Parking meters are a tax
I am a local who has been visiting and shopping downtown since 1990. The current parking dilemma has arisen because of the past political marriage between downtown business and local politicians. In an effort to promote growth and accumulate revenue, Healdsburg has incorporated the in-lieu parking fee concept, which although is good for developers, it has failed the local property owning taxpayer.
Inconvenient sunshine
Most of us are still adjusting to Daylight Saving Time, trying to get our biological clocks re-set to early morning darkness and droopy eyelids. All this to save an hour of evening sunlight? We can think of better things worth saving.
Used motor oil and filters
Millions of gallons of oil have been spilled across the United States through ship, rail and road collisions, explosions, pipeline ruptures, storms, etc. Big oil disasters continue to reverberate through the environment and through our news cycles: the BP oil rig explosion that wreaked havoc in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the ship Cosco Busan that crashed into the Bay Bridge in 2007 dumping oil into San Francisco Bay, and the famous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989. While we watch the ongoing analysis, litigation and attempted cleanup from these high-profile events, there are measures we can all take to reduce a lesser but still very serious threat.
Wrong solution, wrong problem
The answer to “when is enough, enough?” will appear on the June 2 county election ballot. That’s when the county Board of Supervisors will ask voters to approve a quarter-cent sales tax increase, promising to use the money to catch up on road and street repairs.
