Main Street

Ray Holley
We’re staggering across the finish line of another year, and
while we ought to heed Satchel Paige’s admonition to: “Don’t look
back, something might be gaining on you,” we can’t resist the
excuse to fill up a column with (attempts at) witty and thoughtful
insights about 2009.
A Green Hammer Award goes to the Healdsburg Unified School
District, for agreeing to create CASA, which stands for
Construction And Sustainability Academy. The academy launches in
the Fall of 2010 and lucky students will walk into a renovated
construction technology shop, learn all about green building, and
have a good time working with their hands.
A Golden Calculator Trophy is given to the City of Healdsburg.
It was deadly quiet at City Hall on a gray day in February when the
City Council learned that certain funds were not being allocated
accurately, and that the city’s redevelopment funds were $3.5
million less than they thought. The mistake was caught before the
city went into the hole, which was some small consolation. At least
we didn’t have to sell a building or something to make it up.
A Tie A Knot On The End Of The Rope Medal with Grit Your Teeth
Clusters goes to the Saggio Hills folks, who weathered three years
of planning and approvals, only to lose another year to a citizen
lawsuit that returned a mixed verdict from a Sonoma County judge.
Depending on who you ask, the verdict either vindicated concerns
that the project is fatally flawed, or reinforced the efficacy of
the city’s planning process. Either way, it ain’t over yet.
Five Shop Local Ribbons are ready to hand out to the Healdsburg
City Council, who formalized a local buying preference this year,
recognizing that if we don’t support local businesses, we all
suffer. Those ribbons will be officially awarded when we see the
actual policies and procedures that make the program work.
The Go Away And Stay Away Perennial Award is given (again!) to
the Sonoma County Water Agency, the tail that wags the dog of
county government. The water agency tried to push ahead with a plan
to irrigate 21,000 acres of the best grape land on earth with
treated effluent, in order to free up clean water for Santa Rosa’s
unbridled growth. Bowing to political pressure, NSCARP (the North
Sonoma County Agricultural Reuse Project) was shelved, but Main
Street predicts that it will be back.
The Brick S**t House Trophy is for Matthew Thompson and other
City of Healdsburg employees who worked their tails off to manage
the renovation of Giorgi Park. In May, when the City Council
awarded the bid to renovate Giorgi, they spent quite a bit of time
talking about the sorry state of the bathrooms. Councilman Mike
McGuire called the bathrooms a “pimple” in the park. Later he
declared that the pimple was “festering.” The new bathrooms do not
fester, not in the least.
The Perseverance Badge is for a bunch of Healdsburgers who are
proud to wear the title of SOB, which in this case stands for “Save
Our Bridge.” The City of Healdsburg is in the process of studying
how to tear down the historic Memorial Bridge (which is in pretty
good shape, but needs a paint job and a new deck) and replace it
with an ugly concrete thing upon which motorists will drive 45
miles per hour, and which will cast a giant shadow on Memorial
Beach. The SOBs keep pushing back against the replacement agenda,
and the battle will continue into 2010.
The Thanks For Everything Medal goes to the dedicated public
servants who retired this year. It’s hard to imagine a police
department without Joe Lozinto and Steve Cox, a fire department
without Steve Babb, or a public works department without Caroline
Marker, Pete Frates and Kathy Anunson. We in the media take our
shots at public employees, but we know that our communities
couldn’t run without them.
A special mention goes to Jim Birdsong, who’s also retiring
after 21 years managing community banks in Healdsburg. Formerly
North Bay Savings, now Bank of the West, is saying goodbye to Jim
on Tuesday, January 5. Stop in, shake Jim’s hand, and thank him for
being a nice guy.
Main Street lost friends in 2009, like every year. Shannon Boaz
lost a battle with leukemia that seemed to involve half the town in
a circle of love and support. Woodie Stiles and Robert Young passed
away as well, along with other Healdsburg and Geyserville folks who
we’ll miss.
Ray Holley is ready for next year. He can be reached at

ra*******@gm***.com











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