Fourth Solution Salon : The Mayor of Vallejo, Osby Davis sent a letter hand delivered by the Vice Mayor!

[Janna Besh]

Hermie Sunga, the Vice Mayor of Vallejo, attended Solano Green Alliances Solution Salon to present a letter that was written by the Mayor of Vallejo, Osby Davis, to me, supporting this mission!!! I was so moved. I read the letter to the group. The Human Relation Commission representative from the City of Vallejo, Donald Chun also attended the Solution Salon, he was going to read the Mayors pledge, but since the personal letter arrived from the Mayor, he did not. Earlier this week, I had also received a letter from the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzeneggar, thanking me!! It also moved me so much when I got the note from the Governor. He said, among other things,that this is very important work and that protecting the environment and growing the economy go hand and hand, and that green-clean technology can be the next great economic wave for California. ( I am going to frame both letters.) A wonderful mix of people showed up to the Solution Salon. ( And I was thanking God that I did not cancel, which I had considered doing , because I am not all the way over the bronchitis.) Donald Chun was very supportive and he stayed for most of the event. I spoke to a group , The Vallejo Heights Neighborhood Association, earlier in the morning before the Salon began . This was the first time that I had spoken to a group about this work and they are a very nice Organization and they seemed truly interested. I invited their members to attend the Salon, and a few of them did attend . The wonderful Kathleen O'Sullivan, Vice President of their Organization, joined our group. A lot of great ideas were presented by the attendees. They discussed mostly the Community Garden projects, and things that have not worked, and things that did not happen , in the past. They discussed pollution and environmental issues. The group came up with many good ideas and a Board for that project was formed. Jeremy Medina, an educator in Vallejo, who works for urban teens at risk, had many solid ideas. He talked about things that have worked in other areas and ideas for success. He has a non-profit Organization called Community 1. Later,we were given a really informative presentation by Eric Andresen who was affiliated with bp Solar, although his Company is actually called Advanced Alternative Energy Solutions. He broke away from his day at Vallejo's Marine World, where his daughters was showing 18 Japanese foreign exchange students a fun time, to attend our event. He taught us all about solar systems. Eric suggested Solano County embrace a proposition that Sonoma County has embraced to help home owners further afford to install solar. Several attendees and members signed up for his services. We served soup and soda and tea. Weird weather, though, first it was freezing cold earlier in the month, now it it was blazing hot. The attendees loved the vegetable soup. At the end of the day, Beats, who does beatboxing gave us a demonstration. We did not have a microphone for him to use, but he still did a great job! He's very talented. He also built the small solar cell model for us, so that people could see solar in action. It was a good salon, many innovative ideas were discussed. I feel proud and humbled, and sunburned. I must have hidden at least 400 coins in the garden. Nobody wanted to play the game " Hunt For Change" so, I will say this about that: Change is hiding in Vallejo. I know the real work is ahead of me, I mean, us. I will work as hard as I can to make things happen here, with Educators , City Council and many other affiliations, just like in a garden, this will grow. This is a National movement. I am focusing on my City, Vallejo California,and the surrounding areas. I encourage you to implement these same changes in your area. Thank you to all, and many blessings to all, that read this. from Janna Besh Founder Solano Green Alliance