While looking for short-term ways to cover the costs of operating its marinas at Bodega Bay, Sonoma County is also beginning to imagine a transformative future for those facilities.

Masons MarinaCounty Regional Parks head Caryl Hart is also applying a wide-angle vision to all of the state and county-owned public lands along the Sonoma Coast, with an eye toward expanding non-vehicular access in as many creative ways as can be developed.

A new documentary examines worker-owned cooperative businesses, from a huge complex in Spain to small start-ups here in the Bay Area.

Filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa YoungCo-ops were already a well-established form of enterprise long before they were embraced by the counterculture of the 1960s. Yet the way they are perceived politically is surprisingly divers, observes filmmaker Mark Dworkin.

Mondragon is a conspicuous example of established co-ops nurturing the creation of new ones. But there are numerous instances, Dworkin points out, including a relatively new one here in the Bay Area:  Women's Action to Gain Economic Security, or WAGES.

Shift Change is being shown at the Sebastiani Theater in Sonoma on Monday, Jan. 28 at 7:30, sponsored by the Praxis Peace Institute.

 What does it take to start a cooperative, worker-owned business? Answers will be offered at an all-day workshop in Santa Rosa on Saturday.

Andrew McLeodFor Andrew McLeod, the author of Holy Cooperation, Building Graceful Economies, and who now works as a co-op developer, it took just one early experience working as a cooperative member, and he was hooked.

The co-op model is also proving effective in small towns that come together to preserve key local businesses that might not otherwise endure, McLeod explains.

A one-day workshop, "Owning the Economy! Cooperative Models and Worker-Ownership," will be held at the Share Exchange, 531 5th Street in downtown Santa Rosa, on Saturday, Jan. 26, 9am – 4 pm, led by Andrew McLeod. Advance tickets are available here. Further information at (707) 583-7667.

Sonoma County leads the state in job growth right now, but will need to make adjustments as much of the current labor force turns toward retirement.

Looking at the national economy as a whole, Nickelsburg explains that consumer purchases account for more than two-thirds of all spending. But for most Americans, that spending remains curtailed.

  The graphic below details the potential for large numbers of retirments across key sectors of the local economy. Illustrations courtesy Sonoma Countey Ecoomic Development Board.

Attendees at the 2013 State of the County breakfast Wednesday morning were greeted by a crowd of costumed union members who are unhappy with the state of their current contract negotiations with the county. KRCB photo.