Voters have spoken
EDITOR: Relative to the open council seat created by the resignation of Eric Ziedrich, I believe that our city’s voters have already spoken to make known their preferred replacement. If this resignation had been given after Aug 17 (filing deadline for all 2016 Council candidates) and before ballots were mailed to absentee voters in October, there would have been four open seats sought by the same six candidates on the ballot in the just completed election. Based upon the final vote count, Gary Plass, who finished in fourth place, only 20 votes behind Joe Naujokas, would have won the fourth seat. Under that scenario, Gary Plass’ fourth place finish would make him the public’s selection and the logical selection to fill the delayed and now official opening of that seat.
Besides his position in the final vote count, Gary Plass is qualified based upon the following factors: The valuable institutional knowledge and continuity his past experience brings to a council with two new members; his demonstrated competence in addressing our community’s present and future needs; his established relationships with local and state lawmakers and his willingness to step up to campaign and make his positions known in our recent 2016 election. If you agree with this assessment, it’s recommended you send an email supporting Gary Plass to our city council members. While the timing is not a certainty, our council could choose to make their selection at their Jan. 3 meeting.
Mel Amato, Healdsburg
Diversity of representation
EDITOR: I am writing to express my whole-hearted support of the commentary “The Future of Healdsburg,” by Jenny Levine-Smith. Democracy requires that we elect officials based not on assumptions, but on actual votes received. If the intent of the council is to support the will of the people, then the appointment process should be opened up for community involvement. The election of 2016 is an unusual situation in that hateful rhetoric has loosed fear into the hearts of many women, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ folks and others. Our city council has the opportunity to shape policy that will affect those marginalized in our community. Our city needs leadership that is willing to stand up against the status quo and show its citizens that we will be represented. Appointing someone behind closed doors, who represents more of the same, is not the transparency and responsiveness to the citizenry that Healdsburg needs or desires. As a Latino woman living in Healdsburg, appointing a more diverse candidate would go far in showing the council’s commitment to diversity of representation in our town.
Christine Naber, Healdsburg
Positive and satisfying
EDITOR: I am writing this to make sure that folks in Healdsburg realize how fortunate we are to have Sanderson Ford here in our town. Last week I had a very stressful experience at a car dealership south of Healdsburg. I was not treated respectfully and actually picked up my papers and walked out. Today Tim Sanderson made me realize that an experience at a car dealership can be positive and satisfying. His honesty, ability to listen and respectfulness made today’s experience an outstanding one. I hope you will all visit one of our local dealerships before heading south of town. I know from experience that you should.
Mary Doll, Healdsburg
Thanks to Chris Love
EDITOR: I want to acknowledge longtime Healdsburg volunteer Chris Love for her years of dedication to our community. I have known Chris as a friend and fellow Tribune columnist for about 15 years. She once told me how she always felt very shy, like the new kid on the block, the person in the background. With that history, she especially deserves our thanks for her ongoing and often silent contributions to the community. Among other things, Chris has been devoted to Healdsburg’s schools and involved in the Boys & Girls Club. She was a Greyhound Booster and longtime substitute librarian and teacher of a publishing class at Fitch Mountain Elementary. As a parent sponsor of daughter Laurie Anne’s HHS Class of 1997, Chris became close friends with current State Senator Mike McGuire, who was one of Laurie Anne’s classmates. Because she was such a mom to all the kids, Mike gave Chris her fitting nickname, Mama Love. Upon his request, she headed up Mike’s campaign for Healdsburg school board in 1998 and his first city council campaign in 2004. In her goodbye letter as a Tribune columnist, Chris reminds us that we can each make a difference here in town. Thank you for all the good and generous things you’ve given us, Chris. You are surely a role model to many.
Shonnie Brown, Healdsburg
New adjective
EDITOR: I’ve enjoyed Ray Holley’s writing for years, but now he’s outdone himself with the creation of a new adjective. It’s already come in handy. My cat just coughed up a hairball on my needlepoint rug and, “That’s so trumpy,” I told her. She actually did look a bit embarrassed.
Nancy Roberts, Healdsburg
Gary Plass for City Council
We are excited to see new faces on the city council and look forward to the fresh ideas they might bring over the coming years. We urge the council to appoint Gary Plass to the open two-year seat. He has faithfully and unselfishly served Healdsburg, initially with the city police department and for the last 12 years as a city councilman, always with the best interest of the city at heart.
