Hollister is the next cheapest place on the border of Silicon Valley. Rents are skyrocketing. Affordable rentals are nearly impossible to find. Long time residents are doubled and tripled up, couch surfing, living in sub-standard units, homeless, or leaving the area. The upper floors of downtown sit empty. A proposed new homeless shelter does not include the "housing first" solution. We could easily fill 200 tiny houses. This is a critical point in the development of this community.

For tens of thousands of citizens of Sonoma County being evicted from their homes or worried about rising costs, the shortage of attainably priced housing for moderate income people has become the most urgent crisis in the County. Every political candidate and elected representative speaks of the need to address our housing crisis, but nobody in County or local government has developed a plan capable of adding more attainably priced housing units. As a result—and in the absence of an Attainable Housing Solution like the one being proposed below by the politically independent grassroots Sonoma County Attainable Housing Coalition and the SonomaIndependent.org—the current housing crisis will worsen. Without a bold solution to this crisis, only new rentals coming available and the only new homes available for purchase will remain affordable to only the wealthy. Thousands, or even tens of thousands of our neighbors, as well as farm laborers and other moderate-income workers, will continue to be priced out of our communities. Children who have grown up here will be unable to live as adults near their families, and many senior renters, our must vulnerable residents, will be forced from the community in which they have lived for decades or have chosen for their retirement. They will be priced out by escalating costs and replaced by newcomers who can afford skyrocketing rents or the million-dollar-plus homes, which are, effectively, the only type of housing that the County’s existing zoning and permitting laws allow to be built. The Sonoma County Attainable Housing Solution is a three-prong solution that would allow, at zero cost to taxpayers, the creation, during the next 15 years, of 15,000 new small homes rent controlled at under $900 per unit, as well as 10,000 small environmentally friendly homes in non-profit housing clusters, cost-controlled to under $200,000. Our solution could be implemented this year by a simple vote of a majority of our County Supervisors, along with a modest adjustment to the upcoming Community Separator extension that is up for voter renewal this year. If implemented, this Solution could create 25,000 new rent and cost-controlled units of housing to house 30,000 people who will otherwise be forced to leave Sonoma County, or not be able to move here, because of the skyrocketing cost of housing. An April 24 column in the Press Democrat by syndicated Bloomberg columnist Justin Fox titled "Why Housing is Too Expensive" concluded, “I can’t help but think that this is a case where we may need both less government (in the form of a rollback of zoning and other housing regulations) and more government (in the form of housing subsidies for the poor).” Sonoma County’s Supervisors are taking necessary measures to find and fund solutions for the homeless. What they have not done, and what needs to happen now, is a zoning and permitting rollback that is focused, with laser-like precision, on creating thousands of units of attainably priced, new housing. The Sonoma Independent Solution allows the marketplace to create an unprecedented boom in attainably priced housing by reducing expensive regulations on auxiliary dwelling units, and by re-zoning a tiny percentage of private land in the County solely for the creation of attainably priced housing so that small landowners will be empowered to use the free market to address the County’s housing crisis. For a variety of reasons—from density issues to accessibility to a lower carbon footprint—some of these attainably priced homes would be located near cities. With that in mind, our Solution requires amending the upcoming Community Separator initiative that will be on the November 2016 ballot to allow some of this attainably priced cost-controlled housing to be placed on about 5% of the land covered by the law. The Sonoma Independent Attainable Housing Solution would provide the capability for middle-class landowners to either sell currently unsaleable small parcels of land for non-profit housing communities of inexpensive small homes or to become middle-class landlords of rent stabilized small house tenants, while generating millions of dollars in new tax revenue for Sonoma County. Our Solution has built strong safeguards to ensure that for-profit developers will never be able to take advantage of these zoning adjustments for housing that are not attainably priced. All of the rental units will be controlled so that they can never be rentable for more than $900, plus increases pegged to the local rate of inflation. Those built as part of non-profit Community Land Trusts could never be rented for profit, or sold for more than $200,000 (plus the rate of inflation). In addition, all the new homes created would be environmentally friendly and conscious of their neighbors. There would be no more than two housing communities of no more than 20 small homes per square mile. Most of the new modest, small-home communities would have solar panels to be net generators of energy, and would contain organic gardens to sustain our local food supply. All the new communities would be forbidden from using pesticides, Roundup, herbicides, or GMO seed. They would also not be able to build asphalt roads, or to grow commercial grapes or cannabis. The Sonoma Independent and the County Attainable Housing Coalition believes this solution provides a historic opportunity to reverse the current trend of new housing affordable only for the wealthy, and build 25,000 new units of attainably priced small homes, with zero use of taxpayer dollars, while creating $15 million annually in new tax revenue for the County, and more than $100 million in additional income for middle-class landowners. This solution is comprised of three parts: I. Zoning and code variance for auxiliary dwelling units (“ADU’s”), likes tiny homes, garage conversions and mobile units, to be rent controlled at under $900 per month. II. An allowance for small gree...

