Commentary: GMO Failed Healdsburg

In 1988, I made my first visit to Healdsburg. Six months later, my first job out of college included Healdsburg. I was hooked. The town reminded me of my valley community: a dusty working town with a Sunsweet dehydrator, several lumber mills, a river and lots of families. There was a diversity of culture with a common goal of making our community great.
Two years after that, our family bought the Chevrolet franchise on the north end of Healdsburg Avenue. My wife and I settled into a small rental house near Fitch Mountain school for $600 a month. I worked at the car lot and she worked at Exchange Bank. In the evenings we either played co-ed softball, made friends or I would refurbish office equipment in our living room that I was selling to save up for a down payment for a house.
We loved our neighborhood, found a house that we could afford nearby with our savings with plans of never leaving. Healdsburg was idyllic. Sunday nights were at The Boot, where visiting was as just as enjoyable as having one of Ken’s ribeyes.
I actively campaigned against the GMO in 2000, even paying for full page ads in this publication. All of my concerns of the GMO have played out since. Even worse, the GMO sponsor, in a rage of spite actively attempted to block my building of a house near my work so that I could walk back and forth, my two children would have space to play, be close to school and I could see them anytime. Calling my home a McMansion seemed completely unfair. A 2,300 square foot home with a 300 square foot rental does not seem to fit that label. Luckily, the planning commission saw past the petty bullying efforts.
In the years since, the effects of the GMO have played out. Each year, the classrooms of my kids began to lose a few. Families began choosing other communities as the family character of Healdsburg dissipated to the pricey wine country Disneyland. By time my kids completed high school, they had transferred to other schools as the district shrank by nearly 50 percent. I make the joke that downtown went from the “Cheers” moniker of “Where everyone knows your name,” to where no one knows your name.
Our goal was to stay in Healdsburg. When the opportunity to sell our business came up last year, I left it to my kids. Their view is that there is no future for kids in Healdsburg. Over the years, I came to the conclusion GMO supporters really did not care about the children of Healdsburg or its health. I have not seen one dime given by its sponsor to little league, boosters, boys and girls club, the livestock auction, HEF or the hospital. His only investment is of fear of what could happen if the GMO is lifted.
At the time that I sold my business 36 of 37 employees lived outside of Healdsburg. That is still true today. We moved as well. I hope to come back to Sonoma County someday, but likely not Healdsburg. It is my opinion that a community that cannot provide for the needs of its own children is a failure. The GMO failed Healdsburg. It will take many years for Healdsburg to return to a place that can sustain a viable living for its youth. A yes on measure R is a very important first step.  
Bruce McConnell is a former Healdsburg resident and business owner who now lives in Redding