Features
$1.48 Million to Purchase Open Space Easement from Oakmont Neighbor
Eight years ago, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved a purchase deal that puts strict and permanent development restrictions on 165-acres located across from Oakmont. The final $1.48 million purchase price was a 10% discount over the appraised $1.63 million value for the six prime Sonoma Valley home sites. The money to pay for…
Read MoreA Response to Steve Spanier
In his President’s Message of July 15 in the Oakmont News, Steve Spanier speaks at length about both the virtues of community activism and how it can become suspect in the age of social media. With pride he touches on his own involvement with activism working for [societal] change, and how social media is contributing…
Read MoreAn Oakmont Natural Park Created by Volunteers
While someone might buy the Oakmont golf course property, one has to doubt that it has much value or could even be developed given it is zoned open space. Changing the zoning is difficult and given that Oakmonters vote in the VERY high percentages, our objections would probably kill any such effort. What does the scenario…
Read MoreThe July 10 Town Hall on the Golf Courses and OGC
What Should Residents Reasonably Expect of the OVA Board of Directors? The matter of OVA financial support for the Oakmont Golf Club has been brewing for months and has been the subject of OGC-sponsored meetings as well as OGC perspectives presented in its regular column in the Oakmont News. But the July 10 meeting…
Read MoreConflict of Interest and the OVA-OGC Question
Much has been said on social media about the potential conflict of interest of OVA directors, as they decide on whether or not to provide a rather huge amount of support to OGC (OGC asks for at least $1.4M over the next 5 years). The intent of this article is four-fold: first, to review what…
Read MoreAn Open Letter to Steve Spanier – You Are Failing on the OGC Issue
Steve, I believe in your governance style, as expressed in your campaign platform, but you are failing to live up to your campaign promises of civility, fiscal responsibility and transparency. I have continued to be hopeful that your leadership would turn things around, making this a more civil place and finding middle ground for controversial…
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