Page 292 | Bohemian | Sonoma & Napa Counties

Best Steak That’s Delivered to Your Door

Mar 24, 2021

Constante and Margaret Panizzera, Italian immigrants from the Lake Como region of Italy, settled in Occidental and opened Panizzera Meat Company in 1914. For 100 years, the Panizzera family butchered and processed high-quality meats for the local community, even delivering the meat door-to-door back in the days before refrigeration.

In 2014, when Bob Panizzera retired from the family business, he gave the reigns and recipes over to his apprentices, Ryan Taylor and Josh Cerda. At that time, Panizzera was making sausage one day a week and servicing five wholesale customers. Now, the company is a full-time operation. Panizzera meats are sold in over 50 stores, and the company has two retail butcher shops, one at its location in Occidental and one within Andy’s Produce in Sebastopol.

The company also still delivers door-to-door, though they don’t use a pickup truck like they did 100 years ago.

Taylor and Cerda are taking Panizzera Meat Company into the 21st century with innovative techniques and a new monthly Meat Box Subscription service that delivers to the entire West Coast, Arizona and Nevada.

With subscriptions starting at $109 a month, Panizzera offers several packages boasting eight to 10 pounds of largely locally-sourced grain- or grass-finished beef, pastured pork and pastured chicken.

“We buy everything intact and break it all down here,” Taylor says. “Everything that’s in a bag in our stores or shipped to you; we have touched, cut, trimmed, portioned everything right here in Occidental.”

Panizzera is able to sell its meat in stores because the company has a full-time USDA inspector on sight every day they process. In addition to the standard butchering techniques, Panizzera recently took their meat to the next level by installing a Himalayan salt wall in a room designated for dry aging.

“We imported this salt from Pakistan,” Taylor says. “The Himalayan salt puts minerals into the air and reduces humidity in the room. We’re dry-aging things for a minimum of 28 days. We sell dry-aged steaks and we cut them up every Friday and we’re sold out by Monday.”

Visit Panizzera Meat Company at 3905 Main St. in Occidental and at Andy’s Produce at 1691 Gravenstein Highway North in Sebastopol; or get your meat delivered to your door by signing up for a Panizzera Monthly Meat Box Subscription at panizzerameatco.com.

Best Way to Stand Out in a Ukulele Crowd

Charlie Swanson

Mar 24, 2021

Best Way to Stand Out in a Ukulele Crowd

A frontrunner in the ukulele industry for more than 15 years, Petaluma-based instrument manufacturer Kala Brand Music has released untold numbers of ukuleles and other music makers, but none look like the forthcoming Signature Concert Ukulele designed by Bay Area artist mxmtoon.

Born and raised in Oakland, self-made singer-songwriter mxmtoon—who also goes by Maia—catapulted to the forefront of the indie-pop sphere with her 2018 self-recorded and self-released EP plum blossom.

An artist who specializes in the ukulele, mxmtoon teamed with Kala and created a celestially inspired, hand-drawn design that is etched into the instrument’s wood body.

“The cornerstone of what an artist collaboration is for us as a ukulele manufacturer is identifying with the artist what they would like to see out there in the world,” says Joe DeMars, artist relations coordinator at Kala.

While Kala works closely with the artists to achieve their vision for these collaborations, DeMars notes that mxmtoon approached the project with a specific creative drive.

“She had such a clear view right away of what she wanted this instrument to look like,” DeMars says. “It blew us away, the design she came up with. We don’t have anything like that.”

On the instrument construction side, Kala designed the model based on one of its flagship designs that mxmtoon regularly plays.

“We had that opportunity to combine a sound and a feel that we knew that she liked with a design that was very new and personal to her,” DeMars says.

Now reaching an audience of over 6 million monthly Spotify listeners, mxmtoon’s lo-fi pop music features candid and witty lyrics set over ukulele chords.

“One thing that I’ve continuously tried to remind myself of as I’ve gotten older is the importance of a cycle,” mxmtoon writes in a statement. “I designed this ukulele in hopes of reminding people that even if one day is difficult, there is always the next.”

The mxmtoon Signature Concert Ukulele is listed at $99.99 and available for pre-order at Kalabrand.com.

