Happily Poorer

 Greetings!

I commented yesterday in a response to what was our direction to our investment advisors that their job wasn't to help us make ourselves happily richer, but happily poorer.

Gregory

A Legacy of Living Joy

 Greetings!

I've been promising Michele Luna (Executive Director of Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods) that I would write something about why Pat and I changed our minds about leaving a specific bequest to Stewards in our Trust instructions to the Sonoma Community Foundation.   We've decided not to leave it to chance and good fortune after we die.  There's a risk that increasing our annual contributions now will mean we won't have as much for ourselves in our advancing years.  If and when that comes about, we'll ask everyone (and ourselves) to make adjustments.  

There's also a risk that the fear of losing the wealth we now have will cause us to fail to respond to the vital needs of those causes we support.  We've decided that our fear of not adequately responding is greater than our fear of losing our wealth.   

Put another way, it's about what gives us more joy.  We enjoy it more to have our support reap benefits we can see, then to live more comfortably, and only dream of the impact when we are gone.

The decision wasn't made without plenty of financial planning.  My own super-spreadsheet was used to reassure Pat that we that could retire 15 years ago.  Many years of wealth managers have only strengthened that position, and allowed us to increase our support of the community while living a good life.

We encourage everyone to dig deep into your own giving philosophy.  Decide the financial assumptions upon which you live, and which you will carry forward.  You can always change them if the joy disappears.  We have found that the joy greatly reduces the fear.

A New Dynamic in the Philanthropic Community

Greetings!

A swivel by the business community from contributor to requestor is impacting the nonprofit world significantly.  Business friends whose generosity funnels support to nonprofits are instead using it to keep small to medium size businesses afloat.  Large business founders and investors are spending their time and money insuring the private sector's survival, especially as a source of jobs and the future of their children's assets.

What is clear is the passion that older hometown business owners have for supporting their younger struggling successors and entrepreneurs.  This virus is disrupting more than social interactions.

Supporting the Homeless Activists

Greetings!

Looking for effective means to support activists who are responding to the state's $500 million in one-time grants to address the homelessness problem,  I've decided to help provide them with a tool that worked twenty years ago when I participated in the implementation of another statewide grant program.  Though the tools for building a communications system amongst them have improved, a central non-governmental coordination entity needs to be dedicated to finding them all, and linking them in an easy to use system.  This week, I put a nonprofit together (Homeless Emergency Assistance Program Association) for that purpose.  Gathering contacts from county and state funding applications, newspaper articles, and allied advocacy groups, HEAPA's goal is to facilitate communication to share program and funding ideas at the grassroots level.

Looking back of what we did for First Five of California, I know you'll agree that success is dependent on connecting good people with good ideas.  Your contributions, like mine, are tax deductible.

Gregory Fearon
2040 Elizabeth Way
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
(707) 546-5771

Affordable Housing Described

Greetings!

A friend of mine who doesn't rent or own a house told me recently, "Supporting affordable housing in Sonoma County is a discussion over whether the nearly rich can live nearby the rich."   Thinking about my continuing efforts to get permanent subsidized housing for homeless included in a variety of public ventures lately, I tried to push back.

Sonoma County and Santa Rosa have been trying to find ways to build more housing, to replace those destroyed in the fire, and to keep pace with our general housing needs by building up downtown and along transit corridors.   But the cheapest unit anyone has proposed is still unaffordable to those making less than $50,000/year for a family four.  So affordable to whom?

Connected and Getting Green

Greetings!

At this point in my life, I have the ability to design a way of living which walks my talk.  So my goal in the future is zero emissions, and as much reuse as possible.

I'm getting rid of my gasoline-fueled car, and have bought a 2017 BOLT.  Capable of 230 miles on a charge, it's charged every few days at night from a dedicated circuit at the front of my garage supported by the 24 solar panels on my roof.  The panels supply more than enough to charge our cars, and during most of the year reduce our demand for external electricity from Sonoma Clean Power to very little.  The City of Santa Rosa treats our 160,000 gallons of wastewater, and sends it to the Geysers up in the hills east of us to CalPine to generate electricity which it sells back to Sonoma Clean Power.

So our wastewater and the sun on our roof fuel our cars.  The Bolt is a mobile hotspot, so a wifi-accessible handheld substitutes for a cell phone.  All my computer devices access our email and the internet through it.   Hardly anything I consume isn't readily available whereever I am.  I'm finding myself moving as seemlessly through my community as I have been through the house.

