Letters to the Editor 9-17-15

A force of nature
Editor: The weaver of the fabric that is Healdsburg left us last Thursday. With the passing of Dotty Walters, Healdsburg has lost an important piece of itself. We were privileged to meet Dotty and Jim Walters shortly after we moved here in 1996 and have been so proud to call them friends ever since. We observed that the Walters seemed to meet everyone new to town and made friends with them all as well.
It’s not difficult to recount the warmth and caring that was a part of Dotty. She started the Bench Bunch that still meets every morning at Downtown Bakery, inviting new and old Healdsburgers to share in the camaraderie. Dotty and Jim, her husband of over 50 years, were an indomitable team. They worked on Prop G that ensured the continued existence of our hospital. They spurred the restoration of the Plaza (both the grounds and the gazebo). They offered their beautiful Dry Creek home as a setting for a multitude of weddings and charitable events.
Dotty was welcoming and inclusive. Her “Hi hon!” – always said with a big smile – made you feel the warmth of a sun shining on you.  Dotty was a force of nature that helped Healdsburg to be a better place. She will be missed.
Judy Edmonds and EJ Neil
Healdsburg
City reluctance
Editor: After months of attending the monthly meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission, and hearing from both high school coaches and youth sports organizations that the athletic fields in town had reached a point of being unsafe and some unplayable, the city’s staff shed light on this situation. In an exhibit presented to the commission, it was revealed that the city has not spent even one dollar in capital improvements since at least the year 2000 on any athletic field for the community. Is it any wonder that earlier this year, citizens, business leaders and service organizations banded together to raise almost $100,000 to partially renovate the fields?
Our Parks and Recreation Department stated before the city council that Recreation Park, as iconic to Healdsburg as the Plaza and opened in 1923, was so heavily used, it was worn out and very difficult to maintain at a competitive level. It hosts over 160 games a year, not counting practices. Used by high school varsity and junior varsity baseball, football and soccer, by little league and city youth soccer, by Bulldogs youth football, adult men’s baseball and adult soccer, it is perhaps the most utilized facility in all of Healdsburg. That doesn’t account for FFA, school graduations and other community and corporate events that utilize the park.
This past Wednesday, these groups again asked the Parks and Recreation Commission to agendize the completion of the playing surface renovation at Rec Park. This would entail the city matching what private citizens have done this year. It would be an unbudgeted item, but is modest in cost given the millions of reserves in the Community Services Fund. The youth groups have done the research and secured estimates for the work from a reputable company that did the first part of the renovation, which is receiving rave reviews. These groups have also offered to help the city with equipment to mow, project oversight and even some funds.
So why was it a struggle to get the commission to even place this on their agenda? We heard that studies needed to be done, consultants brought in and that they didn’t know if money existed to do it. In discussion with several city council members, it appears that there is support for the renovation and that money would not be the issue, as the cost is modest. And since we just completed half the renovation with citizen money and approved by city staff, studies and consultants would be a waste of money and delay the project. Our kids’ safety and that of all users of the “Grand Dame” of Healdsburg’s parks should not be secondary to studies, consultants and budgetary formalities. It needs to be sent to the city council urgently as we have only this December to January to complete before competition starts again.
We urge all citizens to call or write your park commissioners and urge them to be on the right side of this vote at their next meeting, which would allow us to return Rec Park to a safe and more competitive condition while saving the city significant amounts of water.  
Greg Wilcox
Healdsburg
Corrections required
Editor: After reading Penelope La Montagne’s recent Tribune column, “The bridge is out,” I believe her basic conclusions are valid. The citizens’ lobbying of our city to rehabilitate, rather than demolish and replace, our historic bridge significantly influenced our city’s selection. Our community has been living with the inconveniences caused by the rehabilitation project because they chose and requested this option.
However, some of her claims require corrections. Rehabilitation was initially unselected by our 2010 City Council not because “more federal funding was available for a new bridge.” In fact, rehabilitation was similarly unselected by several prior councils after 1981, when our county “gifted” Memorial Bridge to Healdsburg. The reason rehabilitation wasn’t selected is that Caltrans’ 1979 structural calculations reported our bridge to have a structural rating of “zero” tons and an associated “Sufficiency Rating” of two on a scale of zero to 100. In short, according to Caltrans, it was clearly unsafe.