Gary would be an asset to this new board. Realizing there is a considerable “learning curve” for new council members, we feel that appointing Gary would be the best choice rather than a completely new person or someone who has been removed from the process for a long period of time.
Healdsburg has greatly benefited from Gary’s leadership position with NCPA (Healdsburg electrical utility), as well as his lobbying efforts in Sacramento and Washington DC. He has built relationships with local and state lawmakers that would continue to benefit our city.
Considering how close the November election was, we believe Gary has earned our trust and deserves the opportunity to continue to serve. He is the logical choice to help guide our city through issues that need to be addressed.
Thank you for considering the opinion that we, as well as many other citizens of Healdsburg share.
Rich & Carol Ryan
Thank you to Healdsburg Senior Center staff
The Healdsburg Senior Center is a well-run, stimulating agency with a wide range of programs. The city of Healdsburg just completed a remodel of the facility. If you are a newly relocated senior now residing in Healdsburg, I encourage you to check the senior center out. A special thanks to Lea Black the Senior Center Coordinator.
Council member Gary Plass visited the senior center recently and noted the need for computer upgrades for the citizens who frequent the site. The computers were upgraded immediately. Thank you, Gary Plass. I moved here from Bainbridge Island, Washington recently.
Bonny Lawrence
Healdsburg
Another Plass Fan
As a resident and business owner in Healdsburg, I’d like my to express my thoughts regarding the upcoming vacant council member position. I feel it’s vital to the city’s and citizens’ interest to appoint Gary Plass to fill Mr. Ziedrich’s remaining two-year term on the Council. With two newly-elected council members, and two other council members with only two and four years on the job, it’s critical that we maintain some consistency and experience at City Hall. Gary will provide good historical perspective on numerous issues, and he will also be available to assist a new council member willing to step up and fill his shoes at the NCPA. Our city utility is a big business and it’s important that someone have a thorough knowledge of its background and the energy issues facing the city.
It is a logical step to fill this position with the fourth largest vote getter in the city. When it looked as if Joe Naujokas was coming in fourth place, there was the same feeling among many citizens that Joe be appointed to this vacancy. Now that things are reversed, it is only fair to view it the same way, since their vote tallies were nearly identical. There is also a movement around to appoint a former council member, but in my opinion the appointee shouldn’t be someone who didn’t seek out the position in the first place.
I encourage the city council appoint Gary Plass to the vacancy on the council in January.
Louise Fowler
Quite irate
Surely the (team editor) has a ton of leverage on either yourself or the entire staff at Sonoma West. I’m guessing that this is the sole reason, I can only imagine, that he remains employed, let alone have his own column. I must say, he had me quite irate and maybe this is the effect he’s hoping for.
In his previous column, as you know, he wrote of his intent to resist Trump and his apparent antics, tooth and claw. That’s fine, he’s entitled to his opinion and lord knows he does have the forum to express it. He has the advantage on all of us. Our saving grace is that not many of the readers take him seriously and most understand completely that this guy should get over it already and move on to a different topic. After his initial point, he began stroking the readers. When he states that the initial response, by the great unwashed masses, was “OK, Sounds good, how ?” he begins blowing smoke, as usual.
I’m guessing that a good percentage of the readers , in fact by the results of the campaign , a very good percentage, understand that he’s just another lefty full of rhetoric. Hmm, when have we witnessed this style of bantering before? The unique thing about this presidential race is that a great many lefties simply lied to the pollsters, pre-election. Now that the poll directors have had the time to research the data, the winner, Mr. Trump, actually received many votes from the left. This contradicts, to the extreme, what they stated regarding whom they intended on voting for. It appears that Hillary couldn’t even convince many in her own party to cast a vote in her direction.
I can’t help but wonder if Ray “Staunch Trump Supporter” Holley, isn’t actually a big Trump fan and continues down the road of many in his party, the road of denial when one of his own is within listening distance. Come out Holley, I for one don’t think enough readers care or even read what you think. If they did, the first thing they would have done was set up a picket line in front of the newspaper’s main office calling for your resignation. I’m guessing that many of the small number of readers were incensed by the way you signed off on your rant. It’s not the best form of example to suggest that most of your readers are white, native born Americans, whatever that means. I’m thinking that maybe you should practice what you are so fast to preach. Maybe you should also treat people of different backgrounds and ethnicities with the respect and demeanor you expect in return. Remember, be honest, be thoughtful and be kind. Thank you for letting me vent, A proud member of the right, on the right, for the obvious right.
Mark Vellutini
