The View from Here

Lucie Jensen
Healdsburg has many things it can rightfully be smug about — and
we are. We show off our plethora of flowers, trees and shrubs.
House tours feature the mélange of architectural styles this town
affords. Tuesday nights in the Plaza showcases an array of musical
and gastronomic delights. Yet one our most outstanding
accomplishments slipped by with barely a mention on page 3 of our
local paper a couple of weeks ago.
City Manager, Marjie Pettus, announced the City Council had
adopted a budget for the fiscal year 2009-10 and on time. When you
consider that is something our well paid state legislators and
Governor seem incapable of doing you can’t help but wonder what’s
missing in the state equation?
Healdsburg’s City Council, like the State, faced shortfalls in
this depressed economy. The difference seems to lie in one very
telling statement in the City Manager’s report— “From management to
line employees, 100 percent of the staff agreed to sacrifice
personal gain to help generate savings in the budget.” With city
employees like that maybe we are unique.
An article in The Nation’s issue of July 6, by Dean Starkman
regarding Gretchen Morgenson seems to illustrate the dangers
inherent in inflexible attitudes. She is being pilloried by some of
her media business writing peers because she has dared to question
the status quo. When she used her columns to clarify questionable
business practices she was accused of being “simplistic” as though
it was a cardinal sin.
Morgenson’s qualifications belie the accusations. She is a
senior editor of The New York Times, a Pulitzer Prize winner,
writer, columnist and reporter. Starkman classifies her “as a
moderate Republican, and a business reporter whose primary concern
is investors.” This is hardly grounds for such dissension among her
peers. They are either strongly supportive or completely
contemptuous. Morgenson’s downfall seems to be a case of “The
Emperor Has no Clothes.” In her columns she quite bluntly has
exposed obscene executive compensation; agency-rating hypocrisy;
saving AIG (American International Group) while allowing Leman
Brothers to fail and other excesses that contributed to the
economic crisis we are in. Telling the truth and stating the facts
is apparently not acceptable behavior according to her critics.
This pervasive attempt to cover up the truth about the era of
business corruption by some members of the media does affect the
entire country. It has created an environment of distrust and
suspicion that affects the economy everywhere. Healdsburg, like
other communities, is feeling the pinch. We are so fortunate to
have a city council and city employees who were willing to face the
facts and make the compromises necessary for the greater good of
the community. They deserve our gratitude and our thanks.
Lucie Jensen is a Healdsburg resident.