Letters to the Editor 5-1-14

What was I thinkin’
Editor: There is a country western song about a young man who is driving his girlfriend around and her father is upset. The young man keeps singing “what was I thinkin?” I believe that applies to the Healdsburg City Council. They seem proud of their record over the last 20-plus years of shutting out the locals, building a tourist trade at the expense of local homeowners, farmers, farm workers, etc. “What were they thinking?”
I read in the April 24 edition of the Tribune where some “consultant” says that Healdsburg could double the number of hotel rooms in town. Does the city council remember that the people coming to Healdsburg as “tourists” now, were visiting other towns before. What will the city council be thinking when these moneyed travelers find another special little town in which to jay walk? What was the city council thinking when they discounted the post card survey as not scientific. Public opinion is not science — you were elected to listen to the citizens.
Mr. Meinken’s comments regarding his candidacy for city council seemed right on to me. He is a man for the future of Healdsburg. Who am I you may ask well I was born in Healdsburg General Hospital in 1939 and I grew up on West Dry Creek Rd, and attended Santa Rosa J.C. I was a prune picker and where are they now? I have been associated with Healdsburg well before any of the city council members.
Healdsburg has since grown into a town where people with limited transportation and funds have no place to shop for clothing, cannot afford to eat in the expensive restaurants and the young people cannot afford to purchase property. What was the City Council thinkin about these people?
History says that tourist destinations do not flourish for long period of times. Example Rio Nido, Guerneville etc. City Council you had better be thinkin about the future and just maybe be planning for the extinction of the tourist that is sure to come.
David Scatena
Healdsburg
Homes Tour May 4
Editor: May 4 is the 24th annual AAUW Healdsburg Homes Tour. Locals will have fun peeking behind the curtains of homes they pass every day and discovering hidden treasures inside and out. They will also be supporting AAUW’s educational programs.  
Each year the Healdsburg branch of the AAUW sends local junior high school girls to Tech Trek Camp at Stanford University; funds continuing education scholarships to women graduating from Santa Rosa Junior College; and supports various programs sponsored by Healdsburg Education Foundation (HEF). This year we will be sending eight girls to Tech Trek Camp and giving scholarships to five SRJC women. We contributed to two HEF projects, the Science Fair, PSST (Public School Success Team), Career Choices, Expanding Your Horizons, GEMS (Girls Engaged in Math and Science), supplies and books for the elementary school, and a scholarship for a young woman graduating from HHS.  The Healdsburg Homes Tour is our primary fund raiser.
There are six homes within a two mile loop which may be walked or driven with street parking. The American Philharmonic String Quartet will be playing at one of the homes from 12 to 2 p.m. Don’t forget to buy raffle tickets to win one of six baskets each valued at about $1,000 of great prizes. Please join us Sunday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Buy tickets at www.healdsburgaauw.com, Copperfield’s Books, Levin & Company, or the Museum. The tour begins at the Museum.
Ronnie Devitt
Healdsburg
Pancakes
Editor: The 58th annual Healdsburg Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast held on Palm Sunday, April 13 at the Villa Chanticleer was another huge success! We wish to thank all of those who attended and helped our cause of fundraising for the children of our community. Proceeds will aid in the many projects we support and sponsor such as scholarship funds, books and computers for our local schools and many other donations throughout the year.
We wish to thank the Norgrove Family/Bear Republic, McDonald’s and Starbucks for their generous donations of food and supplies for the event. Boy Scout Troop #21 and the Salvation Army offered outstanding assistance and we thank them too. We would also like to thank our Healdsburg Kiwanis members who sold tickets and who also gave their generous time and energy helping make the breakfast delicious while having fun and working hard too. New this year were blueberry pancakes, fruit and real maple syrup. A special thanks goes out to those businesses and folks who purchased many ads for the Healdsburg Tribune. Many of those ad placements came from our own Kiwanis Club members.
We look forward to having many more Pancake Breakfasts. We will also once again be out raising money at the Memorial Weekend Parade and Future Farmers event. Don’t forget our sponsorship of the Fitch Mountain Foot Race, Golf Tournament and of course, selling Christmas Trees at our annual Kiwanis tree lot. We hope to see all of you there.
Jan Gianni, Vice President
Chair Healdsburg Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast
Enjoying the columns
Editor: We were delighted when Renee Kiff resumed writing her column (and couldn’t agree more about local mail going to Oakland). We always enjoy Mary Kelley’s and Lucy Jensen’s columns, too, but have missed Lucy’s lately. You are lucky to have such good columnists.
Bob Myers
Healdsburg
Could be worse
Editor: I just left the meeting with the developers of Midtowne Healdsburg planned for the lot on Healdsburg Avenue between Ferrero and Monte Vista. I have reviewed their proposed changes with some surprise.
In my view, most of the real objections of the former plan have been addressed. I like the reduced number of units, and the looped driveway for easier garage access. I also liked the fact that only six houses will use that drive on a regular basis. It is too short a street to be a through-way for anyone, and certainly too short for any speed or excessive noise. I see that as a real improvement for neighbors.
The project is more open, with more park space and walking access. The bus is right there, and it is close enough to town and the businesses at Dry Creek for practical walking or bicycling. It is close to one of the best small hospitals in the country. With limited parking on the north side of Ferrero, a lot of visibility problems would be improved. All in all, it seems to me that the developers have made a real contribution to our current housing problems.
Let’s be realistic: something will be built there, and if we nibble this one to death (remember when Carraro tried to develop that lot?) we risk ending up with something much worse. This is at least a quality, well thought out project with at least some (not enough) affordable housing.  It is an improvement on any of Carrarro’s plans for the project. I’m not sure we can improve much on this plan, and the risk of killing it is too great.
It can use some fine tuning, but I say go for it. It ain’t perfect, but it is better than a lot of things we could get!
Mary Johnson
Healdsburg