Letters to the Editor 7-16-15

No to short term rentals
Editor: With all due respect to the thoughtfully written letters by Betsi Lewitter and Leah Gold, I couldn’t disagree more with their recommendation to reconsider short term rentals. And we speak from experience. We experienced the nightmare of having an illegal short term rental across the street from our house on Sunset Drive. And when we approached the city on more than one occasion, the answer was apologetic but “we simply do not have the manpower to monitor all the illegal rentals.” And what was that process? At the time, the city would send warning letters to the owner, which were ignored for several years until we and our neighbors finally confronted the City Council with our problem. Front page stories on both the Press Democrat and Healdsburg Tribune seemed to do the trick. And the house was sold to a family of four with two darling children – neighbors at last. Can you imagine the burden short term rentals in homes would cause with respect to enforcement? It would be nearly impossible to regulate. And, because the argument is that these rentals would rent for less money, then less too would be any tax monies generated, monies which would never cover the cost of enforcement and oversight. What I find interesting is that on the same page as the argument for short term rentals to be allowed so more people could afford to stay in Healdsburg, is the argument that we are turning our city into a Sausalito (or Carmel). We just returned from a stay in Santa Barbara, returning through Carmel, where we planned to spend two nights. We arrived to find the town overrun with tourists, tourists not just on the main streets leading to the beach, but wandering throughout the back streets, the residential streets as well. Dick and I looked at each other and said, “Is this what we are facing in Healdsburg?” There was no sense of community, of neighborhood. The porches on the homes were empty. We saw no children playing in backyards. In fact, many of the houses simply looked closed up, vacated for lack of privacy. We were told the story of a woman who owned a house near the beach who had strangers ringing her doorbell offering to buy. We left after one night, eager to escape the masses. How near we are to Healdsburg becoming a Carmel, I don’t know. But our town on the Fourth of July looked pretty close to the Carmel we experienced. So no, I do not think the argument to provide more short term rentals so more people could afford to stay in Healdsburg works. The last thing we need, any of us who live here needs, are more strangers walking through our neighborhood streets, or down Powell Avenue, to get to town.
Mary Burke
Healdsburg
How did it get so bad?
Editor: The discussion about gentrification and the Drake Property Group apartments on Prentice Drive is missing an important topic: How was this complex allowed to sink into such deplorable condition? Are there no municipal or county agencies responsible for protecting the health and safety of apartment dwellers? How many other local residential properties are in similar condition?
Stu Matlow
Healdsburg
Thanks from pastor
Editor: On behalf of Healdsburg Community Church, once again I’d like to thank everyone who parked in the church’s lot for the Fourth of July fireworks festivities. One hundred percent of the $800 raised will go to the Healdsburg Shared Ministries Food Pantry and the American Legion. These are two organizations desiring to serve people in our community who are often overlooked – veterans and the hungry. Our community is blessed because organizations like the pantry and the Legion exist.
Pastor Dean Kladder
Healdsburg Community Church
Thanks from Rotary
Editor: Healdsburg Sunrise Rotary would like to thank our community for the great turnout at our recent Fourth of July Celebration in the Plaza. Over 200 children participated in the parade. Pictures can be found on our website, rotaryclubofhealdsburgsunrise.org. The Duck Dash prize list is on our home page. The event would not be possible without the active participation by the city of Healdsburg. Thanks to all who enjoyed the day and the event. See you next year.
Lee Morton, Event Chair
Healdsburg
Pools waste water
Editor: It’s exciting to see Healdsburg embrace long overdue and necessary changes with respect to water use. Everyone needs to adjust use of this always precious resource. I was a little disappointed in the recent front page story on June 24 about swimming pools and feel like there was some major under reporting about water loss due to evaporation. According to my calculations, our pool loses about 125 gallons a day. That’s 12.5 times the 10 gallon figure quoted in the article. Our pool is of average size (40 x 20). It loses about one-quarter inch a day, which is both an industry standard and one I tested over four days using a dish pan placed next to the pool. I assume that Healdsburg may well have higher evaporation rates due to our dry heat than the national average. Wind is another major factor. Although I love to gaze at the water in my pool from our kitchen, we have been diligent about closing the pool cover this summer. 125 gallons a day is a lot of water: 3,750 gallons a month. If anyone would like to calculate the potential loss from their pools or other exposed water, it’s easy. There are numerous websites where you can make calculations. Spread the word.
Quincey Imhoff
Healdsburg
Enough already
Editor: At this poignant time in our natural history, when the planet is crying out for a break, every single individual needs to claim a personal responsibility for our water, our world, our planet. This is why I take it upon myself now to be a voice for the river, the air, and the plants and animals with whom we share our beautiful Russian River Watershed. It’s amazing how much and how long we have put up with industries that abuse our natural resources. Like the frog that swims in a slowly warming pot, we are now boiling hot and we have had enough. Enough habitat destruction, enough air pollution, enough carbon being poured into our atmosphere, enough of the cranking and churning noise that dominates the banks of what used to be a peaceful and abundant river habitat. But wait, you say. We need cement, we need growth. We need Syar Industries. Do we indeed? Now, thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, we know that we don’t need them. In fact, they are killing us and burying us in cement. A report of “impervious surface areas” (ISAs) in the United States, which added up all of the concrete structures, parking lots and roads in the 48 contiguous states, shows they cover 43,480 square miles, an area nearly the size of the state of Ohio, which is 44,994 square miles. This is very bad news for everybody because it means that all of that land … usually some of the best farm and forested land in existence … has been buried under tons of cement. And cement has a tendency to collect heat, which is contributing to the problem of global warming and other severe earth changes. In fact, it is established that all of this concrete cover is very bad for the world’s environment. The NOAA report noted that the replacement of heavily vegetated areas by ISA “reduces the depletion of carbon dioxide, which plants absorb from the atmosphere. This can speed up global warming.” The ISAs also can change the water cycle and disrupt aquatic ecosystems by changing the shape of natural streams, increase water temperatures, and wash pollutants into streams and ditches, and eventually into rivers, lakes and the oceans. The report includes one other alarming fact … the concrete coverage of the contiguous states is slightly larger than that of the nation’s wetlands, which cover 38,020 square miles. And while concrete roads and parking lots are continuing to be built, the wetlands are disappearing. For every ton of cement that Syar Industries produce, there is a ton of carbon being poured into the atmosphere. To produce a ton of cement requires 1,360 gallons. A fifth grader could do the math. The cost of this unsustainable, environmentally unfriendly industry is way too high. We all need to take a stand against their continued pillage of our watershed and our habitat. Claim it. Own it. Protect it.
Elizabeth Haze Vega, certified California naturalist, environmental educator and fellow resident of the Russian River