Editorial

Originally established with a focus on all things Windsor, the Windsor Democratic Club over time has expanded its interest beyond the politics of the Town of Windsor.

July 1 is the start of a new fiscal year for local governments. This is when the county, cities and schools start spending new tax money based on recently approved 2016-2017 budgets. All these budgets tend to launch with the same conclusions: there is never enough tax revenue; there are too many unmet needs; employee and pension costs keep going up; and everything could be solved if we only agreed to raise new taxes and vote for more long term debt bonds.

June DeSilva hasn’t cooked a meal since March. It’s not because she can’t cook, it’s just that her friends won’t let her.

Not all Fourth of Julys have been as historic as this year seems to be. We stand just 10 or so generations beyond the original 1776 founding of our country and our Declaration of Independence.

The City of Healdsburg is updating its granny unit ordinance and needs your input to build a more effective and robust granny unit program. Would it serve your family to have a rentable granny unit?

Welcome to summer, the season of growing light, relaxed purpose and new opportunities. Summer dreams. Summer breaks and summer vacations. Summer of our youths, summer play. Let’s do it.

Fellow classmates, faculty, family and friends, it is truly an honor to be speaking here and I wanted to start it off by congratulating my classmates. It has been a road paved by strife, diligence, chronic senioritus, and quite a few senior ditch days but we made it here so I think that deserves a round of applause.

In the middle of another horrific news cycle, set off by the mass killings in Orlando, we look closer to home for signs of sanity, human hope and answers. We curse our crazy world while we gather and hug our loved ones ever tighter.

Summer time and the living is easy. Especially in our cozy, friendly small towns we call home and where we welcome streams of visitors, seeking respite, fun and some genuine modern Americana.

You could hear some jeers over the polite applause last week when Sonoma County banned new vacation rentals in established residential neighborhoods.