Best Pandemic Silver Lining: Learning How to Support One Another Online

Will Carruthers

Mar 24, 2021

Best Pandemic Silver Lining: Learning How to Support One Another Online

For the past three years, I’ve spent Friday evenings co-facilitating Positive Images’ peer support group for queer and transgender adults—most of us in our 20s and 30s.

We last met in-person on March 13, 2020. Since then, our group—like so many others—has moved online. No, we each hop online from our respective bubbles. Most of us from home, but some folks share cramped spaces, so they take a walk, or call from their car for privacy. While it’s difficult to recreate the feeling of in-person connection remotely, no one is phoning it in.

Gary “Buz” Hermes is a gay elder who offers weekly “Aging Gayfully!” classes for LGBTQ+ seniors through Santa Rosa Junior College’s Older Adults Program. He also co-facilitates group discussions for seniors in Sonoma Valley. Like Positive Images’ groups, they also meet online these days.

For LGBTQ+ people—especially those of us living semi-rurally—feeling disconnected from the community is a common challenge.

“Even before the pandemic, many of us who are LGBT elders live alone and are experiencing isolation,” Hermes says. “Taking the time to share our life journeys and our aging challenges with one another builds connection and community.”

Hermes and I talked about some of the learnings and silver linings that have arisen as we round the corner on a year of leading online groups.

One recurring activity in my Positive Images group is “Queer Show & Tell.” Just as we did in childhood, it’s a space to share meaningful objects and stories. This activity, in particular, adapts so well to an online environment. During the first week of sheltering-in-place, I created a list of scavenger hunt prompts: Show us your favorite cooking utensil, something hanging on your wall, your favorite article of clothing, etc.

What people share in these groups is confidential. But I can share that as I scrambled through my small apartment grabbing my best spatula and a pair of iridescent sunglasses, I realized it was the first time I had gotten out of bed that day, and the first time I had laughed.

Of his class, Hermes told me, “Participants certainly miss our greeting hugs and the synergy of an in-person group, but attendance is much more regular because of the convenience of Zoom. I sense a willingness to share at a more personal level when talking in the safety and comfort of one’s home.”

Hermes and I are both thrilled that meeting online has created accessibility for some people who couldn’t join us in-person.

“I am now able to reach those who live too far away to attend in-person classes, as well as those who have mobility and transportation challenges. As a result, the class is more richly diverse,” Hermes says.

Rohnert Park Quiet on Police Auditor’s Work as Former Officers Face Federal Charges

Will Carruthers

Mar 24, 2021

Rohnert Park Quiet on Police Auditor’s Work as Former Officers Face Federal Charges

On Friday, March 12, the Northern California U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed criminal charges against two former police officers with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety in connection with the department’s headline-grabbing drug seizure program.

The U.S. Attorney’s charges join previous civil lawsuits against the city and numerous news articles alleging that former Rohnert Park officers Jacy Tatum and Joseph Huffaker illegally confiscated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis and cash from drivers on Highway 101 while working as part of the city’s interdiction team. These programs, under which law enforcement officers can seize criminally-acquired cash and drugs under certain circumstances, are relatively common in California. The alleged problem with Rohnert Park’s program was that the two officers went far outside the city’s rules.

For instance, while the officers reported some of the drugs and cash they seized to the department, the federal charges allege that Tatum deposited at least $443,000 in several bank accounts during his time running the interdiction team. The officers also filed false reports to cover their tracks, the U.S. Attorney’s complaint alleges.

While the U.S. Attorney’s complaint adds more details about the officers’ alleged scheme, the scope of the problem within the department and the details of the city’s full response to the allegations about Tatum and Hufaker remain unclear.

In 2019 and early 2020, the city settled several civil cases before they reached trial, limiting the amount of information which has come forth about the scope of the problem in the department.

Izaak Schwaiger, an attorney who represented clients in numerous cases against Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety, including in civil cases related to the interdiction program, says that the U.S. Attorney’s charges shed some additional light on the scope of the program, but did not change his overall understanding of the officers’ actions.

