As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition cannot endorse candidates for public office, but we are able to share information so that you can arrive at your own conclusion. Below are Rohnert Park City Council candidates’ responses to our questionnaire on bicycling in Sonoma County. Thanks to the candidates for their time and thoughtful answers!
PAUL CAREY, District 2
Do you ride a bicycle in Sonoma County for transportation or recreation? How would you characterize the experience of cycling here? I used to rely on a motorized scooter for local trips until a hazardous roadway bump caused a crash in which I shattered my collarbone, so I am intimately familiar with how pavement conditions impact two-wheeled safety. While Rohnert Park has made measurable progress striping bike lanes and repaving key corridors, navigating off-street routes reveals clear gaps. Our creek trail network requires serious pavement maintenance and bridge repairs. Riding internally within the city is relatively manageable, but regional connectivity remains a significant hazard—most notably the southern gap where the SMART multi-use pathway terminates at Railroad Avenue, forcing cyclists and pedestrians onto Petaluma Hill Road to reach Petaluma.
What are your community’s/Sonoma County’s biggest transportation challenges, and how does bicycling fit into your vision of future development? The primary challenge is our heavy arterial car dependency, driven by incomplete neighborhood networks and missing regional connections. Having lived in Europe for four years, I saw firsthand how interconnected, well-maintained trail networks make non-motorized travel a practical daily choice rather than an afterthought. Bicycling fits into my vision through targeted, practical infrastructure: extending and properly lighting our existing creek path network, rehabilitating aging pedestrian bridges, and ensuring that residents can safely access daily amenities and transit hubs without being forced onto high-speed thoroughfares.
If elected, what will you do to improve cycling safety and encourage more people in the county to ride? I believe in listening to the experts who ride these streets daily. Rather than posturing as an elite cyclist, I will actively partner with the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition to identify critical safety gaps, flag hazardous road segments, and track regional infrastructure milestones. I have personally considered picking up a simple city bike for quick local errands, and I know many residents want that exact same low-stress option. My role on Council will be championing the foundational basics: smoothing out roadway hazards, closing dangerous gaps, and ensuring our Public Works department integrates cyclist safety directly into routine street maintenance.
Our visions and goals are often tempered by available budgets, staff time and public focus. How will you seek to balance improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety with your other policy priorities? My top policy priority is fiscal solvency and rebuilding our municipal commercial tax base, which directly generates the revenue needed to fund public improvements. To balance competing demands without straining the General Fund, I support a strict “dig once” and complete-streets standard: any new residential development, commercial revitalization, or major roadway rehabilitation must integrate pedestrian and bicycle upgrades into its baseline conditions of approval. We make infrastructure happen by leveraging private development agreements and competitive regional grants, not by leaving safety improvements as unfunded afterthoughts.
Are there any specific projects in your jurisdiction – either planned or imagined – that you are particularly excited to see implemented? The southern continuation of the SMART multi-use pathway connecting Rohnert Park through Cotati and Penngrove into Petaluma. Right now, forcing pedestrians and cyclists off the path at Railroad Avenue and routing them along a high-speed arterial corridor like Petaluma Hill Road is completely unacceptable from a safety standpoint. I frequently walk down toward Penngrove, and completing this continuous, grade-separated active transportation corridor would be a game-changer for regional safety, recreation, and non-car commuting.
MICHAEL DeSIMONE, District 2
Do you ride a bicycle in Sonoma County for transportation or recreation? How would you characterize the experience of cycling here? I ride occasionally for recreation, rather than as a primary means of transportation. Sonoma County is a beautiful place to bike, and I appreciate the trails and multi-use paths available in and around Rohnert Park. At the same time, the experience can vary significantly depending on the route. Gaps in bicycle infrastructure, difficult crossings, and areas where cyclists must share busy roadways can make riding less comfortable and accessible, particularly for families or less experienced riders.
I believe a successful bicycle network should allow people of different ages and abilities to feel safe using it, whether they are riding for recreation, commuting to work, connecting to transit, or simply getting around their neighborhood.
What are your community’s/Sonoma County’s biggest transportation challenges, and how does bicycling fit into your vision of future development? One of our biggest transportation challenges is creating a system that safely and efficiently serves people whether they are driving, walking, biking, or using transit. As Rohnert Park continues to grow, its transportation infrastructure needs to keep pace.
Bicycling should be an important part of that system. New development should be designed with safe bicycle and pedestrian connections to schools, parks, shopping, employment centers, SMART, and surrounding neighborhoods. We also need to address gaps in our existing network so that bicycle facilities connect people to actual destinations rather than ending abruptly.
Providing safe alternatives to driving can also help reduce traffic, improve mobility for people who do not drive, and support our environmental goals.
