The possibility of a new wastewater discharge pipeline to the county's popular Steelhead Beach in Forestville (above)  has apparently been killed by cost considerations.

 The pipeline to the proposedSteelhead Beach discharge site would have run through the quiet corridor of Osprey trail (below). Photos courtesy West County Gazette.

Brenda Adelman of theRussian River Watershed Protection Committee contends that Santa Rosa could and should reduce the amount of water flowing into the treatment plant by moving more aggressively to repair leaking sewer pipes that allow rainwater to get in.

The holidays are a peak travel time for the airlines, so knowing your rights as a passenger can help ensure a more satisfactory travel experience.

Former realtor Kate Hanni is the founder and president of the Napa-based Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights. Her Organization maintains a tool-free telephone number for travelers to report standings and other problems, which she says are promptly verified and compiled into a national database.

Flyersrights Hotline: 877-FLYERS6 (877-359-3776)

The Coalition has also prepared a  Stranded Flyer's Survival Guide with a combination of practical and somewhat tongue-in-cheek items to use if you should happen to wind up on a grounded plane.

The New York state legislature was the first in the country to adopt a flyers bill of rights in August, 2007. But the measure was struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals which ruled it interferred with federal regulatory authority over the airlines.

 

 

 

 

Northern California representative Mike Thompson has been a leader in the effort to win Congressional passage of a nationwide airline Passengers Bill of Rights. You can read the draft bill here.

From the Basque region of Spain comes a flourishing new business model that emphasizes cooperation as a key to innovation.

Georgia Kelly(left) is the founder of the Sonoma-based Praxis Peace Institute. The Praxis website has details about the seminar they hosted at Mondragon in September, as well as a schedule of upcoming events, including their annual lunch, Dec. 6 with featured guests Swami Beyondanada and actress/activist Mimi Kennedy.

Cooperative governance also leads to unorthodox responses to typical business problems. In the audio clip below, Kelly describes how the leadership and workforce at one of the Mondragon companies dealt with a unanticipated slowdown.

The workforce at the Mondragon Cooperative's technology center.

Two brothers with a shared vision are bringing a new international student exchange to Sebastopol.

 

In setting up the Global Student Embassy program at Analy High School (left), Jasper Oshun says they departed from the models of other existing student exchange programs.

 

Lucas Oshun says they selected the two participating South American towns, rural Zurite, Peru and and bustling Santa Fe, Argentina (below) in part because of the contrasts between them.

Created by two brothers from Sebastopol, Lucas and Jasper Oshun, the Global Student Embassy is "building leaders by connecting the world's youth to practice social responsibility and community service." The program is intended to educate and increase community responsibility amongst teens from all three participating towns.

On November 14^th, the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center will host the Global Student Embassy's Fundraising Dinner. For tickets and information, click here.

 

 

Playing soccer isn't a well-traveled path out of homelessness. But for one formerly troubled Santa Rosa man, it's working.

Cornelius Bracy, a formerly homeless  soccer player from Sonoma County, will be  part of the American team at the Homeless World Cup that takes place in Australia next month. The Homeless World Cup began in 2003 as a "catalyst for lasting change through the development of street soccer worldwide in a way that creates maximum social impact for the players involved--the socially excluded, homeless people and people living in poverty."

 

Julius Ujeh, a soccer coach from Nigeria, began a Street Soccer league for homeless young adults in Sonoma County. The program, originally started in Australia, has given young adults a purpose that teaches discipline and self-motivation. 

Street soccer is a mini-version of the traditional game of soccer, which can be played on any hard, flat rectangular surface, roughly the size of a tennis court. The new "traveling field" (shown below) gives the U.S. team an attractive, safe surface on which to play, and a sense of identity for the players.

Four players compete on each side (one of them is a goalie) and games last for 14 minutes each. While games are short, they are very fast-paced. The name of the event was coined in 2003 during the first Homeless World Cup.