From:
To: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; City Council; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Inaccuracies in No on J resolution
Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2024 8:01:22 AM
Dear Councilmembers and Supervisors,
We write on behalf of supporters of the Yes on J campaign to express our concern and disappointment about the resolutions that you have passed in opposition to Measure J.
These resolutions and/or the reports and discussions held by legislative bodies about the resolutions contain several factual inaccuracies and/or misleading statements that misrepresent Measure J, its supporters, and the issues with CAFOs in our county.
Your councils/board have perpetuated this misinformation, causing harm to the Yes on J campaign and negatively impacting the democratic process.
Examples of these inaccuracies and misleading statements include Stating that a CAFO is any farm that keeps animals stabled or confined for 45 days or more during a 12-month period, when this is the definition of an AFO Asserting that Measure J would inflict $259 million (or more) in economic damage to the county, despite this number coming from a report that calculated the cost of eliminating all animal agriculture in the county, not CAFOs Asserting that Measure J’s proponent is not local, when in fact she has lived in Sonoma County her entire life
Expressing concern about the closure of certain, specific farms when in fact those farms are not CAFOs and would not be impacted by Measure J We urge you to retract your “No on J” resolutions or, at the very least, revise the resolutions to remove these and other inaccuracies.
We appreciate that many of you have acknowledged that there are issues stemming from CAFOs in our county. We encourage you to discuss these issues at an upcoming council or board meeting and begin to develop potential solutions for addressing them. We understand that you do not support the approach taken by the Measure J campaign, but if you feel confident to take a stance against our efforts, we would like to see a different ordinance or proposal put forth that addresses these harms via a different route.
We would be very open to meeting with you to hear your ideas about how we can better protect small farms, animals, and the environment in Sonoma County.
We look forward to hearing from you,
Pamela Baland, RN PHN MSN, Petaluma
Matthew Benemelis, Healdsburg
Thomas Conlon, Sonoma
Samantha Eachus, Santa Rosa
Woody Hastings, Sebastopol
Maya Khosla, Rohnert Park
Marie Loren, Penngrove, unincorporated Sonoma County
Colton Peterson, Cloverdale
Sarah Van Mantgem, Windsor
and the Coalition to End Factory Farming