2012 Supervisorial Candidate Positions on Road Issues

April 30, 2012

SOSroads, a Sonoma County-wide citizens group, was formed to advocate for appropriate allocation of public funds to roads. The Board of Supervisors has neglected county roads for decades, during both economic booms and recessions.  Except for 198 miles of high priority roads, the supervisors have no plans to rebuild, repave or do anything but fill potholes on almost 1,184 miles (86 percent) of our county roads.  Without a pavement preservation program, the Department of Transportation says that the orphaned roads will deteriorate to a point where the pavement will be ground up, the roads will become dirt, or they must be completely rebuilt. 

SOSroads believes that budget priorities must be changed.  With three elections for the board of supervisors this year, voters have an opportunity to redirect their county government.  To assist voters in making informed decisions, SOSroads requested that the candidates for the three supervisorial elections provide written responses to the following questions:

1.       Is Sonoma County responsible for maintaining all county roads? If not, what criteria would you use to determine which roads are not a county responsibility? What standard should be used for defining  "maintenance?"

2.       What current spending would you cut to provide more general funds for roads?

3.       What measures do you support to provide funds for roads and what principles would guide your decisions?

The unedited responses to those questions are provided below by supervisorial district.  SOSroads is pleased that all candidates are thoughtfully trying to address this issue and that the improvement of the county road system has become a major issue in the 2012 campaign. Click on the candidate's name for their statement. 

1st District

Mark BramfittValley of the Moon Water District - Vice-President and Mechnical Engineer State of Calif.

Gina CuclisSonoma County Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Advisory Board and Community Volunteer

Susan Gorin - Santa Rosa City Councilwomen and former mayor

Joanne Sanders - Mayor of Sonoma and business owner

John Sawyer - Santa Rosa City Councilman and business owner

3rd District

Tim Smith - Former Rohnert Park Mayor and owns law practice

Shirlee Zane - Sonoma County Supervisor

5th District

Ernie Carpenter - former Sonoma County Supervisor

Efrin Carrillo - Sonoma County Supervisor

Veronica Jacobi - Energy management and conservation business owner