that anxiety was centered in the business community. And according to the minority Democrat on the current City Council, that's still the way it is.
"There was angst then, and it's growing," Sebastopol Councilman Bob Anderson said earlier this week. The local Chamber of Commerce, he said, was meeting that day with business leaders, hoping to find ways to elect a more "balanced" council, Anderson said.
"The business community is up in arms," he said.
At issue, observers say, is the "global" awareness of environmental problems and innovative "local" approaches to them. For example, the Greens have riled gas station owners and car dealers by proposing "car-free" days in which citizens would walk or bike around town, thereby reducing air pollution and traffic.
The Greens' willingness to explore issues that don't usually occupy local government has polarized elements of the city, according to Corey Young, who covers City Hall for the weekly Sonoma West Times & News.
"There's hardly a meeting where some issue like the death penalty, peace or terrorism doesn't come up," he said.
That approach appealed to Kate Young, a former president of the local board of education.
"I felt they balanced a lot of different interests and I think that's a good thing for the long-term health of the community. It's ironic, actually, that (the Greens) take a very conservative view – they're concerned about creating a town that's a great place to grow up in."
"Long-term" is a favored term among Greens on both coasts. Larry Robinson, the first Green candidate to win election to the Sebastopol council, uses the phrase as often as New Paltz Mayor-elect Jason West.
"At the local level, it's all about potholes, and we don't ignore that fact," Robinson said.
But he and his Green colleagues want to "look beyond" the immediate to consider long-range impacts. It's difficult.
"I've learned the hard way that it's one thing to implement policy with (a council majority) and quite another to get the community to buy it."
About the Greens...
"I felt they balanced a lot of different interests and I think that's a good thing for the long-term health of the community. It's ironic, actually, that (the Greens) take a very conservative view – they're concerned about creating a town that's a great place to grow up in."
"Long-term" is a favored term among Greens on both coasts. Larry Robinson, the first Green candidate to win election to the Sebastopol council, uses the phrase as often as New Paltz Mayor-elect Jason West.
"At the local level, it's all about potholes, and we don't ignore that fact," Robinson said.
~~~~
The whole article:
May 16, 2003
Village of New Paltz has Green twin on left coast
By Jeremiah Horrigan
Times Herald-Record
jhorrigan@th-record.com
New Paltz – It's tucked into a landscape that once encompassed a thriving apple industry, it has traffic problems on Main Street, a sister city in Japan, a 27-year-old mayor and a Green Party majority in office.
No, It's not New Paltz, despite the recent Green Party victory here; it's Sebastopol, Calif., a near-twin sister of the Village of New Paltz.
The small (pop. 7,000) City of Sebastopol went Green in 2000 and has stayed that way.
Despite apocalyptic predictions from Green opponents, Sebastopol has yet to fall into the sea; and despite early promises, the Greens have had to struggle to get thr message across to the electorate during thr three years as a majority.
If New Paltz (village pop. 6,034) was once known as "the Berkeley of the ," Sebastopol, located 50 miles north of San Francisco, is still known in some quarters as "Berkeley North."
Despite Sebastopol's reputation for the innovative and the unusual, its cosmopolitan air and New Age sympathies, the coming of the Greens was greeted with as much anxiety as excitement.
According to several observers, much of that anxiety was centered in the business community. And according to the minority Democrat on the current City Council, that's still the way it is.
"There was angst then, and it's growing," Sebastopol Councilman Bob Anderson said earlier this week. The local Chamber of Commerce, he said, was meeting that day with business leaders, hoping to find ways to elect a more "balanced" council, Anderson said.
"The business community is up in arms," he said.
At issue, observers say, is the "global" awareness of environmental problems and innovative "local" approaches to them. For example, the Greens have riled gas station owners and car dealers by proposing "car-free" days in which citizens would walk or bike around town, thereby reducing air pollution and traffic.
The Greens' willingness to explore issues that don't usually occupy local government has polarized elements of the city, according to Corey Young, who covers City Hall for the weekly Sonoma West Times & News.
"There's hardly a meeting where some issue like the death penalty, peace or terrorism doesn't come up," he said.
That approach appealed to Kate Young, a former president of the local board of education.
"I felt they balanced a lot of different interests and I think that's a good thing for the long-term health of the community. It's ironic, actually, that (the Greens) take a very conservative view – they're concerned about creating a town that's a great place to grow up in."
"Long-term" is a favored term among Greens on both coasts. Larry Robinson, the first Green candidate to win election to the Sebastopol council, uses the phrase as often as New Paltz Mayor-elect Jason West.
"At the local level, it's all about potholes, and we don't ignore that fact," Robinson said.
But he and his Green colleagues want to "look beyond" the immediate to consider long-range impacts. It's difficult.
"I've learned the hard way that it's one thing to implement policy with (a council majority) and quite another to get the community to buy it."