“The US Attorney’s office was able to make the allegations [we made in our civil case] more thoroughly because of their access to search warrants and law enforcement investigative techniques… they’re able to track down the money and see where it went,” Schweiger said in an interview.

One thing that still remains unclear is whether the city investigated the entire Public Safety Department in the wake of the allegations about the interdiction team.

In late 2018, multiple Bay Area news outlets reported that Rohnert Park had hired Howard Jordan, a former Oakland Police Chief-turned-police auditor. At the time, the city’s drug seizure program was drawing plenty of negative attention, with the media accusing the officers of committing “highway robbery.”

For instance, KQED reported in December 2018 that Jordan was hired to “investigate the department’s drug and cash seizure practices and policies” and indicated that Jordan was expected to make a presentation to the Rohnert Park City Council at an unspecified date.

But, nearly two-and-a-half years later, none of the information that Jordan dug up while auditing the department has become public—and the city seems to want to keep it that way.

In late January, the Bohemian filed a public records request that the city release Jordan’s auditing contract and invoices describing his work for the city since Jan. 1, 2018.

In a Feb. 8 response, deputy city clerk Elizabeth Machado told the Bohemian that the city did not have any contracts with Jordan or any company employing him for law enforcement auditing work. Curiously, the city did release heavily redacted invoices for payments the city made to Jordan between Feb. 2019 and March 2020, totalling just over $56,000.

While the invoices amount to an acknowledgment that Jordan has done some kind of work for the city in recent years, the documents are so heavily redacted that it is impossible to tell what exactly Jordan did.

Without the documents, two troubling possibilities come to mind. It seems that the city either decided to pay Jordan to complete confidential auditing work without a contract of any kind; or the city does have a contract with Jordan and is now attempting to hide its existence from public view.

On Thursday, March 18, deputy city manager Don Schwartz told the Bohemian that the city had “no comment at this time” about Jordan’s work for the city. Rohnert Park Mayor Gerard Giudice, Vice Mayor Jackie Elward and Jordan did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite several attention-grabbing news reports and civil cases outlining Tatum and Hufaker’s involvement in Rohnert Park’s “highway robbery” case, District Attorney Jill Ravitch declined to press charges against anyone involved in the case. Schweiger says that he offered to give Ravitch’s office information about the case, but that Ravitch’s office declined to accept it and never pressed charges.

Brian Staebell, the chief deputy district attorney who serves as Ravitch’s spokesperson, did not respond to a request for comment on Schweiger’s allegation or Ravitch’s decision not to pursue a case against any of the officers involved in the alleged drug seizure scheme.

But, with the possibility of more federal investigations looming over the city, North Bay residents may soon learn more about the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

Culture Crush: Local Groups Mark a Year of Distanced and Virtual Events

Charlie Swanson

Mar 24, 2021

Culture Crush: Local Groups Mark a Year of Distanced and Virtual Events

It’s been a full year since the Covid-19 pandemic forced locals to isolate and events to go online or stay socially distant. This week, several groups keep the distancing going even as some venues begin reopening. Here’s a roundup of what’s coming up.

Virtual Exhibit

Over the past year, as California State University campuses and their art galleries have largely shut their doors to in-person classes and events due to Covid-19, the artists who are on faculty in the CSU system have continued to teach and create. This month, the University Art Gallery at Sonoma State University celebrates these at-home art educators in the online exhibition, “Art @ CSU.” On display through April 18, the show boasts dynamic and creative work from nearly 20 artists working in the CSU system, and the art ranges from painting, printmaking and photography to sculpture, ceramics, digital and time-based arts. Visit the University Art Galleries online exhibit at Artgallery.sonoma.edu.

Distanced Shopping

Located in the heart of Napa Valley, the exceedingly walkable town of Yountville is packed with Michelin-starred restaurants, Napa Valley wineries, luxury retailers and other celebrated offerings. This weekend, members of the public can park their cars and take a stroll to enjoy the first-ever Yountville Sidewalk Cellar Sale. Over 10 Yountville wineries and retailers will offer exclusive savings, including Handwritten Wines, Heron House, Hestan Vineyards, Hill Family Estate, Hope & Grace Wines, JCB Collection, Jessup Cellars and Priest Ranch Wines. Stock up on your cellar and enjoy some Napa Valley charm on Sunday, March 28, from 10am to 2pm. For more information, visit Yountville.com/events.

