Safeguarding the Sonoma Mountain viewshed

Earlier this month Sonoma Mountain Preservation (SMP) received a Gold Resolution from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors for their work over the years in protecting the open space and viewshed of Sonoma Mountain.

SMP began in 1993 as an informal group of Sonoma Valley residents who joined together in response to changes they'd begun to see on the mountain that they believed would adversely impact the nature of the area and its ecosystem over time.

They set out with the goal of preserving the agricultural land and open space on Sonoma Mountain and began by delineating the area and creating a map, setting the boundaries of their area of interest along Arnold Drive, Warm Springs Road, Sonoma Mountain Road, Pressley Road, Roberts Road, Petaluma Hill Road, Adobe Road and Stage Gulch Road.

In 2000 the group became a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, and their next step involved organizing the community to prevent development on critical mountain parcels, including the Freiberg, Schlumberger and Sonoma Developmental Center upper parcels. These efforts ultimately led to 600 acres of land being transferred to Jack London State Historic Park - including the upper parcel at Sonoma Developmental Center where the Old Orchard area was located (see Old SDC orchard is a rare treasure on this blog).

Other acquisitions included the Galvin Ranch and a conservation easement over the McCrea property, which eventually allowed for a public loop trail.

In 1998, the Board of Supervisors approved an ordinance that was originally proposed by SMP and that protects the visual integrity of Taylor and Sonoma Mountains. In May of this year, guidelines for the Mayacamas as seen from Sonoma Valley were passed by the Board of Supervisors, again at the instigation of SMP, merging all three areas into one ordinance with added restrictions.

Development pressures continue in the area. Already some interests are anticipating the State adding SDC to the list of developmental centers slated for closure, and they have begun to make plans for alternate uses of the many acres remaining at the Center's campus on Arnold Drive.

Hopefully, as the Sonoma Mountain Preservation group continues to monitor land use activities in the area with an eye to continued land conservation, they will join with PHA in guarding Sonoma Developmental Center for its residents, the services it provides to the developmentally disabled community, and the open space it provides for Sonoma Valley.

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For more information:
Sonoma Mountain Preservation
The Eldridge Gazette, Jan/Feb 2011 (pdf file)

Mark your calendars for the September PHA general meeting

The next general membership meeting of the Parent Hospital Association is scheduled for 10 a.m., Saturday, September 10, in McDougall Hall, on the Sonoma Developmental Center campus. Members are encouraged to attend and vote on the new board for the coming year.

Minutes for the last general meeting will arrive soon in your mailbox if you're on the mailing list - or you can click here to download the latest issue of The Eldridge Gazette (pdf file), which always contains minutes to the most recent meeting.

Links to this year's past issues, along with a few from 2010, can be found on this blog's Resources Page or on the Resources Page on the main website.

If you would like to receive notification by email when the next issue of The Gazette is available, use the box in the lefthand column right here on the blog to add your email address to the mailing list. It's that simple, and you'll save the PHA the cost of a paper mailing.

Simple answers elude scientists in search for autism's cause

graphic: Yarek Waszul / NY Times

Is it nature or nuture? Studies indicate that both genetics and environmental factors play a role in causing autism, but clear connections prove elusive and doctors are often at a loss when it comes to offering practical guidance to parents.

An aritcle this week in the New York Times describes the difficulties in teasing apart the various factors contributing to a condition that itself often seems like a moving target. In 'Environment' Poses a Knotty Challenge in Autism, author Perri Klass, M.D. says "Genes matter, but we usually can't tell how. Environmental exposures matter, but we usually don't know which." Recent studies of autism in both fraternal and identical twins only underline the apparent complexities.

Many scientists now believe autism results both from genetic predisposition and from environmental influence, but the term "environment" itself introduces its own complications. According to Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute, environment refers to anything that is not the inherited DNA and include many factors including maternal health and nutrition, stress, exposure to chemicals and perhaps even exposure to a microbe.

How these factors affect the expression of genetic potential is perhaps another question yet again.
Results from a number of studies have associated some specific factors with incidences of autism, however none of the data seems to indicate cause and effect. Yet.

