Editorial: Change is in the air

Sonoma is changing. We hear about it all the time.

Long-timers will look at the congested line of Teslas and Lexus SUVs cruising into town on Friday afternoon and say, “We didn’t have tourist traffic like this when I was growing up.” Or when a hip new business opens in a beloved old location, someone inevitably utters, “We used to have hardware stores and grocery shops, now it’s all tasting rooms and fancy restaurants.”

Change can feel hard and intimidating. Especially when one’s heartstrings pull heavily at the past, where the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia tend to tint the memory.

Some change is inherently problematic, like the proliferation of vacation homes that have thrown additional challenges into our tight housing market. Other change is desperately needed. Take our nation’s renewed emphasis on understanding how systemic racism has prevented so many groups from reaching their true potential.

Here in the Valley this year, we’ve seen plenty of changes in leadership.

We’re all familiar with the well-documented series of resignations from the Sonoma City Council, which even the San Francisco Chronicle found noteworthy. It’s hard to watch the institutional knowledge provided by longtime council members like Amy Harrington and Rachel Hundley walk out the door. But it creates opportunity for fresh perspectives and a renewed verve in these critical roles.

Our new city manager, Garrett Toy, will also take the helm on July 20, after eight years as Town Manager of the very-vocal hamlet of Fairfax in Marin County. But he was raised in Sonoma County, which should give him a better understanding of our idiosyncrasies as he leads our city staff.

Once again, the Sonoma Valley Unified School District is also under new leadership. Dr. Adrian Palazuelos came in at a tenuous time, following several years of turnover and unrest. He replaced Socorro Shiels, who was unexpectedly released from her contract in November 2020. Then there’s the churn of a number of school leaders, including this week’s departure of Prestwood Elementary School’s principal (see more on A2). Dr. Palazuelos has a tall mountain ahead of him, and we wish him all the best in his efforts to navigate our students out of this pandemic and back into the classroom.

And as you may have read, our own institution is going through changes.

After eight years as a reporter and three as a publisher, I will now take the helm as editor, bringing a fresh set of eyes to our pages with my sights set on elevating our already award-winning coverage. The Sonoma Index-Tribune has always done an admirable job of keeping our town informed, especially in times when resources for hometown newspapers are evaporating more quickly than California’s water supply. But there are still so many opportunities to dig deeper, to include more voices and to find new ways to leverage our digital platforms and better inform you, our valued readers.

I am lucky to now work more closely with the extensive brain trust of our sister paper, The Press Democrat, as we strive to bring you stories that leave an impact. The ones that are so thick with relevance you can’t put them down. The ones that inspire institutions to improve how they operate. We will shoot even higher than before, because Sonoma’s sophisticated readers know the difference and deserve the best.

That’s not to say we’re abandoning our hometown appeal. I came up under the leadership of former I-T publisher/editor Bill Lynch, who has always been one of my most-trusted sounding boards. He reminded me this week, “My dad use to say, ‘No story is too small for The Sonoma Index-Tribune,’ which is why we took pride not only in the quality of our in-depth stories, but in our story count, the large number of smaller stories about the most interesting things to our readers in their daily lives. We called it ‘refrigerator news,’ the kind of things moms and grandmothers clip out of the newspaper and put on the door of the refrigerator.”

I promise you, Sonoma, as editor/publisher I will protect the heart of this paper like a mama mountain lion. We will always celebrate your children’s accomplishments and neighborhood news in our pages. But starting now, we will double down on the accountability and investigative coverage our readers have long demanded.

In many ways I grew up in this Valley, and if you don’t know me already, I hope to meet you soon – I am eager for your stories, feedback, tips, questions and thoughts, so reach out any time: emily.charrier@sonomanews.com, 933-2711.