Letters to the Editor 5-12-16

Time to celebrate
Editor: Governor Jerry Brown on May 4 signed the bill sponsored by our Assemblyman Jim Wood that raises the age to buy tobacco products in California from age 18 to 21. This to me is very special, since Healdsburg was the first in the state to do this.
It was less than three years ago, October 2013, that I met with Mayor Jim Wood and Councilman Tom Chambers at the Center Street Deli to discuss this concept. The County Health Department thankfully assigned Jay Macedo to help us with this, and we hammered out a plan to take to the City Council. I even met with Councilman Gary Plass, knowing he might be against this, to listen to his viewpoint and explain ours. It was helpful, he listened well, and I think I understood his viewpoint.
It finally came to a vote, and it passed 4-1, with Susan Jones and Shaun McCaffery voting in favor, along with Tom and Jim. That night I celebrated with champagne (local of course) for what they had done.
I must commend our City Council, as there was the possibility, mentioned by the City Attorney, of tobacco companies suing the city. But I think Susan Jones said it best: “This is something that we can do in a small town and set the example for other places.”
Well, Susan, Healdsburg certainly did that. And now, less than three years later, your example has spread through all of California. What Healdsburg did will truly save thousands and thousands of lives. I will celebrate with champagne again.
Now that I have stated my huge support for this, I must say I have one major concern. The bill will become law on June 9, which gives little time for merchants to adjust, inform their employees, or figure out how to respond to their 19-year-old customer wanting cigarettes. And for smoking teens, it gives little time to recognize they cannot buy any kind of tobacco products, and to decide what they will do when that happens. Nicotine addiction is very powerful, and I am fearful of the consequences when someone suddenly cannot obtain it. It would have been better to put the enactment off for several months, say, to January 1, 2017, so people can have a plan in place.
David Anderson MD
Geyserville
Council: prove you care
Editor: Citizens of Healdsburg, please attend the Healdsburg City Council meetings which takes place on the first Monday and third Monday of each month. If you are unhappy as to the direction our town is headed, I urge you to attend these meetings to see for yourself how this city is run and how your tax dollars are currently being spent.
To the people of Healdsburg, if you don’t get involved now we are going to lose this town as we have known it. Outsiders are coming into our town with large amounts of investment money to change this town in ways they see it. A few of the council people are embracing them with open arms. When did they stop caring about the long time residents of this town for the big bucks? We have council members that say they care about us; to them I say prove it.
Ken Buchignani
Healdsburg
Help us help others
Editor: When we opened our winery and tasting room in 2010, we wanted to make sure we served our local community — not just the tourists. One way we came up with to do this is through our Refillable Jug Wine program, which raises money for local charities while letting locals buy a 100 percent Sonoma County red wine blend for just $12/liter. Two dollars per fill goes to charity, and it adds up. In the last year, the program has raised over $7,000, and we’re forecasting that number will top $10,000 for the next 12 months.
While we began with some of our favorite charities, we feel it’s time to ask our friends and neighbors to help us choose which of the many worthy organizations in Healdsburg should benefit.
We designed a super-simple questionnaire, which we’d appreciate everyone filling out. You’ll find it at www.surveymon
key.com/r/ZRTMV8V. Feel free to pass this along, but out of fairness to everyone please don’t stuff the ballot box.
Above all, we are incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement we’ve received as we’ve built an ecologically, agriculturally, and economically sustainable farming business in this amazing place we are fortunate to call home.
Ridgely Evers and Colleen McGlynn
DaVero Farms & Winery
Healdsburg
No to Wood
Editor: I see that State Assemblyman Jim Wood is up for re-election on June 7. I wanted to see how our guy is doing, so I looked on his official website. It lists 12 bills he introduced; they all sound fine enough, though none of them is much of a barn-burner, and it doesn’t say where they are in the legislative process or what’s happening to them. That’s odd. Nor could I find out any more, because I signed up for his updates awhile back, but I haven’t received one yet. His statement in the Voter’s Pamphlet says he’s fighting for some mighty fine things, all of which sound good to me. Unfortunately, he left his voting record out of that statement, as he did on his website, so I did a little research, and what I found didn’t sound good to me at all.
There was SB 443, to curb a nasty, unjust policy called Civil Asset Forfeiture; and the Racial & Identity Profiling Act of 2015, AB 953, a landmark bill that addressed issues of racial profiling and police brutality. Wood voted No on those. And then there were SB 406, Expanding Paid Family Leave, and AB 1017, Equal Pay for Women. Wood abstained on those. He also failed to support: SB 641, Consumer Protections; SB 260, Expanding Medi-Cal Protections; AB 533, Unexpected Medical Bills; and SB 308, Debtor Protections.
There may be really good reasons for opposing a bill or two, but that list represents a pattern I don’t think is right for our district, or our state. In fact, highly-respected Common Cause put Jim in their Hall of Shame for “state legislators most out of step with their constituents, and most closely aligned with corporate and special interests that exploit Californians.” (couragescore.org)
So I recommend that you join me in voting for his opponent. Oops, I just looked at the Voter Pamphlet again, and I see that Jim is running unopposed. Should have figured that. I guess we get two more years of opposition to family leave, equal pay for women, MediCal protections, consumer protections, and debtor protections. Or you could just write in your neighbor’s name, which is what I’m going to do.
Dave Henderson
Healdsburg
Step up, Healdsburg
Editor: I just received a copy of the news release from Replay Resorts re: their recent purchase of the NuForest and Garden Inn properties, a total of 10.4 acres of extremely valuable land at the south end of town.
They envision a project which reflects the “values unique to Sonoma [County] and Healdsburg itself.” They describe their mission is to “… develop and operate authentic and enduring places that become must-visit destinations for guests and potential real estate purchasers alike.” Now maybe it’s just me, but this sounds like code for the development of more market rate and possibly luxury housing. I don’t have the sense that affordable and low income housing is part of their game plan. Does this reflect the values of the citizens of Healdsburg? I sure hope not.
To me this significant piece of land offers us our last, best chance to design a project which addresses Healdsburg’s real housing needs. The question is, is the city just paying lip service to the issue of affordable housing? If so, then those of us who believe this is a critical issue in terms of defining and shaping the kind of town we really want, had better step up and start making their opinions known, loudly.
Hank Skewis
Healdsburg