Poll: October wildfires biggest 2017 local story

A majority of respondents to an online Argus-Courier poll thought the biggest local story of the year was the October wildfires that burned more than 110,000 acres in Sonoma County.

Here are some comments:

“Definitely the fires, then housing.”

“Legalizing the drug marijuana without fully investigating the negative consequences to our communities.”

“Sadly, the fires were the biggest story, I wish it wasn’t so. ”

“There are few if any ‘local impacts’ of national politics. The ‘housing crisis’ is a made up name for allowing more than one family to occupy a single family dwelling. Local regulations are being ignored. SMART is a non-story. It’s a stealing of tax payers dollars. The fires affected everyone. The only story of the year. The other topics are not ‘stories’ or even news.”

“This is an ongoing disaster for the community that won’t be fully realized for many years.”

“The launch of the SMART train was a big story for local transportation. It’s not as big as the fires, but still worth mentioning.”

“There wasn’t one. Nothing important happened. At least nothing that was reported.”

“The devastation of the fires.”

“How would it not be the fires?”

“There were many impacts from politics on our community, especially on immigrants, women, Muslims and LGBT people.”

“The fires are probably the biggest story that we have had since the 1989 earthquake.”