Letters to the Editor 3-13-14

Full throttle noise
Editor:   
Once again this past Saturday the Asti community was bombarded by the “Full Prop and Full Throttle” NorCal Skydive plane every 15 minutes from mid-morning to very late afternoon.
Cloverdale just requested at the LAFCO Hearing that Asti be included as an exception area in the Sphere of Influence. City Council feels that they should control Asti because are better stewards of Asti than Sonoma County who cannot be trusted.
Starting in April 2013 the Asti community noticed a new and excessive noise issue. Many Asti community residents asked Cloverdale to help resolve this ongoing noise pollution generated by NorCal Skydive. City Council chose to ignore our requests and would not even respond to our letters. We are not their constituents and being part of unincorporated Sonoma County it seems that we also are not trusted.
One would think that if the historic Asti Winery community is such a part of Cloverdale that city council would bend over backwards to help alleviate the antics of the aerial NASCAR race track above us.
Instead we are confronted with the hypocrisy of a city council that keeps touting the fact that Asti is part of Cloverdale, while ignoring the excessive noise pollution that city sanctioned NorCal is creating in our one-time peaceful country Asti community.
I fully support Steve Nurse and Bernard E. Covi and thank them for their letters.  
Julie Dilley,
Cloverdale
I love Cloverdale
Editor:   
Every week as I read the Reveille, I am amazed at how many people complain about our town. I love living in Cloverdale.  Recently there have been many complaints about the NorCal Skydiving. I live off Asti Road, and I love to hear the airplanes. I spoke to a neighbor who lives even closer to the airport than I do, and she loves to watch the skydivers. We reminisced about when our sons were small, and they would love to run outside and point up at the planes. It’s a fond memory. Today as I sat at my sons high school baseball game, a plane flew over head. I listened to two dads converse about who the pilot might be. They watched, enjoyed, and discussed a flight they will soon take.
Many Cloverdalians love to live here, and we love the planes and skydivers. We love our country town. It’s a tragedy that Bernard Covi, who wrote a letter to the editor on March 6, 2014, feels that our town is “Paradise Lost.” Hopefully he will get a chance to see the twinkle in a little boys’ eyes as he looks up in excitement at the airplanes and skydivers of Cloverdale. My family welcomes NorCal Skydiving to Cloverdale.
Sheila Kostoff
Cloverdale
Back in town
Editor:   
We will be in Cloverdale for a few days and would like to see as many family members and friends as possible. We hope to be at the Citrus Fair with our RV, around the first of April. We have been gone from Cloverdale for 11 years, it doesn’t seem possible.
Don and Betty Smalley,
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Taxed without representation
Editor:   
We completely agree with Steve Nurse’s sentiments about NorCal Skydiving and how it has shattered our quality of life with its unrelenting, droning, leaf-blower noise on any given day.
In years past, NorCal flew quietly and wasn’t an issue. This last year things changed. Now NorCal pilots fly like teenagers drag racing along Cloverdale Boulevard, with no thought of our community — only what they pocket from a handful of parachuters, each flight raining noise on hundreds of homes to the north, south and east of the airport. This is really a case of the few profiting on the backs of the many tax-paying citizens who now now live a buzz-saw existence and face a wholesale decline in our property values and quality of life.
And yet, we have no voice. Though Asti residents pay taxes to the county, we get no representation to assist us with grievances with the Cloverdale airport. Repeatedly the county says it’s a city issue; so does the FAA. We’ve been marooned. We’re taxed without representation.
We’ve tried working with the City of Cloverdale, unsuccessfully. We attended Airport Subcommittee meetings last year seeking to reach some kind of compromise about the noise. But the Subcommittee ignored our letters and requests. We were generally treated as a bunch of ‘ner-do-well complainers who are not constituents.
And yet, non-Cloverdale residents spend significant money shopping and doing business in Cloverdale. It’s our closest retail center. Our dollars far outweigh those of the few skydivers who jump, then go spend their money in Healdsburg, Napa and Sonoma: cities that have kept the “country” in “wine country.”
Steve Nurse addressed the City Council and was told the Airport Subcommittee would take up the noise issue. Good luck, Steve, because our entreaties certainly have fallen on deaf ears the last year.
Ron and Mindy Thal
Asti
Supporting Foppiano
Editor:   
As a long time resident of Healdsburg, I am writing to show my support for Pete Foppiano’s candidacy in the upcoming 4th District Supervisor’s race. Pete is the only lifelong District Four resident and he has spent a great deal of time volunteering in our community, most notably through his work on the Healdsburg City Council, Sonoma County Transportation Authority and as a high school coach.
Pete’s track record of accomplishments in the district is unmatched by any candidate running for supervisor in District Four. From Larkfield to Cloverdale, you don’t have to look far to see the results of Pete’s good work. We need Pete’s leadership and practical approach on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. I hope you will join me in supporting Pete Foppiano for Supervisor.
Bob Marker,
Cloverdale