The Strategic Importance of Promoting Healthy Districts

The Strategic Importance of Promoting Healthy Districts

Thoughtfully submitted by Santa Rosa Together

This paper is being presented by Santa Rosa Together. Our mission is to support local democracy through advocacy for city processes that maximizes citizen engagement and a bottom up approach to planning. We are all volunteers motivated by a strong hope for the future of our community and a mutual understanding that the answers we need to deal with the challenges and opportunities before us are present in the neighbors that makes up this beautiful city.

Our city is in a truly dynamic time. Recent years have seen several “historic” shifts in our city including the annexation of Roseland (and other parts of what is now Southwest Santa Rosa), the shift to districts, and the impact of the Tubbs and other fires. In the midst of discovering how to adjust to the implications of these events, we also are facing a number of significant issues that could in themselves have a major impact on the quality of life in our city. These include but are not limited to the lack of affordable housing, homelessness, and the legalization of cannabis. Finally, each of these events and issues carry with them financial implications that have put pressure on our city government to consider new ways to structure, new processes to adopt, and new ways to fulfill its responsibilities

Change is here. And with it comes challenge and opportunity. Santa Rosa Together sees the shift to districts as a tremendous opportunity to leverage these changes and to better tap into the resources and energy of the citizens of our city. For years, we have struggled to get a vibrant and broad community engagement. It seems that the distance between city hall and most neighborhoods was too far to bridge in many cases. But, with the shift to districts, we believe the bridge now exists to engage the diversity of geography and culture in our community and to maximize our resources for addressing critical issues facing our community utilizing a bottom up approach.

In short, we believe that a healthy Santa Rosa needs healthy districts and that healthy districts will encourage and support healthy neighborhoods, leading back to a healthy Santa Rosa This paper is written to urge our city leadership to give time to practically answering the question, “What does a healthy district look like?” By answering this question, we think that the answers to many of the critical issues facing our city will become clearer.

Here are some key components that we believe are necessary for healthy districts:

1.     Characteristics of a healthy district

a.     A clearly “mapped” (using GIS technology) district  - this includes things like identifying “assets” in the district but also includes identifying the neighborhoods, schools, etc. , the zoning of district parcels, and other significant information regarding how the district is organized geographically.

b.     An increasingly organized and connected district –

                                               i.     cultivation of new neighborhood and community groups

                                              ii.     Support and encouragement for existing neighborhood and community groups

                                             iii.     Connection & coordination among community groups

c.      A district prepared for emergency – Neighborfests, COPE

d.     A district acting responsibly towards its future à

                                               i.     Participatory housing plan (housing for all)

                                              ii.     Participatory budgeting

e.     A “representative table” distinct from the “ownership” of the district council member

                                               i.     This group can offer consultation to their counsel member but is not appointed by the city council member. What we are speaking to is the dynamic that this group should include but also transcend being the constituents of the council member.

                                              ii.     This group of people can function as a key conduit for communication functioning as a two-way process of gathering input, and disseminating information.

                                             iii.     Members would include…

1.     CAB members

2.     Council and board appointees from the council member

3.     SR beat sergeant

4.     Schools officials (School district leaders, principals and other school site leaders)

5.     Parent -Teacher Organization Leaders

6.     Leaders from key non-profits operating in the district

7.     Neighborhood group/association leaders

8.     Representative from key businesses in the district

9.     Representatives from key medical/health organizations operating in the district

10.  Etc.

2.     In summary, we are proposing that the shift to districts provides the opportunity to create a framework for a more participatory and connected community and that, from that framework, many of our communities most pressing issues can be more effectively addressed and more creatively approached. To seize this opportunity we recommend the following initial action steps…

a.     Healthy District Scorecard Created… This approach has been used already by the city in several endeavors, including the SR Violence Prevention Partnership

b.     District policy adopted…

c.      District mapping plan developed – the city needs to assign staff time to help with the district mapping process and to developing functionality to make the information easily accessible.

d.     District resident and individuals in key district roles roundtables developed