Columns

This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.

As most of us continue to deal with our anger and anxiety over being left in the dark — both figuratively and literally — by PG&E’s massive public safety power shutoff (PSPS), we need to take a breather and remind ourselves this “new normal”...

On Tuesday, an abbreviated three-member Windsor Planning Commission reviewed conceptual plans for the annexation and development of between 240 and 250 homes on 58 acres of vineyards north of Jensen Lane at the western edge of Windsor.

By Lisa Joseph

Making the case that substandard housing is a public health issue, long time tenant’s rights attorney, Edie Sussman, advocated for rent control and just cause eviction in her presentation to the Windsor Democratic Club on Sept. 28. Sussman represented 36 former tenants of the Bennett Valley Townhomes in a lawsuit against the owners of the property. The plaintiffs recently agreed to a Sonoma County record $2.7 million settlement. She noted that substandard living conditions can often lead to respiratory conditions, including asthma, and other health issues, which impact the level of health in our communities.

Who’d have thought that lilacs were related to privet? Encountering lilac, we recollect the lovely fragrance discovered in childhood while meandering in a garden. Spying the privet, if we’re smart, we yank out the small seedlings growing in profusion beneath the canopy of this invasive, domineering...

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent.”

Every year comes and goes, but also leaves behind important dates that get remembered, written in newspapers and history books, and are sometimes turned into annual commemorations. (Oct. 8 is such a date for Santa Rosa’s Coffey Park Tubbs Fire survivors.) As 2020 is now running out of dates and makes way for 2021, we can begin to chronicle which dates over the last 12 months we may remember over the years to come.

Summertime means longer days, warmer temperatures and an increase in outdoor activities. If you are a dog or cat owner or come in contact with pets, you know that summertime brings more pests, especially fleas and ticks. Why are these pesky pests a cause for concern? What should we consider before using pet pesticides and are there alternatives we can use to protect our pets, ourselves and our environment?