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for 3rd District Supervisor

Currently viewing: Veronica Jacobi » Issues

“I’m running for County Supervisor to create Safe, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities. I would love to have your support!”

Issues Affecting Sonoma County. . .



Climate Change: The “Cause for Change”

"These next few years are critical. We need to make important changes now, both large and small, to help protect our environment for our children and future generations." – Veronica Jacobi

This section addresses Global Warming and Climate Change. Members of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the co- recepients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, have stressed the critical nature of the next two or three years. There is much that can be accomplished to address our local challenges and Greenhouse Gases at the same time. Veronica Jacobi is in a unique position to analyze our environmental problems and offer solutions. Veronica is a professional mechanical engineer specializing in energy and environmental management. She’s worked on environmental problems at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PG&E and started her own energy conservation consulting firm.

Veronica Jacobi is widely acknowledged as an environmental expert. She’s running for Supervisor to implement the changes we need to make to preserve our quality of life.

More than just politics, however, Veronica hopes to see all of us make the changes we need and come together to solve the critical challenges of Climate Recovery.

Changes We Can Make Right Now to make a difference TOGETHER!

  • Walk, Bike, Ride the Bus, Combine Trips & Carpool
  • Drive 55 mph or At the Lower Speed Limit
  • Use Hybrid & Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Vehicles
  • Eat Local, Organic, Fair Trade & Home Garden Grown
  • Turn Off Unused Lights & Appliances
  • Monitor & Reduce Heating & Cooling Equipment
  • Vacation Locally or Use Alternative Transportation
  • Use Renewable Energy
  • Reduce Consumption & Waste, Reuse, Recycle, Compost
  • Switch to Energy Efficient Light Bulbs & Appliances

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Veronica Jacobi's Climate Recovery Plan for Sonoma County

1. Local Green Jobs & Economy: Work to attract and grow local “green” businesses and industries in Sonoma County. These are technology companies in a fast-growing global market for “green” solutions such as PV (solar) cells, wind conversion and geothermal materials, architectural and engineering services, cleansers, recycled building products, etc. With the right planning and leadership, we could be a new center for emerging Green-tech, just as the peninsula has become a center for bio-tech in the past decade.

2. Clean Renewable Energy: Shifts our energy sources from fossil fuels, oil and natural gas to clean, renewable sources like solar, wind and other alternative technologies. Allow private development of renewable energy projects on public property in exchange for a long term power purchase agreement. Sonoma County and our Cities could leverage the program by providing low interest loans for renewable energy projects, plus a green jobs program to complement it. There are many cost effective possibilities with the right leadership.

3. Carbon Sequestration & Offsetting: Seek all possible ways to reduce our carbon footprint. For example, switching county government vehicles to hybrids and biofuels, increasing multi-modal transit options, programs for carsharing, carpooling & bicycling to work, opting for special carbon-reducing plantings wherever we can on public lands, entering agreements with green developers to produce our renewable energy on county land, and imposing traffic impact fees on new developments to offset their effects.

4. Community Choice Aggregation (CCA): Enables local control over our energy sources to ensure they’re climate-friendly, safe, price-stable and renewable. CCA is a new energy supply model that allows citizens to use local resources to reduce our carbon footprint, and generate local “green” energy jobs.

5. Water Conservation & Re-Use:Roll-out conservation guidelines for new building and home improvement projects. Permit Greywater and “Purple Plumbing” (treated water re-use) solutions for businesses and residences, and reduce the red tape surrounding these emerging technologies for those who want to use them responsibly.

6. SMART Rail, Walk & Bike Paths: Pass SMART rail initiative to move commuters via more efficient rail lines, reduce our carbon footprint, get cars off highway 101, give residents an option to $4/gallon gasoline. Make the small but vital investments to improve walk and bike paths, which will pay dividends for decades to come.

7. Zero Waste Initiative: Commits county to eliminate landfill waste disposal through recycling and composting, combined with requirements for producer responsibility for toxic products, in the next 10-20 years.
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National Organizations

The Campus Climate Challenge is a project of more than 30 leading youth organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Challenge leverages the power of young people to organize on college campuses and high schools across Canada and the U.S. to win 100% Clean Energy policies at their schools. The Challenge is growing a generation-wide movement to stop global warming by reducing pollution from our high schools and colleges to zero, and leading our society to a clean energy future.
http://climatechallenge.org/

The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. The Sierra Club has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the United States.
http://sierraclub.org/

The 1Sky Campaign is dedicated to aggregating a massive nationwide movement by communicating a positive vision and a coherent set of national policies that rise to the scale of the climate challenge before us. The 1Sky campaign was created in response to the collective urgency for nationwide environmental solutions by a diverse group of determined leaders across the country. Our movement has many strengths, audiences and organizing strategies – 1Sky is aggregating and magnifying our power to positively address the urgent environmental issues of our nation.
http://www.1sky.org/about

Green Facts - facts on health and the environment
http://www.greenfacts.org/
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Local Organizations

The Climate Protection Campaign supports and accelerates the work of Sonoma County, cities and towns within the County, and other partners in measuring and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Many individuals participate in the Sonoma County Climate Protection Campaign - local elected officials, County and city staff, teachers, students, business people, activists, and concerned citizens.
http://www.climateprotectioncampaign.org/

Daily Acts is a Sonoma County organization that publishes Ripples journal and does sustainability tours that are informative, educational and inspiring.
http://www.daily-acts.org/

The Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County is a meeting space for many local peace and social justice groups. It has a video and book library where you can borrow books and movies on a variety of progressive topics. Also, the director assists military personel tn obtaining honorable discharges and leads the HOPE team (High school and college Outreach and Peace Education).
http://www.peaceandjusticesonomaco.org/

Lite Initiatives is a Sonoma County organization with the mission to motivate individuals, groups, businesses, and whole communities, to live lightly and more efficiently. Their programs include Community Bikes, Car-Lite, Green Mentor, and Zero Waste. Community Bikes is a Santa Rosa used bike shop that refurbishes bikes for reuse and teaches people to fix on their own bikes.
http://liteinit.org/
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Food

Laguna Farms is a “beyond organic” farm in Sebastopol that has a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program that provides members a weekly box of seasonal produce.
http://www.lagunafarm.com/
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Energy Audits

The Home Energy Saver is designed to help consumers identify the best ways to save energy in their homes, and find the resources to make the savings happen. The Home Energy Saver was the first Internet-based tool for calculating energy use in residential buildings. The project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the national ENERGY STAR Program for improving energy efficiency in homes.
http://hes.lbl.gov/

Carlton Homes, located in Santa Rosa, is committed to helping customers save energy, save money and save our planet Earth. In this spirit they have created the “Home Energy Makeover” service. The Home Energy Makeover service is an evaluation of present energy performance of the components, interior and exterior, of your home – and is the first step to getting the most energy savings for your investment.
http://carltonhomes.biz/index.shtml
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Movies

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. You will learn, you will laugh, and you just might change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
http://storyofstuff.com
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Cheaper, Cleaner Renewable Energy

As a professional engineer and energy conservation consultant, I know that renewable energy options like solar and wind power are the future of Sonoma County’s energy planning. This will help us gain greater energy independence, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and decrease our carbon footprint. I am also in favor of CCA power (Community Choice Aggregation), which allows us as a county to choose our own energy sources.
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Water Conservation and Management

As a founding member and former Chair of the Sonoma County Water Coalition, I have been a long-time advocate for water conservation and safeguarding our future local water sources. I support both Greywater and “Purple Plumbing” (treated water re-use) solutions for businesses and residences. We need to clean up the red tape surrounding these issues and get these systems operational for those who want to use them responsibly.
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Better Health Care

Quality, affordable healthcare is essential to our continued success. We cannot have “Safe, Healthy and Sustainable Communities” if our hospitals and health centers are closing or limiting access, reducing locations for women’s reproductive services, or decreasing mental health services. We need to look at how we can best ensure that our emergency and preventive care needs are being met, while not breaking the bank. At the same time as we fix the safety net, we should also be striving to offer the best healthcare options for all our citizens.
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County Government

The county has made great strides in the past few years to cope with revenue shortfalls, but much more can and needs to be accomplished. By being creative and cost-conscious, local government can provide programs which enrich our lives. I will promote sound policies and management of government resources to maintain services and preserve fiscal responsibility.
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Public Safety

I am committed to public safety, and will work hard to maintain effective law enforcement, fire and emergency services in every part of the county. I will work with community groups to address neighborhood problems.
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Gang Prevention

These recent crimes we hear about - mothers being attacked in our shopping centers and gang shootings on our streets - disturb me greatly. These incidents are horrifying and completely unacceptable. When confronting Gangs and Crime, I advocate a two-pronged solution: 1) we must protect our communities from criminals; and 2) we need to support effective community-based programs to work with our young people who may be recruited by gangs to prevent the problems before they start.
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Housing

I want to see more comprehensive planning in the area of affordable housing, ensuring that we build near schools, shopping and transit.
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The Environment

Sonoma County is noted for its natural beauty and quality of life. I will continue to work to protect water resources and watersheds, water and air quality, habitat and greenbelts. I want to preserve our precious ridges, hilltops, vernal pools, wetlands, and wild areas for future generations of people and wildlife.
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Services

I will tirelessly work to maintain and improve services for children, older persons, people with disabilities, and those with limited incomes. I will be available to individuals, advocacy groups, organizations and businesses that provide a better quality of life for those who need assistance.
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Transportation

I support improved public transportation, including the SMART train, and more and safer pedestrian and bicycle routes. Increased evening and weekend buses would serve people working second shifts, people with disabilities, youths, students with late classes at SRJC and SSU, and those seeking social or other activities around town.

Many more of our neighborhoods' transit, traffic and parking issues can be resolved by bringing together city and county agencies and members of the impacted communities to develop solutions. I will facilitate and encourage greater communication between all concerned, especially during the planning process, and be an advocate for increased funding from state and federal sources.
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"Big Box" Limits

Many of us appreciate the convenience of some existing "Big Box" stores, where we can go to one store, or a series of them in the same center, and get a wide array of choices at competitive prices.

Many of us also want smaller locally owned businesses to survive and thrive. These smaller businesses are often located even closer to us, and we may have a pleasant history of superior personal service and attention with these older businesses. There are many small and medium sized businesses spread throughout our city and county that add to the character and uniqueness of our neighborhoods. Also, on a dollar for dollar basis these locally owned stores provide greater economic benefit to the area because the dollars they take in from sales usually get recirculated in the community, whereas the "Big Box" stores send their profits to corporate headquarters. I believe it is important that we protect local small businesses from unbearable pressure from more "Big Box" stores. I believe it is time to put limits on "Big Box" sprawl.
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Your Tax Dollars at Work

The Santa Rosa Junior College's parking garage is a good example of a project where community and student input, the JC, and city and county agencies could have united to provide for the needs of the students, nearby residents, and the commercial interests in the neighborhood to a higher degree.
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