Main Street

Every year we have some sort of weather anomaly – unseasonably
warm in January, surprisingly cold in August, rain in the summer,
dry spells in the winter – and every year people tell me we’ve
“never” had weather like this before around here. Really?
Never?
Sonoma County residents think anything but a mild day and a cool
night is a Biblical plague, and it’s been that way as long as I
remember. When I was about 7 or 8 we sat on my uncle’s porch in the
South Park section of Santa Rosa and watched a thunderstorm that
lasted about the length of a typical thunderstorm in Sonoma County
– maybe 20 minutes. We Californians talked about it for years
afterwards, even though my mean Aunt Hazel from Florida called us a
bunch of sissies and said it was barely a storm at all.
City people tease ourselves when we talk about the weather. We
claim that it’s the commonest form of communication, the
shallowest, safest thing one can muster in a conversation. Country
people know better. Try living in the Mill Creek watershed or along
Sausal Creek and ignoring the weather.
There’s an extra motivation to pay attention to the weather
around here – this is farm country. You may have your concerns
about the growth of the wine industry, but at its heart, it’s
farming. Grape growers (farmers) get up every morning (or in the
middle of the night) wondering about frost, sun, rain and wind, and
hoping that the alchemy of planning, planting and weather creates
the raw material for that “bottled poetry” that Robert Louis
Stevenson wrote about while he was half in the bag.
The best reason to talk about the weather is to recognize that
it defines our experience of the world. The low warming sun on a
winter’s day, the cooling fog on a summer morning, the hissing of
rain, the huffing of a strong wind – they remind us that we’re
feeling beings, that we’re part of the landscape, not just passing
through.
Joey Manfre, an extraordinarily talented illustrator, has
collaborated on another book. Joey will be at Copperfield’s in
downtown Healdsburg this Saturday, February 12, from 1 to 3 p.m.
for a “Meet and Greet” event. Joey created illustrations for “The
Instant Physicist,” a fascinating book by Richard A. Muller. The
book explains common scientific topics in plain terms, accompanied
by Joey’s clever and charming illustrations. Main Street says check
it out.
The project to renovate the historic wooden grandstands at
Recreation Park has hit a milestone. The first phase is winding up
this week. The “field side” of the project is basically complete.
The 1923 structure has been shored up, cleaned up and spiffed up by
local builders and volunteers, led by a crew from Eddinger
Enterprises. The two side walls have been rebuilt, all the seating
has been cleaned up or replaced, the roof has been repaired, the
backstop wall is new, the disabled seating is new, along with new
handrails, lighting and more.
The next phase will begin in mid-March and will include the back
side of the structure, including more seismic strengthening,
expanded storage for youth sports groups and a concession area. In
conjunction with the second phase, the city parks department is
working on improving the Piper Street parking lot, replacing the
restrooms and fixing up the entry area.
The whole thing should be done by late summer or early fall, so
watch this space for an announcement of a really big party to
celebrate another wonderful community-led project.
Thanks are due to the Healdsburg City Council for agreeing
Monday night to fix up the funky restrooms at the Healdsburg Senior
Center. While all five Councilmembers agreed that getting the job
done is a high priority, it got a little crunchy when they
discussed how. It’s clear that this new Council hasn’t really
sorted out how best to communicate and solve problems as a
group.
It’s understandable, really. The stakes are high right now,
trying to run a small city in a recession, and we have an
interesting mixture of backgrounds and personalities on the
Council.
A lot has been made of the fact that we have three retired
public safety folks on the Council. I agree that it’s significant,
but you couldn’t find three people with a wider range of ideas and
I think you’ll see significant differences in how each approaches
budgeting. The other two Councilmembers are riding the waves of
change in the private sector. The budget hearings this spring
should be interesting.
Ray Holley is not afraid to watch the sausage get made. He can
be reached at ra*******@gm***.com.