Letters to the Editor 3-28-13

Almost went wrong way
Editor: I was saved once again yesterday.  When leaving the Post Office I almost turned right (as I had done since it moved) but another car was coming from the right. This reminded me to turn left to stay on course in the new one way circle.
When will Foss Creek Circle be made two way again?
Mike Fairchild
Healdsburg
Save our rural character
Editor: Fudor’s listing of Healdsburg as one of the “10 Best Small Towns” in the US is confirmation of what Healdsburg residents have known for a long time. We live in a charming, vibrant yet genuine small town, nestled in a beautiful rural setting.
This did not just happen by accident.  Healdsburg has been successful in preserving its small town scale and charm through careful urban planning. The urban growth boundary and a focus on downtown- centered development are good examples. The challenge has been striking the right balance between preserving our unique assets while siting tourist-related development appropriately.  
Getting the balance right in the rural areas surrounding Healdsburg is equally important. Unfortunately, the ever increasing number of event facilities located on scenic rural roads like West Dry Creek and Westside has upset this balance.
The lack of balance on these narrow rural roads is staggering once you count the current number of event facilities and then add in those facilities permitted but not yet built. Along West Dry Creek and Westside roads, there are nearly 50 venues approved for events — with their resulting traffic, visual impacts, cacophony of signs and banners, and noise. Residents, wine tasters, event goers, winery and vineyard workers, and bicycle tourists must then attempt to share these narrow rural roads.  To top it all, it seems like hardly a week goes by that the County doesn’t approve another event facility or grant more event permits.        
Combined with ever larger and more numerous industry-wide events such as Barrel Tasting, there is a danger of an over concentration on West Dry Creek and Westside Road that could tip the balance to a point where we destroy the very features that make Healdsburg an acclaimed destination — its quiet, relaxed atmosphere and rural character.  While some amount of tourist facilities and activities on these roads may be fine, there needs to be balance that protects the rural character.
County officials must begin to restore the balance between supporting tourism, without impacting the wonderful rural character that makes this area such a great place to live, work and to visit again and again.
Marc Bommersbach
Healdsburg
To whom it should concern
Editor: I’m 90-plus years old and I’m appalled, and greatly disturbed at the attitude of too many of our current leaders, civil servants, stewards of public funds who seem to think that a complicated and costly solution is always the best way to go. See the Foss Creek fiasco. When the problem of traffic first arose, the very first wisely considered thought should have been to eliminate parking on one or both sides of the street, simple, easy, no cost except for a few signs. A handful of people might have been put out but there is parking within the business areas and when they are full a few steps down the road wouldn’t hurt any able bodied employed person. Instead our City Council stirs everyone up, causes a great deal of uproar and finally decides as they have done, causing a lot of frustrated people, dangerous traffic situations and spending a tremendous amount of city funds. They not only didn’t solve the problem but created a worse one. Now they want to maintain the status quo and make the U.S Post Office spend even more of our (yours and my) money to awkwardly (consider the movement of traffic in such circumstance) and costly move the out-going mail boxes! What incredible nonsense.  Please someone wake up, smell the coffee, think what you are doing, do the easy thing and quit spending our hard earned cash so foolishly.
Margaret Brewer
Healdsburg
Admit the mistake
Editor: Have you talked with anyone who is in favor of keeping Foss Creek Circle a one way going the wrong way? I certainly haven’t! I could be wrong, but with the exception of Gary Plass and Mike Kirn, it looks like the citizens of Healdsburg are in complete agreement that a change needs to be made. Assuming that accommodations will continue to be made for Silver Oak, the only thing that makes any sense is to return it to a two way street. I can’t believe that comments from City officials, like “this system could work” are serious.  
I travel Foss Creek Circle daily, and I continue to encounter unbelievably dangerous situations. Within the last week:
• I entered the Circle only to find a teenaged girl on a bicycle, coming at me, going in the wrong direction, right in the middle of the road.
• I almost collided with a small car that entered the Circle where you should exit. I assume that he did this in order to avoid driving all the way around to either go to the Post Office or go to the condos to the north of the Circle
There’s only been one accident since the one way change was made? Great. Do we have to wait for an injury accident in order to do what makes sense?