"Every case is probably a result of the confluence of many factors," Dr. Hertz-Picciotto said. "No case probably has one cause."

Which make the condition so concerning to parents - and the continued support of families with treatment and services so important, even in these diffcult economic times.

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If you have questions about the services available to someone you know with special needs, you can visit the Resources page on the Parent Hospital Association website for a list of government agencies that may be able to help. You can also send an email to PHA at info@parenthospitalassociation.org and someone should be able to point you in the right direction.

Generous pay for some executives at group homes for the disabled

[photo credit: Nathaniel Brooks in the NY Times
The day facility run by the Young Adult Institute
in Tarrytown, N.Y. The network collected
more than $1 billion from Medicaid over
the past decade.

The New York Times published a story this week on the money paid to executives of one nonprofit in New York State that operates a network of group homes for the developmentally disabled - $1 million salaries plus car, and then tuition and living expenses reimbursement for their children - all thanks to $1 billion from Medicaid over the past decade.

(See: Reaping Millions in Nonprofit Care for Disabled, by Russ Buettner.)

The story underscores concerns that exist elsewhere, including in California, where budgets are increasingly coming under scrutiny, services are being cut, state facilities are being shut down, and the developmentally disabled are being dispersed to privately-run facilities.

According to the article, New York state "spends, by far, more than any other caring for this population: $10 billion this year, and roughly 20 cents of every dollar spent nationally.

"More than half of that money goes to private providers like the Levys [the executives mentioned in the article], with little oversight of their spending.

"And the providers have become so big and powerful that they shape much about how the system operates, from what kinds of care are emphasized to how much they will be paid for it."

California spends much less. The downsizing and phasing out of state-run developmental centers here began decades ago. However lack of oversight of regional centers and other privately-run group homes that continue to take over care for the developmentally disabled - and the influence those providers have in shaping policy - are real concerns here as well.

Protection and Advocacy and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have a role to play to ensure that the disabled are protected and that the increasingly limited funds earmarked for their care are spent in support of effective and appropriate programs - not to benefit the coffers of nonprofit corporations. We can only hope that the squeeze on budgets and this kind of spotlight on executive pay will push them to step up more forcefully.

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Disability Rights California

A Message from PHA Co-PresidentMary O'Riordan

Dear Members and Friends of PHA:

Well, it's almost that time of year again when we elect new people to the board and re-elect some of the same people. That will all happen at the end of the meeting on Saturday, September 10, 2011. I have served for 8 years as president and one year as co-president with Steve Doherty. We get older, we get wiser, and the problems change, but they never go away.  We resolve some issues but others arise – and so it goes.

Roy Whitley got to stay at SDC and we got the definition of the Richard S clarified so the case workers can no longer misuse it to move people from SDC. We got legislation introduced twice – only to see it not pass due mostly to the strong opposition by DDS.

In spite of all that we have made some progress especially in the areas of getting the message out there and having our developmentally disabled citizens treated fairly and having appropriate services available to them.

The part I find most distressing is that with all our advocacy and hard work in so many areas, we were not able to prevent the downsizing of SDC and the eventual closure, unless something changes.
There is no substitute for the experience and expertise that has been acquired over the 100+ years at SDC. Every family member needs to fight to keep these services. Every family member needs to know that they have rights and they are the person who has the final say in where their family member lives, so exercise your rights and fight for your loved ones who live at SDC and want to stay there.

If you are not a conservator, you need to be. You may call me or Pat Walter at any time if you need information or a referral to an attorney. Our contact information is in another area of the Gazette.
It has been an honor and a privilege to have served as President of PHA and advocate for the precious residents of SDC. We are all families united by our concern for our developmentally disabled children. See you all in September.

Mary O'Riordan
Co-President
Parent Hospital Association

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The next board meeting of the Parent Hospital Association is scheduled for Saturday, August 13, 2011. The next general meeting will be 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 10, 2011 in McDougall Hall on the SDC campus.

For more details on PHA scheduled meetings, visit blog.parenthospitalassociation.org/pha-meetings