Letters to the Editor

Confused priorities
Editor: My good friends the late Bill Lucius and Marie Sparks, along with former Senior Center Director Cheryl Tarter, would be shocked and saddened by the decision of the city to turn its transit operations over to the county. The losers in this transaction are the city’s seniors especially those who used the city transit door-to-door services to get to their doctor, our district hospital, other medical providers, Council on Aging lunch program at the Senior Center or Food Pantry Brown Bag distributions. So long as the Community Services Department receives the bulk of the city’s hotel bed tax, all services to seniors, including transit, should be fully maintained. The city’s priorities are a bit confused.
Kurt Hahn
Retired City Finance/Economic Development  Director
Growing gap
Editor: I am a lifelong resident of Healdsburg and I am 17 years old — under the drinking age. This combination seems to be unusual in Healdsburg. As I sit writing this in our town’s central Plaza, I see, firsthand, the rapid transformation our community is undergoing. Each small city block includes either one or more wine tasting rooms or stores aimed at selling wares and products  to tasting room patrons. Every year our town becomes more oriented and designed for tourists rather than for locals. What’s more is that some of our municipal leaders do not seem to recognize this somewhat frightening trend. As the city council votes on and often passes more laws encouraging and supporting development, the ordinary citizens of Healdsburg feel left in the dark as their leaders make changes that the citizens themselves do not support or sometimes even understand. And I say citizens and not voters because these decisions affect all who live in Healdsburg and in the outskirts of Healdsburg,  not just registered or “qualified” voters. Indeed, at the age of 17, I am about to leave for college and I see a growing gap between our government and what the people want and need. We need a strong city councilmember to close this gap. We need a city council that represents more than business interests. Our water supply, our water treatment plant, our streets, our leaking water supply on our streets, our need for more youth-appealing activities, our access to our river, our lack of direct communication from our leaders must be addressed in an open, unintimidating, fair forum.
Candidate for city council Brigette Mansell embodies the type of leader needed to close the decision-making gap between the city council and the middle class, the local population of Healdsburg. I talked with her. I have read her reasons for running for this office. Mansell has entered the race not to gain power in the arena of city politics, or to set up a run for higher office, but to serve her city at a critical point in its history. She is also running to encourage all members of the community, affluent and struggling, young, middle-aged and seniors, white and Hispanic, to become a participant in our city’s decision -making process. As a Sonoma County high school language-arts teacher for over three decades, Mansell has the conviction and the skills to involve and inform all residents of the vital issues affecting our community. If you want to see more local people’s input and more voice — an increase in participation in our local democracy, vote for Brigette Mansell in the November election.
By electing Brigette Mansell to the Healdsburg city council, we are signaling and beginning a shift in the culture of our local government. We need a female, we need a voice for cultural arts and education and a voice that is open to input and will represent local interests. Again, if you believe government should be run and influenced by and for its constituents, vote for Brigette Mansell this November.
Mansell for Healdsburg City Council is kicking-off its campaign with a community “walk” across Memorial Bridge at noon, Aug. 16 — two days before the bridge’s year-long road closure for vehicles — to symbolize this transition in government. Citizens are invited to join Mansell and walk across our soon-to-be-retrofitted, historic bridge and “bridge” the gap between people and the government. The walk commences on the northern side of the bridge, Front Street, the gathering place, and will end in Memorial Park with Healdsburg lavender lemonade and homemade cookies. Citizens are encouraged to walk, push strollers or ride their bicycles to the bridge walk event. It should be a unifying, informative, fun experience with Brigette and other local speakers addressing the group in the park. Thank you for reading.
Samuel Naujokas
Healdsburg