Candidate clarifies remarks
EDITOR: My remarks at the city council candidate forum about taxing second homes were necessarily brief, and apparently allowed room for misunderstanding. A letter writer last week, Ms. Jones, referred to the negative effect of such a tax on landlords, so allow me to clarify. Certainly I am not proposing an affordable housing tax to be levied on dwellings that are leased to full time tenants. She is correct that such a tax would be counterproductive to my goal of creating more affordable housing opportunity.
My proposal is an annual assessment or a transfer tax on homes that are no one’s full-time residence, neither owner nor tenant, but are kept empty for investment purposes or for the owner’s occasional use. This is not a new idea. Many desirable cities have used taxation as a tool to discourage speculators from monopolizing scarce housing stock and hollowing out neighborhoods. Examples include London, Paris, Hong Kong and Vancouver, BC. Some U.S. states also levy property taxes at different rates depending on whether you occupy the home most of the year or not.
The 2010 – 2014 American Community Survey put Healdsburg at 9.1 percent vacation homes. This is an extremely high percentage, but I believe it is higher now, and the trend is gaining momentum. In newer neighborhoods, condo and townhouse complexes, the percentage appears to be at least 50 – 60 percent second homes. I’ve heard these statistics from real estate agents and residents confirm them. You can do some amateur sleuthing yourself: walk by on garbage day and count the sets of cans. The silent and shuttered 14-unit complex down the street from me usually has four sets out.
I don’t have anything against second home owners. I can certainly understand why they would want a sweet little Healdsburg getaway, and they can be good friends and neighbors when they are here. I just feel that if they can afford to purchase and maintain a house for their occasional use, they can afford to kick in a little extra to help replace the unit they made unavailable to a resident. Some second home owners I have talked to have told me they would not object, as long as the funds were directed exclusively to an affordable housing fund. I think it is an idea that deserves investigation, both as a method of cooling the second home market in Healdsburg and as a way of generating additional funding for affordable housing projects.
Leah Gold
Healdsburg
Show support for gallery
EDITOR: I want to thank the hundreds of people who came to see the art show on homelessness at the Paul Mahder Gallery presented by Reach For Home (the new name of North Sonoma County Services), the agency that provides services to the homeless community as well as providing transitional housing and services for families at risk.
The exhibit of paintings, photography and mobile pods by Healdsburg students, the homeless and at-risk community and local artists, was a tribute to the transformative nature of art and its power to create understanding and hope where none existed before. The impact of the show was elevated by the museum-quality space donated by the Paul Mahder Gallery. This is only one of the community events for which the gallery has provided a venue.
Unfortunately we may be at risk of losing this cultural and community-oriented gallery if the city council does not uphold the planning commission’s unanimous decision to allow a wine tasting permit for the gallery. I want to urge support for the city council to allow this permit and hope the community will show its support by coming to the city council meeting on June 5 at 6 p.m.
Harvey Brody
Healdsburg
Whisney support
EDITOR: Please join me in supporting Erica Whisney for Healdsburg City Council. I had the pleasure of serving with Erica on the Healdsburg Housing Committee and I witnessed firsthand her ability to listen and ask insightful questions prior to making meaningful comments. It is refreshing to have a new leader with critical thinking skills and true excitement for Healdsburg.
If you are fed up with parking downtown, vote for Erica. She understands our parking issues and advocates new technologies for solving our parking problems. The old school idea of building a parking garage is not the answer, and Erica gets it. She embraces proven technologic solutions along with common sense.
Erica has a plan for helping to address affordable housing. She has bold ideas and real solutions. Combined with her ability to listen and make informed decisions, I believe she is the best candidate.
Jeff Civian
Healdsburg
Coaches giving back for Drew
EDITOR: In July of 2016, Healdsburg Wrestling Club and Healdsburg High School Class of 2013 alum Andrew Esquivel lost his life. Wrestling was such an important part of Drew’s life. He was a league champion, an NCS placer and team captain while competing for the Greyhounds. While competing for MIT he earned Rookie of the Year, team captain and MVP honors. Going into his senior season he was gunning to become an All-American for the Engineers and was the heart and soul of the team. He did all of this while excelling in studies at one of the most prestigious and rigorous learning institutions in the world.
In an effort to honor and give back to the sport and the community that he cared for, the coaches of MIT University and Healdsburg Wrestling Club jointly present the first annual MIT-HWC Drew Esquivel Memorial Wrestling Camp, to be held June 22, 23 and 24 at Healdsburg Junior High School. The camp will feature the coaches of MIT and HWC as clinicians and counselors. We will also have a discussion on mental preparation by Dr. Steven Ungerleider, U.S. Olympic Committee sports psychologist and famed author of “Faust’s Gold.”
