Got a burning need to contact your state senator? For more than 50,000 residents of unincorporated Sonoma County, that number currently is disconnected.

No more smoking at the bus stop in Petaluma. No more hunting bears with dogs. And banks can no longer work with a home owner on a mortgage modification while simultaneously moving toward foreclosing.

Even as his opponent prepares to be sworn into office Monday, Michael Allen reiterated that he won’t concede the race for the 10th Assembly District seat until every last vote is counted. That could happen by Friday, when an estimated 15,000 provisional and absentee ballots in Sonoma County finally are tallied and the results of the Nov. 7 election are certified, according to county elections chief Janice Atkinson.
Odds are the outstanding ballots won’t alter the outcome of the race. At last count, San Rafael City Councilman Marc Levine held a slim but statistically significant lead over Allen of 3,468 votes.

Petaluma filed suit against the state Department of Finance this week in an effort to retain millions of dollars in redevelopment funds the city had earmarked for two major road projects, including the East Washington Street-Highway 101 interchange that has been under construction for months.

If you want to know why political insiders fought new election reforms in California, you could ask Assemblyman Michael Allen. Or congressmen Pete Stark and Howard Berman. Under the election rules that existed before this year, all three incumbents would be gathering with friends this weekend to celebrate victories in Tuesday’s elections. Instead, Allen, the former Santa Rosan, appears to be on his way to losing his North Bay Assembly seat, and Stark and Berman have already lost their congressional seats.

With the fall elections upon us, Californians are reeling under a weak recovery, enduring both historic levels of income inequality and the most severe fiscal crisis in recent history. To address the crisis we must have some common sense remedies: raise taxes on the wealthy and build a movement for a fair and more equitable tax system.

Three North Coast lawmakers were included in an Associated Press analysis that revealed that state Assembly members made 5,000 vote changes or additions during this year’s legislative session. The practice, while legal, is decried by critics as a way for lawmakers to play politics with their votes or hide their true positions on the issues.

Petaluma is preparing to sue the state in an effort to retain millions of dollars in redevelopment funds the city targeted for three major road projects — including one under construction. At stake is about $38 million the city had been counting on from property taxes collected through its former Redevelopment Agency. The Legislature abolished redevelopment agencies throughout the state last year and has staked a claim to the tax receipts to supplement the state budget.

California Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson will be in Santa Rosa Saturday campaigning for a school funding ballot initiative and speaking to a conference of local school board members. Torlakson will be the keynote speaker at the North Bay School Trustees Fall Symposium sponsored by the Sonoma County Office of Education. Torlakson’s talk on the November ballot initiatives on school funding, scheduled for noon, is open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session.

California’s troubled state parks system, shaky finances and problems with violence at mental health facilities were areas of focus this year for the North Coast’s legislative delegation.