Virtual Show

When Covid-19 forced Novato resident Claire Hennessy to shelter-in-place, she joined forces with Regina Stoops of Pleasanton to form the online storytelling show Six Feet Apart Productions. So far, the pair has put on more than 30 shows featuring a mix of stories and storytellers who range from well-known professionals to first-time performers. Six Feet Apart Productions promotes diverse voices from varied backgrounds and puts a spotlight on important events and social issues such as June Pride and Black Lives Matter. Now, Six Feet Apart Productions presents a one-year anniversary show streaming for free on Monday, March 29, at 6pm. SFAPshows.com.

Virtual Reading

Last month, Sonoma County Library launched the online Read BIPOC Book Club to virtually discuss books by authors who are Black, Indigenous or People of Color. Led by the local librarians, the club meets the last Tuesday of every month through November to talk about a different book. This month’s book is the 2017 novel Exit West by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, which deals with themes of emigration and refugee issues and which is available as an eBook, eAudiobook and in print. Join the Read BIPOC Book Club on Tuesday, March 30, at 6pm. Free. Registration required; call your local Sonoma County Library branch or register online at Sonomalibrary.org.

Virtual Exhibit

While Mill Valley’s O’Hanlon Center for the Arts hopes to be able to get together in small groups by this summer, the gallery’s hybrid of alternating in-gallery and online exhibitions is working well for local art lovers. Currently, the center is hosting a virtual exhibition, “My American Experience,” featuring several artists from across the country. Works include “Click Here to Unsubscribe to European Beauty Standards,” by Nigeria-born and Dallas-based artist Abi Salami (pictured) and “Dalili the Doctor” by Los Angeles artist and screenwriter Mark Landry. See all the art online now through April 30 at Ohanloncenter.org.

Registration Opens for Groundwater Users on Santa Rosa Plain

Will Carruthers

Mar 23, 2021

Registration Opens for Groundwater Users on Santa Rosa Plain

Groundwater users who own property in the Santa Rosa Plain area now have an opportunity to review and update their water use information, according to an announcement Monday by the Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

The opportunity is part of a new program—the Groundwater User Information Data Exchange—to improve understanding of how groundwater is used as well as the number and types of water wells in the Santa Rosa Plain basin.

The information gathered will also be used to help calculate future fees—approved in 2019 —that groundwater users do not currently pay, according to the agency’s announcement.

The program involves 8,369 parcel property owners who are assumed to get their water from a groundwater well and who live in the rural Santa Rosa Plain basin, the largest groundwater basin in the county stretching north to south from Windsor to Cotati and west to east from Sebastopol to eastern Santa Rosa.

According to agency figures, about 32,000 people and more than 11,000 acres of agriculture in the basin are reliant on groundwater for drinking and for irrigating landscapes and crops.

“The information gathered through the GUIDE program will help our local efforts to ensure that we have groundwater available now and for future generations,” said Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedhelm, who chairs the water agency board. “We need to better understand who has wells, and if they are using water for their home, farm, commercial business—or all three.”

Groundwater users can go online to verify information regarding their property and water use. Property owners can also call (707) 243-8555.

Every Sonoma County City has Pledged Action on Climate Change. What’s Next?

Will Carruthers

Mar 23, 2021

Every Sonoma County City has Pledged Action on Climate Change. What’s Next?

Rohnert Park became the last city in Sonoma County to formally pledge immediate action on climate change earlier this month, making the county the first in the nation where all jurisdictions pledged action to curtail the unfolding, worldwide crisis.

At its March 9 meeting, Rohnert Park’s City Council unanimously approved a “climate emergency resolution,” a document which acknowledges the ongoing and future damages of human-driven climate change and pledges the city to help implement a new framework recently passed by the Regional Climate Protection Agency (RCPA), a countywide agency tasked with confronting climate change.

