What game are you playing?

There have been a number of great letters to the editor recently including the ones from John Crevelli and Brigette Mansell. They captured the frustration of being long term Healdsburg residents and seeing our town changing negatively while the town’s leadership isn’t representing the average citizen’s concerns. Most everyone I talk to in town agrees, so I think we are in the majority.
I am not a member of the Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions and unlike several of their members, I have lived in Healdsburg for 36 years. I also did not support their position on Saggio Hills.  But, they are increasingly becoming the only voice that represents my concern about where Healdsburg is headed.
The city of Healdsburg recently commissioned a study to determine if the town could support more hotel rooms. It is obvious to most locals that the throng of tourists on the streets could not possibly be staying in town. The question they should have been asking is “do we want more tourists staying in our town?” That would be a question to the citizens of this town and not to some high-priced hotel and tourism consultant. How about a questionnaire asking the citizens about quality of life in town issues and “what the town wants to be when it grows up?”. Sounds kind of familiar doesn’t it? Even if it was flawed, the HCSS group’s questionnaire shows that they are way closer to the pulse of the majority of the people in this town than the current city council.
Give credit to past and present city councils for hitting a home run for their role in generating volumes of tourism. I think getting more tourism dollars in town has done some good. An example is that out of our six grown children, one is employed in town in the restaurant business. It is unfortunate that he can’t afford to live here and the other five can’t afford it either. The questions are what volume of tourism is good for this town and should it be moderated? We are so high on numerous tourism lists that we may soon have to start charging people on the outskirts of town if they want to enter. Wine Disneyland? The problem is we are quickly becoming a one-dimensional town that is becoming less relevant to the locals and something they try to avoid. A common question among locals is “how often do you frequent the downtown?’. Previously the typical response was “during the week” but they avoided it on weekends. If you ask that question now, most say they always avoid the downtown. It is no longer a town for the locals. It has become a one-dimensional tourist town. Volumes of tasting rooms and restaurants. How about some moderation in the drive for tourism?
So if the past and present City Council members feel so satisfied with their performance and feel that they represent the voice of the locals that live here, please answer the following questions;
• Why are you still spending money on generating more tourism when we feel we are already overrun with it? We need to moderate it!
• Why have you let this town become so one-dimensional? 39 tasting rooms? C’mon! We’re going to have to start stationing ABC officers at the entrances to downtown to check IDs for drinking age.
• Why have you given away our parking lots to hotels and not solved this parking mess? Parking is a much higher priority than a roundabout!
• If you are doing a great job of keeping the small town charm, why did you approve a six story meat market?
• Why aren’t you trying to get some economic diversity by looking for growth in business segments other than tourism?
I feel like our town is in the ninth inning and we have a city council patting themselves on the back for their tourism solo home run. The problem is many of us feel that we are still losing the game 4-1 when it comes to our quality of life and preserving the good things about our small town. Town leaders need to start listening to our citizen’s valid inputs and treat everyone like they are on the same team. city council, what game are you playing?
John Vink is a Healdsburg resident.