If elected, what will you do to improve cycling safety and encourage more people in the county to ride? If elected, I would support identifying and prioritizing the areas where safety improvements can have the greatest impact, particularly dangerous intersections, gaps between existing bicycle facilities, routes used by students, and connections to parks, SMART, and other community destinations.
I would also want cyclists, pedestrians, and neighborhood residents to be involved early in the design of transportation projects. The people who use these routes often identify practical safety issues that aren’t obvious on a map or in an engineering plan.
Ultimately, encouraging more people to bicycle requires making it a realistic and safe choice. Parents need to feel comfortable with their children riding to school, commuters need safe connections to transit and employment, and recreational riders should be able to navigate our community without encountering unnecessary gaps or hazards.
Our visions and goals are often tempered by available budgets, staff time and public focus. How will you seek to balance improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety with your other policy priorities? I don’t view bicycle and pedestrian safety as separate from our broader infrastructure responsibilities. When we repair a roadway, redesign an intersection, or plan a new development, we should ask how that project can safely serve everyone who uses it.
At the same time, the City has finite resources, and I believe in prioritizing investments based on safety, need, community benefit and available funding. We should also aggressively pursue regional, state and federal transportation grants so that local dollars can go further.
Most importantly, we should look for opportunities to coordinate improvements. If a roadway is already scheduled for major work, for example, that is the time to evaluate whether needed bicycle or pedestrian improvements can be incorporated rather than returning years later for a separate project.
Are there any specific projects in your jurisdiction – either planned or imagined – that you are particularly excited to see implemented? SOMO Village is located in District 2 and continues to grow, so I am particularly interested in ensuring that it is well connected to the rest of Rohnert Park by safe bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. As new homes and other developments are completed, I want residents to have practical alternatives to driving a car for every trip.
More broadly, I am excited about implementing Rohnert Park’s Active Transportation Plan and closing gaps between our neighborhoods, existing Class I paths, schools, parks, SMART, Downtown, and other destinations. I would especially like to see us prioritize connections that allow someone to leave their neighborhood by bicycle and safely reach their destination without encountering a point where the infrastructure suddenly ends.
As we continue developing areas like SOMO Village and Downtown Rohnert Park, we have an opportunity to build those connections into our planning now rather than trying to retrofit them years from now.
LINDA (KHOURY) TAMS, District 2
Do you ride a bicycle in Sonoma County for transportation or recreation? How would you characterize the experience of cycling here? I do have a bicycle that I ride for recreation. I love biking here, especially around SSU and the paths.
What are your community’s/Sonoma County’s biggest transportation challenges, and how does bicycling fit into your vision of future development? Some of the biggest transportation challenges is creating a system that works for everyone, while dealing with congestion, gaps in sidewalks and bike connections, limited transit options, and the need to improve safety.
If elected, what will you do to improve cycling safety and encourage more people in the county to ride? Rohnert Park has great Bike paths, cross walks with lights and paths that promote biking safely.
Our visions and goals are often tempered by available budgets, staff time and public focus. How will you seek to balance improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety with your other policy priorities? I would focus first on projects that provide the greatest safety benefit, particularly around schools, busy crossings, and gaps in our existing network. I’d also look for opportunities to incorporate bike and pedestrian improvements into projects we’re already funding and aggressively pursue state and regional grants.
Are there any specific projects in your jurisdiction – either planned or imagined – that you are particularly excited to see implemented? I don’t believe there is anything new planned as of right now. Hope that we can just make everything safer for bikers and walkers.
SUSAN HOLLINGSWORTH ADAMS, District 5
Do you ride a bicycle in Sonoma County for transportation or recreation? How would you characterize the experience of cycling here? I occasionally ride a bicycle in Rohnert Park for recreation. I typically ride on streets and flat surfaces and appreciate the resources the City of Rohnert Park has dedicated for cyclists who enjoy the paths, bike lanes and creek paths around town.
What are your community’s/Sonoma County’s biggest transportation challenges, and how does bicycling fit into your vision of future development? One of Rohnert Park’s biggest challenges is providing a safer route for cyclists and pedestrians to get from east to west in town. We are currently working toward a bike/foot freeway overcrossing. Here is a link to the project milestones.
https://www.rpcity.ca.gov/377/Hwy-101-Bike-Pedestrian-Crossings-Feasib
As the new President of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), I am committed to working closely with my colleagues on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission toward the completion of this overcrossing. The completion of this overcrossing fits nicely into my vision of development that rightly cares for the safety and access of cyclists.
If elected, what will you do to improve cycling safety and encourage more people in the county to ride? The best thing I can continue to do to improve cycling safety in Rohnert Park is fund the necessary repairs to pathways and roadways that already accommodate cyclists. I supported the Safe Routes to School program when my kids were in school and continue to do so as an elected official, along with bicycle education workshops sponsored by our Department of Public Safety.