I broke my leg on these inadequate roads. Neighborhood roads should provide for pedestrians, and bicycle riders, and skaters, as well as cars.

We are told the Town Council may not grant us permission to volunteer and update the City of Chesapeake Playground at the corner of 116th St. & Kanawha Avenue. We want a high school regulation basketball court. Basketball uprights and rims are being donated. Volunteers are available to put in proper mulch and write playground companies for update and compliant play areas. Vote to update our playground. Permission to raise funds and make a safe and compliant playground.

My sister, Jenny (a developmentally disabled adult), is a resident at the Ella Grasso Regional Center, which is scheduled to be closed June 30, 2016, due to State Budget Cuts. She and an additional 28 residents live and thrive in this facility, which is their home. We, the parents/guardians, oppose this decision to close E.G.R.C. PLEASE JOIN US IN OUR FIGHT TO STOP THESE BUDGET CUTS AND KEEP E.G.R.C. OPEN !!

The Mayor’s Rebuild Initiative is an important step in adequately supporting the Free Library’s already established Building Inspiration campaign in which 5 libraries have already been designed and funded. With the Rebuild Initiative, the Free Library has an opportunity not only to better serve their constituents but to also serve as a leader, to build and enhance facilities that do not just keep pace, but that define the future for all public libraries. Every neighborhood library should be upgraded to provide: i. A safe place for children to learn and grow, to go to after school and have the facility and resources that are truly conducive to learning; ii. A place where job-seekers can develop stronger digital literacy skill sets and learn how to build their resume, learn to search and apply for jobs so that they can participate in the larger economy of the community and therefore the City; iii. A place for discovery, serendipity, conversation, community and civic engagement; iv. A place that establishes the importance of community health as a goal – healthy communities are learning communities, supportive communities are economically sound and civically engaged.

My spouse died in 2015 and neither one of us never married again after we divorced. I have a right to draw his Social Security according to the Bible. I feel like the law needs to be fixed!

