Main Street

The Healdsburg City Council race is getting more interesting. Former Councilmember Eric Ziedrich is reportedly not running after all. Current Councilmembers Tom Chambers and Gary Plass are still running, as well as Shaun McCaffrey, who ran unsuccessfully two years ago.
A new addition is Vernon Simmons, who served on the Planning Commission for four years and who writes to the paper on a regular basis expressing his concerns about the costs of public employee salaries and pensions.
I spoke to Vern, who insists that his reputation for being anti-government is unwarranted. He worked for the government for many years, retiring from the U.S. Navy with a government pension and the rank of Commander, and then worked on contract in other defense-related matters.
Vern isn’t afraid to push buttons. He thinks the city should look into closing certain departments and contracting out for services, and he wants to restrain the growth of salaries and pensions. That should make for some spicy talk at City Hall.
Also, at press time, Healdsburger Dennis Brown pulled papers and intends to file and run for a seat on the Council. Dennis is the statewide chief of medical imaging for the state correctional system and is working on modernizing medical care in prisons.
Dennis has lived here – with a short break – for about 10 years and says he loves the city and the people. He has a degree in Political Science and Public Administration and says he wants to get off the sidelines and get in and do something. He expressed a particular interest in economic diversity and in infrastructure, such as street and road maintenance.
On a regional note, the county has realigned the board of education and there are now five seats, one representing each Supervisorial district. Healdsburger Lisa Wittke Schaffner is not the only candidate for our district, but she was the first to announce and brings a lot of experience and clout to her candidacy.
Junk mail
After my kvetching in a recent column about being hassled by AARP and Consumer Reports, Marie Salerno emailed to remind me about an outfit called Catalog Choice, that allows you to sign up to be taken off mailing lists. Marie pointed out that not only are multiple unwanted mailings a waste of your time, they also waste natural resources.
You can go to www.catalogchoice.org to reduce the amount of mailings and catalogs that clog up your mailbox. The company even has a service that helps entire communities work together to reduce waste, which might be a good idea for Healdsburg.
Good Ideas
Speaking of good ideas for Healdsburg, it was good news that the plans for a new building at the corner of North and Center Streets have been approved. The Seghesio family is investing in our community again, and will build a landmark building on the former post office site. The plans for a salumeria are exciting, not only because it creates more locally made food products, but it has the potential to encourage other artisan food producers, which tend to be family operations, the backbone of our economic success.
Post Office
And, speaking of the former post office, photographer Austin Brewin was in town the day the post office burned to the ground, and got a lot of great photos of emergency personnel at work under difficult and dangerous conditions. A selection of Austin’s photos of the fire will be on display for two weeks at the Healdsburg Library, beginning with a reception on Sunday, August 19, from 3 to 6 p.m. Austin was not the only photographer at the fire. Some of my photos will be included in the display.
Ray Holley saw it happen. He can be reached at ra*******@gm***.com.