Scott Weidemier
Healdsburg High Wrestling, Healdsburg Wrestling Club
Thanks to Mortensen
EDITOR: Mr. Mortensen, thank you. Your dedication, drive and enthusiasm taught our children an abundance of literary skills. In addition, with your planned trips to England, which were never mentioned, you allowed my daughter Emily to experience travel and culture. Lifelong learning that can’t be taught in just a classroom. My family will always have very fond memories of your classes.
Pamela Gilmore
Healdsburg
Tipping point
EDITOR: Even if second homes are not built primarily for investment and speculation, they pose more threats to the welfare of the community than taking housing stock out of circulation and generally raising housing prices. Security is one issue when houses are unoccupied for much of the time. However, perhaps a more serious negative is lack of community involvement by part-time residents. Owners of these homes who are only in town for short periods of time are unlikely to coach kids’ soccer, attend a local Prune Packers game or a Raven Players performance, lobby for affordable housing, volunteer and donate to local causes such as the museum, the food pantry, the Boys & Girls Club, etc. I have talked with some civic organizations in town which are already seeing their support base erode.
Healdsburg has a strong and proud history of civic involvement. When will we reach the tipping point when this tradition and these values are undermined by the number of part-time residents? At that point, Healdsburg will not be a town in its historic sense, but a resort. I don’t know if there’s a remedy, legal or otherwise, but I hope the full scope of the trend and its multiple effects on the community are considered.
Jane St Claire
Healdsburg
Taking the lead on housing
EDITOR: I was disappointed that the Tribune did not cover the appointment of a new Community Housing Committee which happened last Monday, May 15. This committee is going to take the lead in addressing the housing crisis we have in Healdsburg and should be open and accessible to residents from the beginning. I hope that the top priority of the CHC is to vigorously search for sources of funding for low income housing (AMI of up to $65,000) since this is where I feel the need really is in town. And I hope the new members understand the direct relationship between promotion of Healdsburg as a tourist destination and the rapidly rising cost of housing that we are experiencing. With this in mind there will be the first of hopefully several community conversations about tourism and its impacts on housing affordability, among other issues, at the Foss Creek Community Center on May 31 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It is sponsored by individuals and groups in our community who are looking for ways to address these challenges that we all face. We hope that many folks will come out to share their experiences and concerns and to listen to those of their neighbors.
Hank Skewis
Healdsburg
Alumni game a great event
EDITOR: On behalf of the HHS Greyhound football program I want to thank all of the fans and alumni for their support of our 7-on-7 passing game fundraiser held on Thursday, May 18 at Rec Park. Twenty-two alumni showed up to play in the game. Several graduating seniors and many from past years, including coach Felix Hernandez (class of ‘92) and Justin Herrguth (class of ‘96), who caught two touchdown passes from QB Levi Yeley.
The 2017 Greyhound Football team displayed their talent with freshman QB Jake Edmonds leading several successful drives throwing to a variety of receivers and throwing three touchdown passes. At half time the lineman competed against the alumni lineman in a tug-of-war and a tire flip relay.
I want to especially thank Maria Chesmore and Tara Smith for organizing the Snack Shack and logistics for the fundraiser and the Holz family for helping BBQ and serve. Thanks to Sandra Johnson and coach Ken Johnson for checking-in the alumni, getting waivers signed and handing out the game jerseys and Rhonda Stine for managing the gate. A special thanks to Dick Bugarske for doing a great job of announcing the game and adding some humor. It was lots of fun for all involved and we plan to make it an annual event.
Dave Stine
Healdsburg High Head Football Coach
A necessary pain
EDITOR: I’ve read all over social media about how put out everyone is because they get hung up in the roundabout construction. Well, have any of you thought at all about the businesses in the vicinity that are enduring this construction mess day after day, week after week, with no relief on the horizon? Their days consist of noise, dust, lack of parking, lack of access, on and off electricity and most egregiously, a huge drop in business.
They didn’t ask for this roundabout project. They are just trying to make a living. If you feel that it is important to support local businesses — and these are all locally owned businesses — then come down and put your money on their counters, show your faces in their doors, give them a hug or a pat on the back and thank them for hanging in there.
Go to Singletree for breakfast or a burger at lunch, buy a dog treat from Natalee at the Healdsburg Dog House, a beer from the Healdsburg Taproom guys, a cocktail at Spoonbar, a gift for your mom from Shoffeits off the Square or at Antique Harvest, a beignet from Parish, thank Paul Mahder for hanging such wonderful art in his gallery and for allowing the homeless art project to use his space, eat yummy fish tacos at Mateos. Come on Healdsburgers, get down here and support these businesses, if you spend a few bucks they might even listen to your complaints about parking.