In the past, the City Council seemed to listen to the people of Healdsburg when things of this nature came up. A proposed parking lot on East Street comes to mind. When the neighborhood complained loudly, the Council listened and changed their plans. What’s different now? It seems to be a stubbornness and an inability to admit that they are wrong. Come on, city leaders; Let’s go back to the way it was and prove that you’re big enough to admit a mistake was made.
Al Loebel
Healdsburg
Sensible solutions
Editor: Imagine my surprise to read the City Council had already made a decision on the Foss Creek Circle debacle! (I know, I didn’t see the meeting, and I’ve been watching: my bad! I wonder what the decision might have been if more of us who feel strongly about it had been there.) In any case, I do hope this is not the final volley.
Making the Post Office change drop box directions is not the answer. Traffic is still counterintuitive, and there is still a snarl at the post office entrance. May I offer the following as sensible, low cost solutions?
1. Two way traffic on the circle.
2. No parking on Foss Creek circle, one side or both)
3. Post office entrance change to one way with traffic exiting by circling the post office. (That was the case when they first moved there; why did it change?)
4. Drop boxes stay where they are. Without post office building traffic exiting at that location, it is not too bad, especially if there is an option of entering both from the north.
I do hope the City Council will continue considering and abandon their temporary solution of moving the drop boxes.
Many Healdsburg residents wrote in on this, to no avail, so far, but I hope that continued input will be considered by the Council.  We trust you to do the sensible thing. You are big enough to admit you were wrong and fix it.
Mary M. Johnson
Healdsburg
Why stop here?
Editor: I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read in “Foss Creek Circle one-way remains” that “Silver Oak Cellars General Manager Tony LaBlanc said he was willing to do what he could to help find a solution to the problem, but reminded the council it wasn’t the opinion of his business that Foss Creek Circle be made one way.”
I thought this whole mess was over the ingress and egress of the Silver Oaks trucks. But I guess it wasn’t. One councilman told me that there had been some near collisions with people exiting their driveway around the circle. Well if that’s the rationale for this boondoggle I think we should make every street in Healdsburg one way and we should start with the streets around the plaza. We could conduct a totally unrepresentative straw poll to justify this unnecessary waste of city money. Everyone who has a driveway coming on to a city street will be entitled to have their street made into a one way street at city expense. Why anger just a small segment of the town when you can anger everyone? Although I do think those little flags on top of the no left and right turn signs do look kind of festive.
Michael Haran
Healdsburg
Easter Bunny awaits
Editor: Hello again to all my friends in Healdsburg. It’s been a while … I haven’t seen you in a year, but I certainly look forward to seeing you all this Saturday. I’ve got the egg basket loaded up with hundreds of dyed eggs, candies, and gift certificates. My friends at Spoke Folk Cyclery have asked me to give away three brand new bicycles…yes … three new bikes to raffle on Saturday at the Annual Rotary Easter Egg Hunt. So I will see you on Saturday, March 30 at Fitch Mt. Elementary School at University and Monte Vista. Tell mom and dad to be there on time … the egg hunt starts promptly at 9 a.m. There’s plenty of room for kids of all ages, as the Rotary Club separates the egg hunt by age groups. Also… remind mom and dad to be sure to bring their cameras, as I always like to take pictures with the Healdsburg kids. See you Saturday.
The Easter Bunny
Healdsburg
Easy solution?
Editor: Regarding the one way direction of Foss Creek Circle, has anyone considered this as a possible solution? Because it seems that only one business is the “tail that is wagging the dog,” why can’t that business post a worker or two to direct traffic whenever a truck needs to enter or exit the loading dock? After all, how often does that happen? If there were a constant flow of trucks pulling in or out, then I could understand the NEED for traffic to flow in the current one way direction. But if only a few trucks per day are making deliveries or pick-ups, why must the rest of the community be inconvenienced during the rest of the day?
Now to get three-way stop signs at the bottom of the north bound exit at Dry Creek.
Lynn Anderson
Healdsburg