In favor of the Foley family offer
EDITOR: The remarkable Foley family has offered the city a very generous gift of $7 million to upgrade and build out the neglected Cerri Building site. There has been an unaccountable amount of handwringing over this offer. Why?
Whereas I have lived in this town for only 20 years, I have been aware that our downtown market has needed a permanent venue. Now we have the possibility of not only having a home for the market, but we will have an event center as well, one that has been sorely lacking in this sweet little hamlet. Indeed, there is no question that we need more housing for that “missing middle” and lower income folk (that includes me), but I would submit there are other locations for the development of this kind of housing.
Dear city mothers and fathers, staff, committees and interested parties, please be gracious and accept the Foley’s largesse.
Thank you.
Barbara Medaille
Healdsburg
Roads are not ‘smoothed’ or ‘maintained’
EDITOR: In a recent column (“Cityscape: Looking at Measure V,” Jan. 30, 2020), Assistant City Manager Joe Irvin proudly announced that using Measure V funds, the city had “smoothed and maintained 46 miles of road,” about 48% of our streets.
Time for the city to stop and smell the chip seal — “smooth” is hardly the correct adjective and “maintained” is really stretching it.
Perhaps, “gnarly” would be more appropriate. The process the city has used involves slopping on a coat of chip seal and using a large squeegee to spread a thin coat of tar. The result, as we all know, are streets that are rutted, cracked, uneven, potholed, unsightly, crumbling at the edges; you name it, often within weeks of being resurfaced.
Because a large chip is used and the streets are not properly rolled and sealed, streets are not amenable to walking or biking. Because no inspection of infrastructure is done beforehand, many streets get dug up when a “known water leak” becomes known a few months later.
Our community would be much better served if Measure V funds were used to properly rebuild and repair the main arteries of our town, instead of slapping more inadequate Band-Aids on our infrastructure and hoping for the best. We deserve better than the low bid work the city has opted for in the past.
Charles Duffy
Healdsburg
Use property for market, community
EDITOR: I am an affordable housing advocate, and have been on the Community Housing Committee for four years. But, I believe that the 3 North St. site needs to be built according to its city council (2017) intended purpose as a farmer’s market and community space.
Does the public know this 2017 decision? I agree with the Healdsburg 2040 commentary that reiterates this intended purpose. The generous $7 million dollar donation from the Foley Family Foundation to build this is wonderful.
Why am I in support of the original intended purpose? Obviously, council and staff credibility and commitment to the community is at stake. Also, 3 North St. is not the only proposed affordable site going forward. The staff report (Jan. 21, 2020) recommended, and city council approved, various actions on approximately 315 other potential affordable housing units, including Montage/Saggio Hills (150 units), the Community Center (120 units) and 155 Dry Creek (45 units).
The proposed 55 affordable housing units at 3 North represent just 17% of this potential number of affordable units. In addition, the housing administrator has done well in using tax credits to save many low income affordable apartment units in the city. But more is needed, and I hope the council will reformulate the popular and successful Community Housing Committee to press forward on affordable housing issues.
Bruce Abramson
Healdsburg