Carla Howell, Executive Director
Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau
A progressive candidate
EDITOR: Our very spirited city council race is further evidence that Healdsburg is a special place to live. Any one of the four candidates would probably serve very competently. However, only one seems to think out of the box on often complicated topics. Leah Gold has demonstrated this in the past by leading in efforts to protect our agricultural character through the urban boundary initiative and Healdsburg Ridge Open Space acquisition.
More recently she has proposed a tax assessment on non resident property owners to fund more affordable housing. Let me remind those critics of this proposal that primary-resident property owners already enjoy a $7,000 tax exemption in Sonoma County, making this a far from radical idea. To the contrary, it would help fund a solution to one of our more pressing problems without negatively impacting our full time citizens. If someone needs to fund this affordable housing issue, who better than non-resident investors and speculators?
This is the kind of original thinking we need in order to preserve our community and protect it from becoming another Carmel. Vote for Leah Gold, clearly the more progressive candidate for city council.
Steve Ineich
Healdsburg
So many reasons
EDITOR: Leah Gold’s sign sits in front of my house. I’m an early and enthusiastic supporter, and I have been asking my friends why they support her too. So many reasons. Temperament: she has a measured, balanced approach; she is steady, on target, energetic. Vision: she sees the big picture; she works for a inclusive future; she has a record of supporting affordable housing and environmental protection. Experience and skill: a communicator, an analyzer, a community organizer. She already knows the job. Mark June 6 on your calendar and get out to vote. Our community is energized to set and accomplish goals. Let’s all make our wishes known.
Meg Alexander
Healdsburg
Brilliant and off
EDITOR: Dear Ray Holley: I have the utmost respect for your journalism. I have enjoyed your written views in the Tribune and Cloverdale Reveille for a decade. Your 5/11/17 intro to the candidates was, in turn, brilliant and off.
First, what prompted my rare letter was the brilliant brief about issues. I attended the Central Healdsburg and Housing Committees’ meetings. I do not recall any mention of: “The risk voters would take, if it (Measure R) were approved, was that there would be a land rush and the remaining developable land in the community would be built out with market rate (unaffordable) homes.” Bingo. Exactly. This key issue was not featured by our polished consultants. I voted no on R for this and the paltry time spent on funding other than trickle down inclusionary housing. This narrowed approach has not trickled down but little affordable housing for our majority of our citizens and necessarily non-resident workers for over two decades. It has led our workers to commute and thus our parking problem, not SoFi or tourists alone. It has drained our schools of young families’ kids.
Further in your intro, you quoted Eric Ziedrich: “I do not and cannot adequately and effectively represent the interests and priorities of the people of Healdsburg.” The peoples’ priority is clear: affordable housing. There is and has been no numerical limit on this. Measure R was seemingly the right idea but clearly the wrong tool, borne of, I experienced, a status quo mindset of many on the city council and our polished consultants. A bigger trickle down of R’s illusionary housing and toothless housing plan suggestions are not the right tool.
And further in the intro: “a four person city council dominated by newcomers … a former councilmember Leah Gold, who was supported by a powerful anti-growth coalition.” I was there: passionate, yes; “dominated”, hardly: “powerful”, really?: “anti-growth”, totally off. Our town could benefit immensely if innumerable and allowable affordable owner and renter homes were built. Our town and its market rate housing prices would benefit whether one more market rate (unaffordable) home was built or not. I welcome affluent and talented newcomer residents, for they often enrich our economic and cultural wellbeing. We still have available land for affordable housing. We need funding problem solving and a creative, reality-based council. That’s why I vote for Leah Gold.
R.C. Jake Rutherford, MD, MPH
Healdsburg
Finding balance in Healdsburg
EDITOR: Is there such a thing as too much tourism? Our visitor economy provides benefits to businesses, employees and the city. We also face tourism’s impacts on affordable local shopping, neighborhoods, parking, the Plaza, rising rents and home prices. Can we preserve the benefits of tourism while respecting the community’s needs? A coalition of Healdsburg citizen groups is hosting a first-ever conversation to explore these crucial questions and figure out how to achieve a win-win balance. If you, as a resident or business, want to have a voice in Healdsburg’s future, come be part of this informative, inclusive conversation: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday evening, May 31 at the Healdsburg Community Center, 1557 Healdsburg Ave. Child care, Spanish translation and snacks provided.
Merrilyn Joyce
Healdsburg