So how could my community help more of us take actions like this?  Encourage the use of, and the affordability of electric cars.  The City should designate and equip more of its parking lots and structures with charging devices powered by the solar panels recently installed on City building roofs.  Electric car-charging parking spaces should be free (but time-limited), and subsidized by higher rates for gasoline-fueled car parking spaces.

Waste from portable toilets should be allowed to be deposited into the City's wastewater treatment intake for free, and the reduced costs of their operation used to expand the number of free portable toilets at parks and in other public areas.

Let's all work together to help us walk our talk.


  

Old Courthouse Square Civic Engagement, Last Round

Greetings!

A couple of months ago, those planning the reunification of Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square revealed their plans.  Most complaints focused on the removal of some redwood trees and the addition of parking spaces.

This week, another design was revealed, and the planners are again asking for comments.  Though no public meetings are being held before it is voted on at the City Council, you do have an opportunity to send in comments and questions which will be forwarded to the Council.  Here is some information on that.

NEW! Revisions to the Master Plan for the Reunification of Courthouse Square The Master Plan showing the design features to be built into the Reunified Courthouse Square is being revised.  The design team of Carlile-Macy, has been busy making refinements to the design of the interior improvements for the Square. Revisions to the Master Plan are being proposed for Council approval.  The proposed changes are minor in nature, and generally relate to changes in placement of various features.  Changes to the Master Plan include: The new site of the Asawa Fountain will be in the south end of the Square near Third Street and the public art space area will be in the north end of the Square. The shade trees have been better distributed and relocated to accommodate various design features, and will be planted in a staggered alignment throughout the tree areas. The location of the accessible parking space on Hinton Avenue has been placed closer to Third Street. The accessible parking space on Exchange Avenue has not moved. Information kiosks that will also function as small storage buildings have been added at the south end of the Square. Locations have been identified for the various commemorative plaques and time capsules currently in the Square. The plaza paving has been revised to allow use of colored concrete. Comment on the Revisions – We want Santa Rosa residents to view themselves as part of the team helping to reshape Courthouse Square.  The Square is the heart of our City and as such, you are part of this endeavor.  We want to know what you think about the proposed revisions to the Master Plan for the Courthouse Square Reunification Project.  Please click a button below to submit a comment or a question by Friday, April 15, 2016.  You may also submit comments and questions by calling Carlene Okiyama, Senior Administrative Assistant at (707) 543-4284. City Council Meeting on April 19, 2016 – At the City Council Meeting on April 19, we will present your comments to the Council, along with the proposed revisions to the Master Plan, for their approval.  The Master Plan changes and any other direction given by the Council will be incorporated into the construction contract.  The construction contract is also proposed to be awarded by the Council at this meeting. Construction Activity Schedule – The City opened bids for the construction of the Courthouse Square Reunification Project on March 30.  The bid results are available online.  Construction activity is expected to commence in late-May and be completed by mid-November.  You can track the progress of the project and subscribe for email updates at srcity.org/CHS. Here are my comments: Response to the Revised Courthouse Square Master Plan Thanks for the chance to ask questions by Friday, April 17th on the changes to the Old Courthouse Square Master Plan.  I brought out my copy of the Master Plan distributed last week at the CAB Board meeting, and compared it to your new version. Here are the changes I see: ·      18 fewer trees, with a huge shift from flowering accent to deciduous shade trees.  The previous version had 117 new trees, with 53 flowering accent trees, and 64 deciduous shade trees.  The new version has 12 flowering accent trees, and 77 deciduous shade trees.  Looks like you chose to lose the color. ·      102 fewer bike parking spaces.  The previous version had 120 spaces, the new version has 18.  ·      The elimination of all moveable furniture (16 pieces). ·      The elimination of four picnic benches. ·      The addition of hydration stations in the map key, but I can’t find any on the map. ·      Though there seems to be a designated area for children, it’s located amidst a cluster of trees, and the circular surface designation has been removed. ·      The four large trees with circular benches in the center of the Square have been reduced to small trees with circular benches, with indications that this is a future addition. ·      Moving the color-changing LED lights from the middle of the square to the ends of the pedestrian and vehicle passageways, tripling the number of them, and indicating this is a future addition. ·      As you did indicate, the northern and southern fountain and art space have been swapped.  And the handicapped parking space has been moved from in front of the existing restaurant, and placed in a distant isolated corner space. ·      You also indicate changes to the ground surfaces, most of which seem to be various types of concrete.  How do you think these changes make the square a more inviting and pleasing environment?