Letters to the Editor 3-27-14

Be very careful
Editor: The Healdsburg City Council, and indeed any rational person, should be very careful as to the creditability and validity of the “Sustainable Solutions” group and their recent survey. First, 260 returns out of the population of Healdsburg is not significant at a mathematical level. Secondly, how many of these returns were from Healdsburg voters and/or residents? Third, it is typical of such mail response surveys that those who do respond tend to those who agree with the group conducting the survey. Therefore, such surveys  tends to be heavily biased. Fourth, I thought that the questions on the survey were slightly tilted toward the view point of the “solutions” group. In my opinion, no evidence has been presented that would validate the “solutions” group as representing the great silent majority in Healdsburg, nor should this mantle be bestowed upon them and their ideas. In my mind, they are a lobbying group representing a small subset of Healdsburg residents who have an agenda which is probably not supported by the greater Healdsburg community. They have a right to speak but their words need to be put in proper perspective.
Vernon P. Simmons
Healdsburg
Supporting Foppiano
Editor: In voting for a Supervisor candidate to replace Mike McGuire I believe experience and temperment are critical. First I looked at those who supported the community’s efforts to keep our hospital open. Both Fudge and Foppiano were there. Secondly I looked at their postures on pension reform which is vital to the county’s fiscal sustainability and probably the key issue. Here, Foppiano is ahead and Fudge probably too owing to union bosses. Third, the environment. Foppiano is ahead and Fudge sometimes two-faced with such issues a community seperators where she opted to try to relocate Sanderson Ford from Healdsburg to Windsor for Windsor revenues into a community seperator previously negotiated with the Healdsburg City Council. Lastly on the issue of transportation under Fudge we may or may not ever see SMART rail reach north — all her good words about it aside.
Most important Pete Foppiano has the blend of knowledge and temperment to do a good job. Like Mike McGuire he is a good listener. Like Mike he is available and often out and about in the community involved when it counts. His experience is broad and  his positions on key issues solid. He has my full supportt as a candidate for Supervisor.
Kurt Hahn
Healdsburg
Knowledge is good
Editor: All small towns with involved and civic-minded citizens need groups such as Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions (HCSS) to provide a balance to developers’ proposals for potentially ill-advised projects. The future character, size, and ambience of our city should be vigorously discussed and debated; that discussion is not furthered by attacking any one group’s position. It is refreshing to see HCSS’s efforts to gather actual data about the attitudes and opinions of our concerned and thoughtful population. Although the results of any survey may be critiqued and questioned, it is difficult to dispute a set of research findings using no research findings. The key to a smoothly-running democratic system is tapping into the will of the people. Any endeavor to do that should be welcome, no matter what “side” of an issue one takes.
Roger Hock
Healdsburg
Biased survey
Editor: A few days ago I received a mailer from the “Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions.”
Included was a survey requesting my input concerning subjects HCSS felt the public needed to discuss.
My wife and I have lived in Healdsburg for 30 years and have always felt the city council, and planning commission, were open to public input, the opposite conclusion a casual reader could make after reading the HCSS biased survey.
Why do I feel the survey was biased?
Survey question three asks, “What is the maximum number of rooms a new hotel should be allowed?” And question six asks, “Do you support a citizens’ initiative to limit hotel sizes?”
Of the eight questions asked in “this important survey about our beloved town” (a direct quote from the survey card) two questions concerned hotel size.
Now it is my turn to ask a question. Who is behind HCSS?
We know the names of our city council and members of the planning commission, but we do not know who funds HCSS. We do not know if anyone stands to gain from their association with HCSS. And why does their web site consist of a single page with no names of individuals involved with their organization? And why is their only point of contact a P. O. Box number or an email address?
I agree with Ray Holley’s conclusion, after no one responded to his email query, “Not much is known about “Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions.”
I also applaud my friend Neil Cronin’s letter printed last week where he pointed out that one of the names associated with HCSS is Jim Winston, a man who does not live within the city limits of “our beloved town” (a direct quote from the survey card) of Healdsburg.
Ken Dalton
Healdsburg
Water-sucking plot
Editor: Are you seeing red over green? Yes, St. Patrick’s Day is gone, but local devotees evidently honor him year-round — witness the lush, green lawns all over Healdsburg. You’d think we were in Ireland, but no, we’re in drought-stricken California. Maybe green is the new brown.
Drive around town, take an eyeball lawn survey — heck, most readers should just look out their front window — and do the math. A modest 10 by 10 lawn (but who’s modest when it comes to the sacred lawn?) will slurp up 11,800 gallons per year (Healdsburg city figures). That’s a humungous amount of water just for a silly little patch of green. And we’re in a drought. And we have so-called mandatory water conservation. It makes no sense, folks.
OK, on March 17, the City Council approved a program of water conservation incentives, with monetary incentives for high-efficiency toilets, super-efficient washing machines, and … turf removal at $0.50 per square foot. Better late (very) than never. The staff presentation was a bit wobbly on lawn-removal protocols, other cities’ success, measuring program success, etc., so the jury’s out on the ultimate effectiveness of this initiative. And yes, these measures are strictly voluntary, and no, there aren’t any Healdsburg regulations regarding prohibiting or removing lawns, existing or future, in front of the average home. It boggles my mind that there are still lawns being planted in town at this very moment. Have you seen that, Council members?
To be honest, I just can’t see many lawn-huggers giving up their water-sucking plot. Do we have a city of drought-deniers? Or do they think “All you other people should be saving water,” or that their lawn is an inalienable right protected by the Constitution?
I suspect, though, that the reality is different. We’ve all read that there’s a drought, that we should conserve, but the subject — and the need — has remained too cerebral, impersonal, and non-urgent. I think too few local residents are “doing the hard math” about what they personally should be conserving. More to the point, if the figures tell us that we are, indeed, well into a serious, maybe even long-term drought, then why don’t our County and City authorities seem more concerned? “Unconcerned” would be too harsh, yet County and City approaches do not seem commensurate with the severity of the crisis.
Indeed, lawn-owners lovingly tend their little postage-stamp Ireland because our political leaders are failing to communicate to the public the harsh realities of a serious drought and are failing to initiate serious, overall, and systemic policies, both short- and long-term,  to begin to turn us away from our profligate ways. Lawns are thus the most visual symbol of a failure of leadership in a very dire situation. I suggest we march on City Hall, wrenching up divots of lawn as we go.
Dave Henderson
Healdsburg
Build the traffic circle
Editor: I heartily agree with Alan B. Cohen’s letter published March 13. I was 20 years old and a sheltered small town girl when I moved to Washington D.C. My first traffic circle was a little scary, but I learned to negotiate them quickly and appreciated their efficiency and beauty. They can also be lots of fun. Healdsburg traffic will be much improved … get it done so we can all benefit!
Karen Neureuter
Alexander Valley