Letters to the Editor 9-24-15

Bring Cloverdale pride
Editor: Does Cloverdale have a viable, realistic core? I have lived here 20 years and we still have absentee landlords that let their properties sit empty, and we have both large and small lots that should have been developed years ago. My husband served on the Economic Development Committee in Cloverdale at that time, and after all these years we still see a struggling town seemingly unable to entice business. We currently have four real retail shops, two banks, automotive repair, hair salons and one highly successful coffee shop. The number of eateries is not high enough on the radar to bring people to Cloverdale. The large majority of our community shops at two grocery stores in Healdsburg and does their retail shopping in Healdsburg or Santa Rosa. No surprise that the city tax income is insufficient. The town has been kept breathing primarily by the Furber Shopping Center and the influx of homes in the Del Web and Christopherson additions. As for the industrial success, there appears to be three to four business that have made a major impact for the community.
We have a new opportunity to put Cloverdale on the map. Allow me to relate a recent narrative regarding our town. A good friend has a lovely, large house overlooking the Alexander Valley which has been for sale for over two-and-a-half months and has had no interest from buyers. Those who do inquire, upon finding that it is a house in Cloverdale, state, “Oh, we are not interested in Cloverdale; there is nothing there.”
The fact that the airport provides no air protection for fire, since that service comes out of Schulz airport, is another item of interest to add to the question of worth, as it continues to drain the town coffers. So keep your airport that serves some 12 to 14 planes that provide entertainment and recreation for a small number of individuals, while the people of this community provide the tax dollars of nearly $50,000 annually to subsidize the former’s expensive toys.
Should we keep an airport that gives a few a playground and provides the rest of the community with debt? It is now time to talk of a project that could provide jobs, money and an expansion that could bring Cloverdale some pride as a destination for families within Sonoma County.
Janet Matson
Cloverdale
Airport invaluable
Editor: We have just been witness to one of the worst fire disasters in California history in our own neighboring counties. This week’s Reveille headlines proved how invaluable a small community airport can be, when the Cloverdale Municipal Airport served as a base for the U.S. Forest Service for crews battling the fire. Thank you Cloverdale for your part in supporting Lake County in this and all other aspects of assistance.
Now, really, do we need to complain more? Need we weigh the pros and cons further, saying it’s a waste of money (but never mention the revenues) and useless to the town and surrounding counties? Is Healdsburg Airport really good enough in light of disaster? Do the special interest folks now have their eyes opened as skies filled with black smoke from fires just over the hills?
An advantage of our little airport quoted from the city website: “While other airports in the area are fogged in, Runway 32/14 at Cloverdale is usually the first to clear in the morning.” How important is that in a disaster operation? Do we want to cut off our safety potential to spite community growth?
If you want to complain about noise, how about ear-splitting motorcycles revving their engines purposely while emanating loud music at all hours, in spite of the closeness of their neighbors? I’ll take the airplanes over that any day. From where I sit, the pros far outweigh the cons. We are getting a SMART Train; how about SMART Municipal Airport growth? Please take another look, and see it’s value. And now, after this, if the complaints are not over, then I truly think “Thou doth protest too much.”
Maria Doglio
Cloverdale
Move forward, Cloverdale
Editor: With the recent devastating fires in Lake County, I am sure that some will say that we need to keep the airport for disasters, which is not true. It was recently used by the Forest Service with their helicopter for support of the Valley Fire. However, the proposed development contains helipad areas and staging as well as a large expanse of open fields for disaster assistance areas. Cloverdale city services have been running on fumes for years. Would you not like to see improved services and maintenance of our town? Creating businesses and jobs would immensely improve much needed tax revenue, which has been stagnant for years.
Cloverdale’s youth, schools and families all could benefit from more open space, park and athletic field opportunities. At present, there are not nearly enough facilities to have youth activities in town. Hundreds of families would use athletic fields, a skate park, walking–biking trails and a dog park that are part of the proposed development.
Most residents are not aware that this property is currently zoned and approved for 300 houses, meaning tomorrow someone could start building, no questions asked. The amended proposal calls for half the number of houses, a tax generating resort hotel and future trails and field/park areas.
Change in a small community is not easy for some to swallow. The community should support, and in turn our Cloverdale leaders should support, the use of public funds to benefit the greater community rather than finance an airport for the few that could be put to better use.
Brandon Axell
Cloverdale
Putting bias in perspective
Editor: Ms. Welch was absolutely correct in saying that people who write to the editor regarding the airport are biased. (Reveille, September 17, 2015) I know that as a fact as I am incredibly biased. I am biased against the callous and dismissive attitudes shown by some of the members of the city council and city staffers. I have never seen such a high degree of arrogance and incompetence exhibited by two members of a city council. And they have employed a level of cronyism you’d only expect to find in Chicago ward politics.
I am biased against a waste of taxpayer’s money to support a failing enterprise that, at best, serves no more than one percent of the population. She mentioned a figure of $50,000. That is the average annual deficit for the operation of the airport. I did not make this figure up, this is the number given by the City of Cloverdale. I am biased against the waste of money spent on propping up airport businesses that don’t even pay their rent. They are either late in paying, short, or do not even pay at all. The city has even afforded free legal help to one particular business operating at the airport.
I am particularly biased against spending the $50,000 that does not benefit all the people, or at least a majority, of Cloverdale. I think that the money would be better spent in support of the Wallace House or to help the Boys & Girls Club with their transportation problems. Or, to construct and maintain playing fields for baseball and soccer. Those would be better uses of the money than to burden the taxpayers of Cloverdale with the sponsorship of failing businesses and the pleasure of such a small minority. 
The city council and staff, by their actions, clearly show that they favor and will support NorCal Skydiving over the needs of local young people and an important refuge for battered women and abused children.
C Jeff Kennedy
Cloverdale