100 years ago – October 4, 1917
For better fire protection
“Healdsburg is badly in need of modern fire-fighting apparatus,” said Chief Harold Rosenberg in speaking to the Board of City Trustees Monday night. “It is poor policy to wait until the town burns down before we realize the need for modern equipment. The town is well able to purchase an up-to-date engine, and we ought to give this matter our attention before we suffer the same experience that came to Ukiah recently. “The efficiency of the department has decreased in recent months as it is. A number of the members have enlisted and others have left town. I don’t like to carry the responsibility of the head of the department with conditions as they now are.” The members of the Board of Trustees talked the matter over briefly, and considered that the first need toward improving the fire protection of the town was to replace some of the old and small pipes on various streets to pipes of larger capacity.
50 years ago – October 5,1967
Ponder Plaza pigeons
What do Healdsburg’s Plaza and San Francisco’s Union Square have in common? Pigeons. Councilman Art Schieffer at Monday’s council meeting reported that the pigeon propagation has become so great that, “we have quite a problem in town,’’ and quoted several irate citizens who expressed their disgust in strong language, especially one who hailed down the councilman while wielding a shovel alongside his place of business. The council didn’t come up with an answer, pointing out that if San Francisco hasn’t been able to solve its pigeon problem over many decades, Healdsburg couldn’t expect to solve it in one week. Inasmuch as one suggestion involved “shooting ’em down,’’ Mayor Badger referred the matter to the police committee for lack of a better one. Which caused Tribune writer Dean Dunnicliff to challenge the referral in its entirety. He commented that if the police committee was going to study the matter it would be right for a police committee to be responsible only for the stool pigeons. Which resulted in Councilman Schieffer firing back, “Yes, in more ways than one.”
25 years ago – October 7, 1992
Council makes DRC’s demise official
The appointed arbiters of architectural taste in Healdsburg have been ousted. It’s official: The city’s Design Review Commission, which has been praised and damned for its work in the past, is no more. Over the protests of the city Planning Commission and amid warnings that it would do just the opposite of its intention, the City Council approved a resolution Monday night eliminating the DRC, expanding the Planning Commission to seven members, and distribute the DRC’s duties among the planning staff. The DRC was charged with reviewing plans for projects, and judging their merit based on design, compatibility with surrounding uses and development that is in keeping with the character and scale of the city.
Flashbacks is drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, The Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, which is open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
