Thoughts on city issues
EDITOR: To the Healdsburg City Council: As full time Healdsburg residents we appreciate your adoption of PC resolution 2017-13 during your meeting of Aug. 17. It appears you are making an effort to right size the number of tasting rooms and event centers which will make Healdsburg more welcoming and livable for those of us who actually have our primary residence here (and vote in Healdsburg ).
We’ve read the attachment to the meeting minutes, and find it a daunting document, but believe it is good news for those of us who feel our city has become too much a party venue for visitors/tourists and hope to slow down this trend. Kudos for your attention to the well being of your constituents.
On a second topic, we find ourselves in agreement with nearly everything that Bruce Abramson expressed in his letter (“Call for a hotel ban”) to the Healdsburg Tribune Aug. 3 edition, which we are sure you read. We feel strongly it is a good time to take a break from building rental bedrooms for Healdsburg visitors while the community spends a few years digesting the impact of the various projects Mr. Abramson mentions in his letter.
While recently walking on Grant Street, at the intersection with Johnson, we encountered a large tourist vehicle driving north with the logo Pure Luxury prominently displayed on its side. It contained approximately 40 seats for tourists.
It brought to mind the decline in the quality of life in Carmel, a town we’ve visited numerous times since moving to California in the late 70’s. We recall the wonderful smallish town it was 40 years ago compared to the overcrowded, over commercialized and in a few spots rather tawdry place it’s become.
We first noticed Carmel’s decline when the tourist buses similar to the Pure Luxury one began to park in increasing numbers near the shopping center on Ocean Avenue. The buses seemed to arrive at around the tipping point for Carmel as a real town, so the sight of that big tourist bus on Johnson Street captured our attention. We urge you to resist development projects that will lead to our town sharing Carmel’s fate.
Finally, we find it difficult to understand how most Healdsburg residents could be comfortable with the direction the town’s development has taken in the past few years and where it appears to be going. However, it is of course understandable that those residents who earn their livelihood and/or have strong financial interest in the increasing commercial development of the wine, culinary, building/real estate development and hospitality industries might feel differently.
Along these lines, we’ve begun to consider the very legitimate and obvious financial interest our city staff might have in the enlargement of the tax base. It certainly makes their jobs more rewarding and less stressful if there is plenty of revenue, and in most communities budget expenses continually grow.
Also, we understand that Healdsburg’s unfunded employee pension liability is set to spike over the next few years, which could make increased tax revenue a top of mind issue for all city employees. So is it possible that city staff is a major driver of what many of us see as the overdevelopment of our town? Do they have a conflict of interest in terms of the commercial transformation of Healdsburg? Does the city council take this into consideration in their relationship with their staff?
Bob and Nancy Combs
Healdsburg
Mad about a few things
EDITOR: I don’t know why everybody else gets a chance to play the music. I am a DJ, oldies is my specialty. Mike’s Time Machine, a blast from the past. 1954 – 1974 old school DJ vinyl record 33s and 45s record original labels, oldies artists like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Richie Valens, Coasters, Platters, surf tunes Beach Boys, and Motown hits Diana Ross, old country Johnny Cash, Roger Miller King of the Road and 40s swing era Glenn Miller.
I want spin records at the Plaza this year, spin vinyl on turntables $125 per hour $200 for six hours that includes gas, set up time and take down time.
You know it isn’t fair everybody else gets a chance, I get told to go to hell. I grew up with oldies 50s and 60s rock n’ roll. I remember Buddy Holly first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and played his songs on American Bandstand and Dick Clark he started out in 1953. Rock Around the Clock started.
Rock n’ roll hit the charts in 1955. Beginning of rock n’ roll was started by Bill Haley and the Comets. I grew up with 50s and 60s music. I was there a DJ 35 years ago to be spinning vinyl records on turntables old school. I know the oldies artists and the years they did the hits of music, that’s how the DJs in the 50s and 60s was spinning vinyl got their start. Wolfman Jack started out as a DJ records.
I am Davey Crockett. I go around town in my buckskin. I was born in Healdsburg a local. The chamber of commerce is a joke. The city council don’t give a damn about the locals we don’t count. Too many wine tasting places in town they own the town of Healdsburg they don’t give a damn.
The fancy restaurants are too expensive to eat. Also, there is no affordable housing in Healdsburg. I live on Social Security monthly I can barely afford to buy food, pay rent and my bills. It is about time for the city council to get off their butts and do something for Healdsburg for the locals who were born and raised in this town.
Affordable housing is none on Chiquita Road, Grove Street, Healdsburg Avenue and maybe on Grove Street building they might get the hint from me I hope. Also on Dry Creek Road maybe affordable housing, we’ll see I hope, I will believe it when I see it myself.
I want the city council members do their job and get off their butts. Do something the locals and city Healdsburg community for a change instead of fancy restaurants that are too expensive. And less wine tasting places. No more hotels, enough already affordable housing instead.