On March 8, the RCPA board of directors approved a Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy which states the goal of making the county carbon-neutral by 2030. The RCPA’s new goal is more aggressive than the state’s current goal of reducing emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The RCPA began work on the document in late 2019, after the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors passed an emergency resolution of its own.

“We have to stop acting like business as usual is cutting it, because it’s not. We need a transformation. We need a dramatic change. We really have 10 years to dramatically transform ourselves into a post-carbon economy,” West County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins said in September 2019, when the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors passed a countywide climate emergency resolution.

According to the RCPA, Sonoma County has a long way to go to meet the new goal, despite some laudable progress in recent years.

“To meet the Sonoma Climate Mobilization goal of carbon neutrality by 2030, Sonoma County must reduce its GHG emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels and achieve an increase in carbon sequestration that is large enough to remove the remaining CO2 from the atmosphere,” an RCPA report states in part.

Transportation remains the largest source of emissions in the county, followed by emissions tied to buildings and agriculture—specifically from livestock and fertilizer.

The county had reduced emissions by 13% below 1990 levels by 2018, according to the RCPA. The county previously had a goal to bring emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2020, however it is not yet clear whether the county reached that goal.

Rohnert Park’s declaration commits the city to contributing to creating a Sonoma Climate Mobilization Strategy, including a 10-year Emergency Policy Package, to identify short-term policy changes which would impact the county’s climate impact.

Acknowledgement is certainly the first step in approaching any challenge, but actions always speak louder than words. Based on the current sources of emissions, the trick to reaching carbon neutrality will be significantly reducing the number of car trips taken in the county.

That’s a tall order given that the majority of the suburban-rural county was designed for car travel in the heady days of the 20th century.

North Bay Musicians Support Sonoma County Permaculture Farm in Concert

Charlie Swanson

Mar 19, 2021

North Bay Musicians Support Sonoma County Permaculture Farm in Concert

Lifelong farmer, permaculture designer, environmental educator and public speaker Pandora Thomas is on the verge of opening EARTHseed, Sonoma County’s first Black-owned and operated permaculture farm and learning center.

“The center will celebrate the Afro-indigenous roots of permaculture,” Thomas says. “There’s so much we can hold up and honor. This center wants to be a place that honors the land we are going to steward, but it’s also going to be a safe, beautiful place for Black folks to go and see ourselves in abundance and happy in connection with our Earth.”

Recently, Thomas announced that EARTHseed will make its home at Gabriel Farm, a 14-acre, organic orchard with a 75-year history in West Sonoma County.

“It’s the perfect canvas for our new home,” Thomas says of the farm. “It has been run really well, and there’s all this potential to generate income in ways that feel like the Earth is tended and loved as well as the people on it.”

To close escrow on the farm, Thomas raised over 2.7 million dollars with community support from organizations and agencies like Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space District, Graton Rancheria Tribe, Ceres Trust, Amy’s Kitchen, Sonoma Clean Power Authority and 11th Hour Foundation.

That support also came from individuals throughout the region and country, who want to join EARTHseed on its mission to serve as a working farm and educational center to reconnect communities to Afro-Indigenous principles and practices.

One of those individuals is local musician Lee Vandeveer, who volunteers with the North Bay Organizing Project, and who is one of several organizers for this weekend’s Benefit for EARTHseed online concert streaming on Social Distance Live’s Facebook page on Saturday, March 20, at 7pm.

The show—which is supported but not hosted by EARTHseed—features an impressive lineup of the North Bay’s brightest stars, including NorBay Award-winning hip-hop artist Kayatta, NorBay Award-winning electronica artist Eki Shola, longtime rocker John Courage, roots-reggae outfit the Bloodstones, world music band La Gente SF, rapper Tru Lyric, sing-songwriter Star Blue, multi-instrumentalist Libby, Babebott, solo artist Schlee and the Lee Vandeveer Band.

On the Facebook event page, concert organizers write that, “Each band is dedicated to building, healing and nurturing our community and the opportunity to celebrate a future of climate justice and resiliency through EARTHseed is an honor for all involved.”

Learn more about EARTHseed at PandoraThomas.com/epc and tune into the Benefit for EARTHseed on Saturday, March 20, at 7pm at Facebook.com/SocialDistanceLive.