Memories of fair sought
EDITOR: This is the last chance to get your memories included in the upcoming Healdsburg Future Farmers Country Fair book on the early history of the fair.
Anyone with memories or photos of the fair before it moved to Recreation Park who would like to participate in this book is urged to send their memory of the fair to Gabriel Fraire at
ga******@so***.net
. The deadline is April 15.
The board of the Future Farmers Fair of Healdsburg hopes to have this edition of the early years of the fair ready by this year’s fair.
Gabriel Fraire,
Healdsburg
Parade sights
EDITOR: The parade on St. Patrick’s Day was a great event. Healdsburg Noon Rotary was painting hair green to raise money for the eradication of polio. Everybody screamed and yelled to say good morning to guests at The Hotel Healdsburg. But the funniest thing I saw was Ray Holley riding a horse with a look of sheer terror.
Jeff Civian,
Healdsburg
Two questions
EDITOR: 1. Re: the gun shop: Has anyone thought to ask the children of Healdsburg whether they want a gun shop in their hometown?
2. Re: Mr. Trump’s tariffs: Has anyone noticed that Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution states explicitly that “The Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nations?”
C.J. Date,
Healdsburg
AV crab feed a success
EDITOR:The Alexander Valley Farm Bureau just wrapped up it’s 2018 crab feed. The event is held at the Alexander Valley Hall and serves upwards of 200 invited guests. Proceeds from the event are used to provide up to five $1,000 scholarships for Healdsburg High School seniors seeking agriculture-related college degrees.
The AVFB board would like to express appreciation to the following wineries for their donation to the event; Alexander Valley Vineyards, Hafner, Robert Young, Hanna, Munselle Vineyards, Kelley & Young, Coppola and Rodney Strong. A special thanks to Ellen Johnson for organizing the Alexander Valley 4-H youngsters to help with serving and cleanup.
To all who attended, the wineries that donated wine and the 4-H kids, thank you for making the AVFB crab feed a success.
Larry Cadd
Chair, Alexander Valley Farm Bureau
Preserve downtown
EDITOR: I am extremely concerned about the size and pace of development in our town in the last three years. The number of hotel rooms in Healdsburg is likely to double in the coming years. There are 425 rooms in various stages of planning/construction (Replay, Marriott, North Village, Saggio Hills). How will this affect our traffic and intersections, our infrastructure and our quality of life? The city has not addressed this cumulative effect. Why hasn’t this been discussed or publicized?
For the past eight months, our group, Residents for Balance Downtown, has repeatedly provided information and concern in the Tribune about an over-concentration of hotels downtown. A hotel tipping point. We have asked for a ban on any more hotels in the Downtown Commercial and Plaza districts.
A just-completed city survey supports our position. It indicates 83 percent of survey respondents said there are either too many or enough hotels in Healdsburg. A second question indicated hotel growth was happening too fast by 71 percent of respondents. We can safely assume that this survey was done before most respondents, even knew that there were 425 additional hotel rooms coming. If those responding to the survey had been made aware of this, the potential survey results would probably have been even more negative about hotel development.
Our group and many supporters, such as this survey indicates, again request that an ordinance be passed that future hotels be restricted in the Downtown Commercial and Plaza districts (three blocks by four blocks). Our goal is to preserve the charm and historical character of our downtown. Some recent urban immigrants and some business interests may wish to build out Healdsburg to the maximum at the expense of the quality of life of many local residents. Even our small town appeal to tourists is threatened.
Several of the city council members have recently indicated their preference to allow more hotels downtown with conditional use permits. There are currently two potential downtown hotel sites of interest. These council members ran election campaigns seeking to maintain a balance between residents and tourism. We hope they do not lose the trust that locals invested in them when they won their seats. We request them to look again at this survey and do the right thing for their residents as Healdsburg stands to double its number of hotel rooms.
Bruce Abramson
Healdsburg
