Candidate for
Council Member; City of Sebastopol

The following is an excerpt from a recent editorial column from candidate Robert Jacob:

As voters become familiar with each candidate, please consider this: no single Council member makes decisions for Sebastopol. It is the whole, the five members of the City Council, who will determine the future of our town.

The questions that a voter must ask him/herself are which candidates are most apt to make the decisions the voter supports, and how the candidate will work in conjunction with other members of the City Council.

I have one of the most diverse lists of endorsements because of my ability to build bridges and encourage healthy communication. I am proud to have numerous organizational endorsements like the Sierra Club and Sonoma County Conservation Action, along with Senators Noreen Evans and Mark Leno, Assembly members Wes Chesbro and Michael Allen, the majority of the City Council, all of the Planning Commissioners, and numerous local individuals and leaders.

They have endorsed me because of my ability to work cooperatively and because of what I stand for. Here is my pledge to represent the following three perspectives as an elected council member:

I will stand for environmental protection. We must improve the traffic woes and reduce our impact on the environment. We need to expand our local bus services, bicycle and pedestrian trails, and pathways. I will work with regional and state leaders to attract funds for road repair, solar development, parks, and preservation projects. We can continue to restore the Laguna Preserve, and we must!

I will work for local economic vitality. We need more quality jobs to provide to residents meaningful, local career opportunities. Projects like The Barlow bring local retail, manufacturing, and production jobs to our town to offer our youth a chance to stay in Sebastopol where they've grown up. We must support local businesses and attract those goods and services that we too often buy in Santa Rosa and beyond.

I will support our social community, the fabric of our city. We must support our educational community, our local hospital, and the wide array of health services that our town offers. We have an established Community Center, Center for the Arts, and Senior Center. I will support these essential organizations that help our community thrive. Our social community needs adequate, affordable housing for new/young families, seniors, and other residents. We must creatively leverage our resources to create more affordable housing in the absence of Redevelopment funds.

There is much that needs to be fixed in Sebastopol. How are we going to make Sebastopol work? We do it by asking the difficult questions, by working hard with local, regional, and state leaders to move policy and resources where they are needed, and with some good, old-fashioned elbow grease.

How do we envision the future of Sebastopol? How do we create living wage jobs? How will we revise the General Plan to shape development for the next 20 years? I will ask the tough questions, and require that we do the homework to get accurate answers.

When making decisions as a business person, Planning Commissioner, or Executive Director, I ask myself what effect my decision will have now, in 10 years, in 20 or more. I ask what the public thinks and how it will affect the community at large.

As you prepare to vote, ask yourself this important question: Will the candidates we vote for work to balance and complement other council members in a way that results in a diverse council capable of making sound decisions that maintain our small town character and improve our quality of life? You have two votes this election. I respectfully ask that you cast one of them for me.