Letters to the Editor, April 9: Cannabis mecca?

Readers weigh in on pot grows, the Crown Act and electric vehicles.|

Sonoma County a cannabis mecca?

EDITOR: Sonoma County wants to be a mecca for outdoor cannabis cultivation, boasting that people prefer Sonoma County weed because of soil and climate. Yet they bring in external soil, discard spent soil, and shield plants from our natural climate in hoop houses or greenhouses. The proposed new ordinance will attract big players from out of state. Do we want 20-plus acre mega grows like in Santa Barbara and Humboldt Counties, outcompeting our local growers?

No other Bay Area county allows outdoor cannabis cultivation, for good reasons. Odor can drift thousands of feet, impacting wineries and requiring neighbors to remain indoors with windows closed. All-day-long commercial activity with many workers further destroys neighborhoods, and fields of white plastic hoop houses mar our hillsides. This is in addition to huge negative environmental impacts of extensive water and electrical usage, and increased traffic and people in high fire prone areas.

Our county can do much better in revising its cannabis ordinance to streamline for local growers, protect residents, environment and visual impacts by conducting a proper EIR to determine suitable areas and conditions for responsibly growing cannabis. Yet our planning commissioners want to accept this new ordinance acknowledging that environmental review is lacking.

Deborah Eppstein

Sea Ranch

Business needs equity training

EDITOR: I advise that management at MacArthur Place takes the time to educate every employee on the Crown Act, which prohibits discrimination of Black hair and hairstyles (MacArthur Place Job Seeker Alleges Hair Style Was Questioned,“ March 26).

There is nothing wrong with our hair. There is nothing wrong with having Black hair and interacting with customers, working or existing in the world.

Bianca Ruffin did not deserve this discriminatory, racist and traumatic experience. What steps are being taken to rectify this situation?

The "confusion" around the "grooming policy" mentioned in the Sonoma Index Tribune article is anti-Blackness, and is a direct violation of the CROWN Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This treatment of Bianca Ruffin, a Black woman and Springs resident, is abhorrent, racial discrimination. From the CROWN Act:

(d) Workplace dress code and grooming policies that prohibit natural hair, including afros, braids, twists and locks, have a disparate impact on Black individuals as these policies are more likely to deter Black applicants and burden or punish Black employees than any other group.

(e) Federal courts accept that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, and therefore protects against discrimination against afros. However, the courts do not understand that afros are not the only natural presentation of Black hair. Black hair can also be naturally presented in braids, twists and locks.

(f) In a society in which hair has historically been one of many determining factors of a person’s race, and whether they were a second class citizen, hair today remains a proxy for race. Therefore, hair discrimination targeting hairstyles associated with race is racial discrimination.

(g) Acting in accordance with the constitutional values of fairness, equity and opportunity for all, the Legislature recognizes that continuing to enforce a Eurocentric image of professionalism through purportedly race-neutral grooming policies that disparately impact Black individuals and exclude them from some workplaces is in direct opposition to equity and opportunity for all.

MacArthur Place needs to take immediate steps to ensure that anti-Blackness and racial discrimination are not allowed or tolerated by employees or guests, provides anti-racism training to staff, and repairs the harm that has been caused. As a Sonoma resident, business owner and Black woman with natural hair, I do not feel welcome in your establishment.

Dmitra Smith

Sonoma Valley

Electrictrifying!

EDITOR: Congratulations to the City of Sonoma, Matt Metzler and Travis Wagner for moving the electric charging stations forward! Hard to believe it’s been a decade since Sonoma County provided the initial financial and project management incentive to establish the first publicly funded charging stations Sonoma as part of the Electric Vehicle Trail from Sonoma to Bodega Bay. Keep up the good work!

Mark Hummel

Former Capital Projects Manager, Sonoma County

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