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Greenbelt Alliance In the News

September 18, 2008

Support a fair process

LTE from Craig Caddel, Petaluma

Editor: Should the Sonoma-Marin Fair Board and select City Council members determine the highest and best use of the fairgrounds without public review? Councilmember O’Brien said he was willing to extend the lease without public input. He must be very confident that the fair board knows what to do with our land.

This will be decided at an upcoming council meeting. Time for public input seems to be running out. What if the time were taken to review the most successful fairs in the country; the services they provide and how they generate revenue? What if we were to contrast those findings with our own fair’s history and current master plan? We would find success stories such as Centennial Farm in Orange County. This working farm, located on the fairgrounds, educates youth about their local agricultural heritage. Centennial Farm Foundation works with community volunteers, plus the management and staff of the Orange County Fair & Event Center, to plan, develop and operate the farm. By every measure, this farm enhances the fair and community.

How does our race track and paintball compare with that? Given our unique agricultural heritage, there is every reason to consider the merits of a similar program. Consider potential tie-ins with the burgeoning organic and artisan food movement that is so much a part of the Sonoma County tourist experience. Consider the contribution public gardens could make to local food banks and school lunch programs. Consider that Live Oak Charter, a tenant on the fairgrounds and a growing K-8 school, has an agriculturally-based curriculum and a robust volunteer parent body ready literally to dig into such a project. Consider the state agricultural funds that could be unleashed to assist a progressive, year-round eco-fair and assist our annual fair as well as the development of it.

Yes, those funds are available from the Secretary of Agriculture’s office! Finally, consider the unsustainable big-box development planned to go in next door. If we turn our fairgrounds into a beautiful, model development worthy of our No. 1 ranking by the Greenbelt Alliance, adjoining developers will have to come up with a non-big-box project that is complementary: something we could be proud of.

Who should decide the fate of the fairgrounds and the adjoining property? Demand a fair process for reviewing what the fair board will do with our land for the next 52 years.

Craig Caddell, Petaluma

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