Roseland is a 100-year-old neighborhood that’s only a mile from city hall, and yet it is not included in, though surrounded by, the city limits of Santa Rosa. Officially, the city’s reasons for failing to welcome the neighborhood into the city involve sales tax and redevelopment; coincidentally, it is home to the highest concentrated Latino population in the Santa Rosa area. Make no mistake: this is Santa Rosa’s biggest shame.
But for one night, Roseland, the bastard child of city planning that for decades favored a sales-tax revenue base over the well-being of its residents, gets to rise above. The always-packed Cinco de Mayo celebration on May 5 is more than the mariachi bands, the tacos, the lowrider cars, the breakdance contest, the chicharrones. It’s the night Roseland gets to sing its presence, loudly, until the day that annexation into the city finally comes. The alcohol-free, family-friendly party is free, on May 5, at the old Albertson’s parking lot on Sebastopol Road. 3pm-9pm.
GRINDING HALT
What if the stalled economy stays that way? It’s highly possible, according to Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality. A frightening clarion call for environmental awareness, Heinberg’s latest argues that natural limits on fossil fuels, a growing population, high levels of debt and continued underemployment are all signs that the pipe dream of an ever-expanding GDP could be well over. Author of 10 books and a senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute, Heinberg speaks on “Navigating the New Economic Reality” on Wednesday, May 8, at the Glaser Center. 547 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa. 6:30pm. $10. 707.568.5381.