My name is Gary and I am starting this petition because I have seen too many of West Virginia’s children fall through the cracks. As a clinical social worker in a public school, I work with students and families who are struggling on a daily basis. In my school, like many West Virginia schools, I encounter students who live in households facing poverty, substance abuse and family breakdown. My students experience toxic stress and trauma that affect their mental and emotional health. When I try to connect my students and their families to community-based mental health services, I find that these services are not available or that my students’ families cannot access existing programs because of long waiting lists for appointments, unreliable transportation or inability to pay. We must do better. Because community-based mental health services are not available in most of West Virginia’s communities, state agencies often troublingly advise parents to file court petitions against their own children in order to get help.. As a result, desperate families seeking help from the court system oftentimes see their child removed from their home and institutionalized in a juvenile facility. A recent U.S. Department of Justice investigation found that West Virginia’s overreliance on institutions causes significant harm to children and their families. Although West Virginia invests very little in community-based mental health services, the state spends millions of tax dollars a year to operate hundreds of beds in private juvenile institutions. A year of residential treatment for one child costs our state as much as $120,000, money that could be used much more successfully in the child’s community to provide psychotherapy and counseling services, intensive outpatient services, crisis stabilization, school-based services, prevention and early intervention. By comparison, a child could see a psychotherapist 5 days a week in their own community for an entire year and it would cost $26,000, nearly $100,000 less than locking up a child in a facility. West Virginia should plan and develop a strong coordinated network of mental and behavioral health care services to reduce the number of children struggling with long-term mental illness. The state must create a comprehensive plan to ensure that those children who are coping with mental health conditions or behavioral disorders are identified early, and have a continuum of care to meet their needs. We need to ensure that families have the resources and support they need to help them navigate raising a child with mental health challenges. As a state, we are paying too much of our limited tax dollars on the back end of the problem. Unsurprisingly, we are experiencing poor outcomes as a result and wasting money on expensive and ineffective methods. Shifting services from institutions back into the community, closer to family, into the school, and earlier in the process would not only save money but will help young people successfully cope with mental health challenges. We must give schools the necessary resources and tools to ensure that children with mental health conditions are able to get a quality education, and ensure that courts utilize community-based alternatives rather than out-of-home placement for at-risk youth. This will have the ripple effect of making healthier and happier friends, classmates and neighbors. Please join me in signing this petition.

My name is Maurice Anderson and I am pursuing my Business Administration degree at Columbia Southern University online. The money I get from financial aid barely covers tuition and housing fees, therefore I find myself with no money to use for food. I was encouraged to apply for SNAP food benefits and also because of the 75% usage rate, I applied. I was first denied because in the eyes of SNAP Virginia, as a student, we are expected to have extra free time to also carry a job of at least 20 hours a week; not every 2 weeks or month, but 20 hours a week! Once I finally got a month's worth of working 20 hours a week to show to SNAP, they approved my case and received my allowance of $115.00 in SNAP food benefits for an entire month. Please help students/ workers in Virginia qualify for SNAP food benefits without having to work a maximum number of hours, and to be treated like the rest of the community. Please ensure that we can continue with our education and also work and be able to eat. Allow students to concentrate on our studies without mandatory work hour qualifications for SNAP benefits. Please sign this petition to help students attain food benefits through SNAP Virginia without restrictions on work hours!

Resurfacing Chase Street presents a unique opportunity to re-evaluate and improve upon the ways our children walk and bike to Chase Street elementary School. Adding two more crosswalks in front of the school increases this access, further helps to slow traffic in this corridor, and reinforces Chase Street Elementary as a neighborhood school. **Note: If you have signed a paper version of this petition, please don't sign it a second time!**

Late last year, Central States Pension Fund retirees, widows, and spouses were notified that their hard-earned pensions might be slashed by as much as 70 percent. These proposed cuts are made possible by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, a law that torpedoes 40 years of established federal private pension law and could ultimately impact millions of American workers and their families. Between now and May 7th, the Treasury Department is expected to rule on Central States' dangerous proposal. Please stand with retired truck drivers, dock workers, office workers, spouses, widows and others who could be affected by the law by urging the Treasury Department to reject the unfair and ill-conceived cuts proposed by the Central States Pension Fund. If these pension cuts are approved, hundreds of thousands of lives would be affected, setting a dangerous precedent for future cuts in other multiemployer plans, affecting more than a million people.

Late last year, Central States Pension Fund retirees, widows and spouses were notified that their hard-earned pensions might be slashed by as much as 70 percent. These proposed cuts are made possible by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, a law that torpedoes 40 years of established federal private pension law and could ultimately impact millions of American workers and their families. Please stand with retired truck drivers, bakery workers, dock workers, office workers, spouses, widows and others who could be affected by the law by urging the Treasury Department to reject the unfair and ill-conceived cuts proposed by the Central States Pension Fund. If these pension cuts are approved, hundreds of thousands of lives would be affected, setting a dangerous precedent for future cuts in other multiemployer plans, affecting more than a million people.