For a Healthy Sonoma County

Issues - Sonoma Safe Streets Initiative

Keeping our communities safe is probably one of the most important things an elected official can do.  From giving proper guidance and funding to Sonoma County law enforcement, to ensuring that programs are in place to keep youth and young adults out of trouble and in school, to ensuring that we have safe, walkable and bike-able neighborhoods, its all interconnected.

My proposal integrates all these themes under one roof - Sonoma Safe Streets.  Please take a moment to review my ideas, and let me know what you think by emailing me at shirlee@zaneforsupervisor.com

1) The threat of gangs and their corrosive effect on our communities have increased significantly in recent years.  Here are a few suggestions for how to augment our gang prevention strategies.

• Ensure that gang prevention starts in the family - with trainings for parents and paid mentorship programs to keep youth active and involved.

• Provide parents with a roadmap for keeping their kids safe, and out of gangs.  Parents should not have to search high and low for resources.

• Gang prevention is a community effort.  We need to rethink how we approach gang as prevention and early intervention, in addition to strategic enforcement.

2) By involving the whole community in public safety, we can both decrease our jail and penal system costs, and increase public trust and community involvement.

• Increase involvement of small business owners in “community centered policing,” by investing in trade skills mentorships and restorative justice policies.

• Maintain and expand alternatives to jail for first time offenders of nonviolent crimes, including the “mental health & homeless court” supported by local judges and service organizations.

3) We also need to ensure that our communities are safe for seniors, bicyclists, and everyone who uses our magnificent public spaces.

• Continued expansion of bicycle & pedestrian pathways between destinations. 

• Increased solar-based nighttime lighting of pedestrian pathways and public spaces  to reduce crime and increase public access.

• Incorporate high visibility and line-of-sight design in new developments to decrease undesirable elements.