Our visions and goals are often tempered by available budgets, staff time and public focus. How will you seek to balance improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety with your other policy priorities? I appreciate the Bicycle Coalition’s understanding of the budget limitations all cities and counties are currently facing.
Rohnert Park has placed a ½ cent sales tax on the ballot ~ Measure K. Our city’s 28 parks and recreation facilities are aging and under strain from daily use. Restrooms need updating, aging electrical, gas, and sewer lines need replacing, and safety lighting needs to be improved in children’s playgrounds, so they have safe places to play. Our public+ safety services, streets, water services, and parks need real investment. Measure K will prevent cuts to water, sewer and park maintenance workers.
Passage of Measure K will allow our council to balance the need for continual improvement of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure with all the other needs outlined above.
Are there any specific projects in your jurisdiction – either planned or imagined – that you are particularly excited to see implemented? The planned freeway overcrossing is very important, second only to the implementation of our long planned downtown.
MAURICIO BARRETO, District 5
Do you ride a bicycle in Sonoma County for transportation or recreation? How would you characterize the experience of cycling here? Yes, I ride for recreation and own both a road bike and a cruiser. Cycling gives me a firsthand appreciation for Sonoma County’s beautiful scenery, trails, and neighborhoods. At the same time, the experience can vary significantly depending on the route. Some areas feel comfortable and accessible, while others have gaps in bicycle lanes, inadequate separation from traffic, difficult crossings, or pavement conditions that can make riding stressful.
Whether someone rides a road bike, cruises through a neighborhood, commutes to work, or is simply learning to ride, they should have access to safe and well-connected routes. Our cycling network should serve experienced riders as well as children, seniors, families, and people who may not feel comfortable riding next to fast-moving traffic.
What are your community’s/Sonoma County’s biggest transportation challenges, and how does bicycling fit into your vision of future development? Our greatest challenges include traffic congestion, aging streets, unsafe intersections, limited connections between neighborhoods and major destinations, and the cost of maintaining and improving existing infrastructure. Highway 101 also creates a significant barrier between the east and west sides of Rohnert Park.
Bicycling should be part of a balanced transportation system that also includes safe streets, sidewalks, public transit, and responsible planning. As Rohnert Park grows and develops its downtown, we should connect homes with schools, parks, businesses, SMART, and public services so residents have practical choices. Cycling infrastructure should be designed as part of development from the beginning, not treated as an afterthought.
If elected, what will you do to improve cycling safety and encourage more people in the county to ride? I will support a data-driven approach that prioritizes locations with documented collisions, dangerous crossings, missing connections, and heavy use by children and families. I would advocate for well-maintained bicycle lanes, safer intersections, improved lighting and signage, visible crosswalks, and greater separation from vehicle traffic where feasible.
I would also listen directly to cyclists, residents, public-safety professionals, schools, and people with disabilities before making decisions. Infrastructure is only part of the solution. Education for drivers and cyclists, traffic enforcement focused on dangerous behavior, and safe-routes-to-school programs can also prevent injuries. My goal would be to make cycling a realistic and safe option for people of different ages and abilities.
Our visions and goals are often tempered by available budgets, staff time and public focus.How will you balance improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety with your other policy priorities? Public safety, street maintenance, parks, homelessness, responsible development, and sound financial management are all important. Bicycle and pedestrian safety should not compete with those priorities because thoughtfully planned projects can advance several of them at once. Repaving a street, redesigning an intersection, or approving new development can provide opportunities to improve safety for motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians together.
I would examine the city’s finances carefully, prioritize projects according to safety and community benefit, pursue county, state, federal, and regional grants, and coordinate improvements with already-scheduled roadwork whenever possible. I will not promise that every project can be completed immediately, but I will support transparent priorities, responsible spending, and steady progress.
Are there any specific projects in your jurisdiction that you are particularly excited to see implemented? I am particularly interested in the proposed Highway 101 bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing at Copeland Creek, often referred to as the Butterfly Bridge. Highway 101 divides Rohnert Park, and this project could create a much safer connection between the east and west sides of the city while improving access to neighborhoods, businesses, schools, trails, SMART, and community services. The project’s environmental phase is currently scheduled to continue through 2027. City of Rohnert Park project information
I am also encouraged by plans to expand bicycle and pedestrian connections around central Rohnert Park and the SMART station, along with continued development of the Copeland Creek trail network. These projects can connect neighborhoods while supporting the vibrant, accessible downtown our community wants. The city’s newly adopted 2040 General Plan includes policies supporting complete streets and improved pedestrian and bicycle circulation.
ARLENE LINDER, District 5