Pent-up feelings over a proposed hotel in downtown Sonoma, and over an initiative that would curb such growth, spilled over at Monday’s City Council meeting. The council voted 4-1 to give City Manager Carol Giovanatto the authority to research consultants for help in preparing a report on the impacts of the proposed ballot measure, should proponents succeed in qualifying it for an election.

Faced with a public outcry, the Sonoma City Council on Monday unanimously overturned a decision by the Planning Commission and will allow Peet’s Coffee &Tea to open its first store in the city.

The Sonoma City Council is considering new restrictions on vicious dogs in response to concerns that the city ordinance does not go far enough to prevent attacks. The city would define a vicious dog as one that without provocation severely injures or kills a person or other animal. Owners of such dogs would, at the very least, be required to keep them locked up or muzzled when out. Council members will take up the proposed ordinance at their meeting on Monday.

If the campaign signs springing up around town are the most visible sign of the current election season, and the robo-calls and mailers its constant drumbeat, then the routine roll call of endorsements is the background noise.
While rarely revelatory, they are a signal to voters and thus a required part of any bid for public office, political experts say.
‘It is incumbent that you have them,’ said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist. ‘Do they sway voters? No. But they point voters in a direction.’
In announcing their latest endorsements last week, Susan Gorin and John Sawyer did some more pointing to voters.

Sonoma’s City Council on Monday night unanimously rejected raising water rates by at least 25 percent over the next five years amid concerns that the city has not explored other options, including consolidating services with other water agencies to cut costs.

The Sonoma City Council Monday7 will consider a proposed water rate increase of 5 percent each year for five years, which city staff says is needed to operate and maintain the city’s water services and to offset the city’s increased costs to purchase water from the Sonoma County Water Agency.

In a first test of Sonoma’s new rules governing so-called formula stores, the city planning commission has narrowly rejected a use permit for Berkeley-based Peet’s Coffee and Tea to open an outlet near the historic city plaza.

A Sonoma woman who was seriously injured in 2009 when she was hit on a sidewalk by a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle has settled her lawsuit against the teen and his parents for $1.4 million, her attorney said. The city of Sonoma also was named as a defendant and will have to pay $250,000 as part of the settlement, in what amounts to a test of the city’s ordinance — apparently unusual among Bay Area cities — that allows bicyclists to ride on sidewalks with few restrictions.

Sonoma’s City Council showed little support Monday night for reviewing the city’s policies on consuming alcohol in public to deal with unruly behavior at city-sponsored events.

Sonoma Mayor Joanne Sanders announced that she will not seek a third term in office, saying she instead will concentrate on her family and running the employment staffing firm she owns with her husband.