The structural ratings were citizen scrutinized in 2007 and found to be in error. In 2008, per our city’s request, Caltrans re-inspected our bridge, acknowledged this calculation error and completely removed the vehicle load restrictions. In 2010, rehabilitation and 14 other options (including “do nothing”) were evaluated by city consultants. Rehabilitation cost was less than that of the other options and about half the cost of a new, replacement bridge.
The rehabilitation option won support from those wishing to preserve our iconic bridge entryway as well as those wishing to minimize taxpayers’ cost, irrespective of whether the funding sources are federal, state or local taxes.
A new, concrete bridge would have been 72 feet wide. A necessary, wider approach road, would have required the eminent domain right-of-way acquisition of a major portion of land from two businesses south of our bridge; Alvarez Landscaping and Edge Kayak and Canoe Trips. Consequently, both could have been put out of business. Accordingly, both businesses welcomed the rehabilitation selected by our city and recognized that the bridge closing during the rehabilitation project would be a necessary but temporary inconvenience. Clearly, the present sale offering of Edge Kayak and Canoe Trips wasn’t caused by the rehabilitation project but was made feasible by it.
Relative to Ms. La Montagne’s affordable housing concerns, our city now has an initiative and a supporting Community Housing Committee, which is addressing this need. It is recommended that all those who are interested attend the committee meetings.
Mel Amato
Healdsburg
Landscaping roundabout
Editor: The city hired a landscaping consultant for the roundabout. Why? The picture in the Tribune shows landscaping circling the roundabout and both sides of the street heading south to the freeway entrance and exit.
I think there’s a better way to spend our money to improve Healdsburg. Rather than landscaping for the tourist, we need more parking. Normally, as locals, we stay away from the downtown area during the weekends; however, a few weeks back we were invited to have lunch with family members from the Bay Area. There was literally a parade of cars going around in circles trying to locate a parking space.
Eventually, when restaurants and stores begin to lose customers because they can’t find parking, would this be enough incentive for Healdsburg to put parking a priority before landscaping? If you insist on more tourists, provide more parking spaces, Healdsburg.
Ken Buchignani
Healdsburg
Thanks for support
Editor: I currently serve as the chairperson of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County’s Community Council representing the clubs in Healdsburg and Geyserville. Along with my fellow council members; Bob Angell, Elise Bulger, Bob Durler, Parke Hafner, Renee Mengali, Erik Olsen, Whitney Opperman, Candy Yandell and Eric Ziedrich, we would like to thank the many local individuals, businesses and foundations that supported our efforts to tackle the issue of summer learning loss for many children right here in Healdsburg and Geyserville.
With your support, this past summer 307 kids, many from disadvantaged circumstances, registered for our Camp Healdsburg program. The club provided academic programming, meals and fun for over 160 campers each day over the summer. In order to make camp accessible to the kids who need it most, families were only charged $50 per camper for the entire summer.
Camp programs weave our desire to help youth focus on academic success, healthy lifestyles and good character into 10 weekly themed camp experiences. Woven into the daily summer camp program are activities designed to help stem summer learning loss through continuing academic support, including English language skills for our English learner population, to develop leadership opportunities for older youth to assist as counselors-in-training and to build strong nutrition and fitness programs to help combat childhood obesity.
We are proud of our involvement as volunteers and we are grateful for the support of so many people in our community. Together we will ensure a great future for our young people in our community. For more information about Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County, please contact Jason Weiss at

ja********@bg****.org











or call 528-7977.
Jim Dadaos, Chairperson of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Sonoma County’s Healdsburg & Geyserville Community Council
Practical and safe
Editor: The new roundabout on Healdsburg Avenue at five points will be practical. It will be practical, efficient and safe. Your readers should disregard the naysayers. I am a professional traffic engineer in the state of California and I know these things. In addition, when you see Caltrans building roundabouts, you know that they have been proven to be safe first, then efficient.
Glenn Grigg
Healdsburg