The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

An Open Letter to Larry Barnett, on Measure B:

Larry  - 

            We had a great asset in your leadership, and in the tireless dedication of everyone, especially David and Karla and others of the Committee and volunteers who labored ceaselessly beyond what anyone could have expected for a cause in which none of us stood to make a single dime.  

            I think a public note of appreciation in the papers over your signature from the Committee to all of our volunteers and those who voted for &/or emotionally supported us is certainly in order.  Especially those volunteers who don't live in town & couldn't vote but gave it their all nonetheless because they understood what we were -- are? -- fighting for, and it wasn't 'just' about hotels.   

             I am honored to be a part of it and to have earned the enmity of the 'powers that be' and the occasional abuse we took.  It was a reflection of the threat our ideas presented to a worldview that is the trailing, not leading, edge of rational economic & social thinking about Sonoma and about growth.   If (when) people realize what has just happened, many will see it as a turning point and a sign of deep discontent over 'the way things are going' in our town and Valley.   When that happens, we will have earned the belated respect of our opposition as well. 

            Not unlike Prop 8, Measure B may have been the high water mark for rapacious commercialization of our town & Valley and perhaps beyond. The margin for Prop 8 was 52.3% to 47.7% and we all know the energy, outrage and the ultimate victory that triggered.  Measure B was even closer:  51.3% to 48.7%.  Had we changed the minds of only 46 people who voted against us, we would have won by a vote.

            It should give anyone great pause that a rag-tag 'vocal minority,' with zero financial interest in the fight & precious little resources, nearly defeated bottomless wealth and -- quite literally -- the entire power structure of the Valley and County that was arrayed against us, including: 

Chamber of Commerce; Visitors Bureau; Tourism Improvement District; Sonoma County Vintners & Growers Association; North Bay Labor Council; Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff’s Association; Living Wage Coalition; North Bay Realtors Association; Sonoma Index Tribune; Press Democrat, and a Who’s-Who list of the local One Percent, including one of the nation's most powerful lobbyists. 

With all their money, power & influence, the self-imagined 'masters of the universe' only managed to beat us by 46 votes.  To stoop to a sports analogy, that's not unlike the SVHS Dragons losing to the Yankees by a single run, in extra innings.  Had Measure B been on a general election ballot with a greater turnout, the results could have been even more stunning (and embarrassing) than anyone can imagine.  

            Thoughtful people will be in awe of what 'almost happened' this time, and will begin thinking about the next time.  To borrow a line from the Brazilian writer, Paulo Coehlo, often attributed to John Lennon and used in my favorite movie, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel:"   “Everything will be fine in the end. And if it is not fine, then it is not the end.”

 * * *