Mike Peterson (I am known as Davey Crockett), Healdsburg
Red = stay on the curb
EDITOR: City of Healdsburg, can we get a little enforcement of the traffic signals in the downtown area? On weekends in particular, I’m often blocked from driving across Healdsburg Avenue at North Street by pedestrians who seem to cross the street with no concern for the signal system.
Perhaps they think the lights are just decorations meant to make their stay here more pleasant. Perhaps they come from a planet where red means, “just keep walking and don’t make eye contact with the drivers bearing down on you.”
Mayor McCaffery, who says he has had the same problem, promised to talk to the Chief of Police about this problem, so I’m hoping there will be some action. If you’ve been caught in this traffic mess, let the city know.
If enforcement is not possible, perhaps we should consider brochures at hotels explaining Healdsburg’s apparently difficult-to-understand traffic signal system, forming a safety patrol to help pedestrians traverse the intersections safely and legally and a city subsidy for high blood pressure pills for drivers trying to get across town to the post office or the gym.
In the meantime: drivers, be careful out there.
Joanne Taeuffer
Healdsburg
Laughter and tears
EDITOR: As school begins in a few weeks, I need to come clean with the graduating class of 2017. Yes, it was an honor to win their trust, and yes, I planned to speak at their graduation, but then closing night of Snow White occurred and I blubbered on and on at the end of the show. Teaching at Healdsburg High School was an honor, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to keep it together for a short three-minute speech, so with my administration’s blessing I withdrew my name from the graduation program. Below is the speech.
In the fourth grade I worked weeks on a bulletin board to not only impress my peers but to impress the young female teacher for whom I had a crush. Not only did I impress her, she announced to the class that she wished all her students were as talented as I was. I was fortunate to live through recess. And thus, the teasing began.
In junior high, I was constantly made fun of because I associated with the only person I knew, my twin sister. When we moved from Dry Creek to Johnson Street, a group of young men followed me home most days yelling taunts and making fun of me; I spent a lot of time crying.
In high school, the ridicule continued, and even though I’d run home for lunch to escape the mocking, I was threatened all the time, attacked in art and knocked out in biology. When I ran for ASB president, I was the only one on the ballot until the Dean of Students called in three of the most popular students of the junior class and had them oppose me. I lost.
So why did I become a teacher? Three reasons, which I believe apply to you and your future.
I wanted to be challenged. On the first day of teaching Mike glued a quarter to the floor. I stooped to pick it up and almost fell over when I lost my balance. I wish I could report that teaching became easy as the years passed; it did not, there were always challenges, but from these challenges I learned. About myself. About life. About society. Please don’t accept being average; challenge yourselves.
I wanted to make a difference. Now, my students are the only ones who know whether I made a difference in their lives, and I’m sure the results are mixed. But tonight is about you. Please, make a difference. Regardless where you are in five years, in 10 years, in 20 years, I hope you have made a difference.
I wanted to have fun. Opening night of my first play, when Sheila brought down the house and Kendra hit every note perfectly. Fun. Trips to London, Paris and Monterey with students to attend the theater, walk through galleries, or participate in a black and white photo projects on John Steinbeck. Way too much fun. Having a student walk into class early, look at me and yell, “I loved the pages we had to read last night, Mort!” Talk about fun?
When Nick said goodbye on the last day of school (he’s a lawyer now) I thought to myself, “Dang, I’m going to miss him.” When he walked in again after the bell rang at the end of the day and said goodbye for the second time, I thought to myself: could another life have been better? Karissa and Stephanie were in my last class yesterday, crying after the bell rang, and saying goodbye over and over and over; I couldn’t stop the tears.
In conclusion, challenge yourselves, make a difference and have fun, but make sure the fun includes not only the laughter that makes life worth living but the tears as well. Thank you.
Brent Mortensen
Healdsburg
Protect eyes during eclipse
EDITOR: Most of us are aware of the total solar eclipse that is to happen in the United States on Aug. 21. While the prospect of seeing this phenomena is exciting, it cannot be emphasized strongly enough that special precautions need to be undertaken to protect your eyes when viewing anything except a total eclipse.
When a portion of the sun is blocked, its brightness may not be enough to elicit our reflex to stop looking at it. Because of this, people tend to stare at the partial eclipse too long. This can cause irreversible injury to the retina that may not be immediately evident. Also, this danger is greater for young people than older people, as younger people have bigger pupils and clearer lenses. Children who watch the eclipse need to be supervised.
To view the eclipse safely, special purpose solar safety filter glasses are needed for every aspect of it except the time the moon completely blocks the sun. NASA and the American Astronomical Society offer links online to reputable companies that market quality solar filters.
It is not advisable to view the partial eclipse without the proper filters, but those who do would be wise to only view the eclipse for seconds at a time to avoid permanent eye damage, or to create a pinhole with paper to view the shadow of the event on the ground.
Our vision is precious but somewhat fragile. Please be careful about protecting your eyes and the eyes of your loved ones if you plan to view the eclipse.
Eric J. Kahle, MD, Ophthalmologist, Eye Associates of Sebastopol Medical Group
