Does this watch make me look old?
In the film “To Kill a Mockingbird” Gregory Peck explains the legacy of pocket watches passed on from father to son, and I thought how unlikely it will be that someone inherits a smart phone inscribed, “with love to my darling Atticus.”
Labor and play
It turns out that not all of us went to the Burning Man Festival after all. Most of us stayed closer to home and thousands more came here for a visit, which made for a very busy Labor Day weekend around Sonoma County.
Filling our ‘meal gap’
Sometimes we feel embarrassed by all our daily blessings, the many comforts, natural riches and compassionate community we share here in our part of Sonoma County. All our troubles are small, where real help usually comes before we ask for it. We know we are blessed and we know better than to take it for granted. At our best, we are like farmers who pray not so much for rain or good weather, but for the strength to put in another full day’s honest work.
Go in beauty
I was glad to see my friend and colleague George Snyder go out in style last week. His memorial in Occidental last Saturday drew a mob of his friends and family who packed St. Philip the Apostle Church as everyone knew they would.
Save our creeks (and streets)
The Russian River Watershed Association through its member agencies strives to inform community members about our watershed. This series of articles serves as a tool to educate the community in ways to promote and maintain healthy watersheds.
Not a zero sum game
I had written a response to Sam Naujokas letter “Death of a small town” thinking that Mr. Naujokas was an older man who had grown up in Healdsburg. When I found out that Sam is a 15 year old high school student I was a little stunned. First of all I would like to say that Sam is an excellent writer way beyond his years. If all fifteen-year olds could write like this we wouldn’t be having the debates about how schools are failing our students. That said, since Sam entered this debate about Healdsburg’s future growth writing and thinking like an adult he deserves an adult response.
Let’s be right the first time
Healdsburg’s GMO (Growth Management Ordinance) is a complicated citizen’s initiative that was passed in 2000. In essence it limits the number of homes that can be built in a given year to 30. Since then the population has increased by less than 500 people. It is very difficult to provide housing opportunities for working folks in our community as median home prices have risen dramatically, inventory shrinks and nearly one third of re-sales are for second homes. Two years ago a committee was formed to look at amending the GMO. A compromise was reached that would give us a few more units for a 15 year period and then revert back to the current GMO. It wasn’t perfect, actually far from it. The original author of the GMO measure attended and spoke at the meetings. However he would not support even the modest changes the committee proposed, but agreed to remain neutral. He insisted that the GMO wasn’t broken and didn’t need a fix.
