Thomas Deegan wants to ‘bring Sonoma together’

Sonoma City Council candidate Thomas Deegan has never run for public office before, but it’s turning out to be a learning experience like few others.

“I’m finding that there’s a lot I don’t know and there have probably been mistakes I’ve made,” said the 22-year Sonoma resident. “But, overall, the experience is positive because it’s allowed me to go out and meet people.”

He said he spends about three hours a day canvassing neighborhoods and estimates he’s knocked on about 1,600 doors. “I’ve got another 3,000 to go,” said Deegan.

“I wouldn’t recommend it for people who tire easily.”

Though he’s new to politics, Deegan, 67, believes his business experience in the packaging industry and current work as a leadership consultant have provided him the collaborative skills needed to find solutions and get results for a host of city issues. “Nothing gets done if we don’t all work together and have a common purpose,” said Deegan. “We should be bringing Sonoma together to maintain the community.”

In fact, Bringing Sonoma Together is his official campaign slogan. He said it’s the need he hears most from the community on the campaign trail.

“As I walk around town and visit with people, you can feel the sense from the community that they’ve been left behind and don’t have control,” Deegan said. “And that’s hard to see.”

“People are feeling helpless like the council is not doing what people want,” Deegan said, citing last year’s controversial restriping of Broadway to reduce a traffic lane and add bike lanes. “That comes up a lot; people are still upset about that.”

Deegan hopes that helping reestablish that sense of involvement is a way he can give back to the community.

It’s a pay-it-forward value instilled in him by his mother, who raised him and his 11 siblings single-handedly after his father died of a heart attack when Thomas was just 6.

“With help from our community, my mother was able to keep all 12 of us together on our family farm,” said Deegan, about his childhood in Iowa.

He’d like to bring a similar sense of purpose and inclusion back to Sonoma.

The first key issue he’d prioritize on the council would be a search for a permanent city manager. (Interim City Manager Sue Casey is currently leading staff at City Hall.) “I appreciate the effort everyone (at City Hall) has done,” Deegan said. “They’ve done a good job keeping the city moving.”

He’d also like to focus on the realization of a Plaza Master Plan, a long-term vision for the 8-acre Plaza and surrounding business district and parking areas.

“I also I think it’s important we look at water - how we’re using it, conserving it and go into ‘super save mode,’” Deegan said. “It relates to everything we do, from personal (use) to construction to building new developments.

“We need to actually have another winter before we use up all the water,” he quips.

Other elements of his platform include ensuring the city remains fiscally viable (he wants to replenish the monetary reserves spent during the pandemic) and supporting business growth (following the loss of several businesses during the shutdown, he wants to help new businesses “understand our community values”).

Deegan also sees a need to increase housing opportunity in the city, in “order to maintain our community’s workforce.”

“To this end, we have to review our current affordable housing objectives, making sure there is sufficient land available for development and engage in open dialogue with developers,” he writes in his campaign literature.

And Deegan imagines his list of priorities will expand as he meets more residents and hears their concerns.

Getting to know his fellow Sonomans is what excites him about running.

“It’s enjoyable - not the paperwork, not state reporting - but looking at people’s expressions when they answer the door and realize they have someone they can talk to.”

And, he adds: “Do they want to talk about a lot of things.”

Email Jason Walsh at Jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.