Letters to the Editor 5-29-14

Planning a party
Editor: The Class of 2014 is graduating from Healdsburg High School and we’re planning a party! Healdsburg Graduation Celebration is in its 22nd year of keeping graduates safe, sober, and celebrating on graduation night. We are so grateful for the generous support of parents, Healdsburg Kiwanis, Healdsburg Rotary, Dry Creek Rancheria, and many Healdsburg businesses and individuals who step up every year to make this important event possible.  Thank you to those who have donated and volunteered! Unfortunately it has come to our attention that a third party is falsely representing that they are fundraising for us. Please send donations only to Healdsburg Graduation Celebration PO Box 2137 Healdsburg 95448 and call Healdsburg High School if you have any questions about requests you have received. Congratulations HHS 2014 graduates.
Sue Esquivel and the
Healdsburg Graduation Celebration Committee   
Supporting Sundstrom
Editor: On June 3, 2014, one office on your ballot may seem unfamiliar to many voters. However, the office of Auditor-Controller Treasurer-Tax Collector of Sonoma County will appear on your ballot with two candidates listed for the first time in approximately 16 years.
David Sundstrom was appointed to the office of Auditor-Controller Treasurer-Tax Collector back in 2011 unanimously by the Board of Supervisors to complete the 4 year term of his predecessor who retired before the end of his term.
Mr. Sundstrom has impeccable credentials and he brings to his office over 35 years of this caliber of governmental accounting and financial experience to our county. We are extremely fortunate to have this caliber of professional hold this office.  Our tax dollars are in good hands with him overseeing the treasury. He is a true professional with the leadership skills necessary to lead his department of 90 employees.
Please join us in voting for David Sundstrom for Sonoma County Auditor-Controller a Treasurer-Tax Collector on June 3, 2014.
Shaun McCaffery, City of Healdsburg Vice Mayor
Susan Jones, City of Healdsburg council member
Gary Plass, City of Healdsburg council member
No water
Editor: Did you see all the people at Memorial Veterans Beach, on Memorial Day? It was so crowded that the parking lot was full. There were two lifeguards watching over all the people, standing in the ankle deep water. It was pathetic.
Why can’t the county dam up the river before Memorial Day, the way they used to, to honor our Veterans. Even if the water was waist deep, it would have been better.
If the reason is money, then why are they spending it on lifeguards, when there is no water? Disgraceful.
Jody Wilson
Healdsburg
Assembly candidate
Editor: I am a candidate for the California Assembly in the North Coast (Second) District. I’ve lived in the North Coast district for almost 40 years. My wife and I built our home in western Sonoma County. Our children grew up here, and they attended local public schools. I’ve worked here as a teacher and a carpenter.  This is our community.
I worked at Burbank Housing, a successful nonprofit affordable housing company in Sonoma County, for 28 years, and I was the executive director between 1998 and 2012.  Burbank employs 140 people and has developed over 3500 homes and apartments.  We were successful in bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars that were turned into jobs, housing and economic development.  I have business experience running a private company with a public purpose.
My work was about creating opportunities, and we need wider opportunities, particularly for our young people. In addition to housing and homeownership, opportunities depend on good jobs, effective education, access to healthcare and quality public services and infrastructure. And all of these depend on a vital and growing economy, and on business success.   
Our North Coast District is vast and diverse. It’s also a magnificent place to live.  It contains an amazing variety of natural environments and habitats and includes a third of California’s coastline. Protection of these treasures is our responsibility, as is protection of the region’s economic potential. Any leader in this region, regardless of political views, will need to address these sometimes competing priorities.  I understand these issues, and I am able to listen and seek consensus.
I am a Democrat, though I’m concerned that both major parties can be driven by interest groups that do not represent our wider interests. We deserve more effective government that can address wider concerns without the constraint of powerful particular interests. I’m independent, and I have the knowledge, the will and the passion to work for a new and more pragmatic vision of California politics.
John Lowry
Sebastopol