Getting Voted off the Island?

Getting Voted off the Island?

Most people in the North Bay have lived somewhere else. So…they will know what I mean. I remember when we lived in Silicon Valley. We thought nothing about driving 15 or twenty miles to go shopping, go to dinner, etc.

But in the North Bay…people in Napa don’t like to drive to Sonoma. People in Sonoma avoid going to Napa. Petalumans hate driving to Target in Rohnert Park or Novato let alone making the trek to Santa Rosa or San Rafael. Santa Rosans don’t go to the great restaurants in Petaluma. San Rafael denizens won’t deign to go to Novato. And then there is the biggest barrier of all – crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco.

My wife and I call this the North Bay island mentality. Nobody likes to leave their island.

I believe this island mentality comes from the greenbelts and agricultural land separating the towns in the North Bay. In the Silicon Valley and the East Bay…there is little to distinguish between cities. Cupertino melts into San Jose which is mostly indistinguishable from Santa Clara. Who knows where the boundary is between Berkeley and Oakland? Up here, the towns are not only separated by green space, but also by “narrows” or “gulches” or other distinct geographical boundaries. Psychologically, I believe this drives an island mentality.

The island mentality is good and bad.

On the good side – all of the towns have distinct personalities. Petaluma has its ag and rivertown history, telecom valley office buildings, and all the cute old houses. Sebastopol has its hippies and tie die. Napa legitimately trumpets itself as the center of the wine universe. Sonoma’s personality revolves around its plaza and its equally find wine. You get what I mean.

On the negative side…the North Bay ends up being parochial. The towns compete rather than cooperate. At one time Petaluma and Novato even tried to secede from their respective counties. How crazy is that? During the Civil War armed Petalumans started to head up to Santa Rosa*. Wacky!

I think the North Bay is the best place to live in the world. We need to work to keep it that way. We need to build a diverse regional economy. With technology and tourism. Wine making and manufacturing. Telecom and agriculture.

In 2004, my wife, daughter and I moved to Sacramento for me to work at a venture capital firm. When we left, we felt like we were being voted off the island. Of course, we could only stay away for one year.

As I look for my next gig, I hope we don’t get voted off again.

*  they only made it to the Washoe House where they got drunk and headed home…but that is another story.