Commentary: Don’t be fooled by SMART’s claims
In 2008, the folks behind SMART told us that if voters approved the quarter-percent 20 year sales tax they would build 71 miles of train and a 71-mile bike path and that annual operating costs would be $16.5 million per year. They also claimed SMART would alleviate traffic on 101 and help fight climate change. The problem is none of these promises ever materialized and now SMART is asking voters to approve an additional $2.4 billion on a 30-year tax extension nine years before the current tax expires.
Commentary: Keep our success in sight
COMMENTARY — Recently, Healdsburg passed an important milestone in our pursuit of more affordable housing. Jan. 26 marked five years to the day that the city launched a robust and multi-year program to tackle the city’s housing issues. At a special city council meeting that evening, then mayor Shaun McCaffery presided over the start of an eight-month council and community education series entitled ‘Housing Our Community.’
Commentary: What does SDAT really say about the Cerri site?
COMMENTARY — Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part commentary discussing the Cerri/Purity building.
Commentary: A history of 3 North
There is an effort to direct interest away from 3 North St. (the Cerri Building) and the offer to fund the community pavilion/farmers market home. The disinformation being distributed in town abuses the SDAT report to abandon years of planning and support for the repurposing of the Cerri building. This attempt to derail the Foley Family Foundation‘s pledge of $7 million to build the long-planned project is misguided. Healdsburg 2040, as the custodians of the SDAT process, want to correct the record. We feel supported by over 1,000 residents, who in one week only signed a petition to the city council to accept the gift, And the signatures are still coming …
Letters to the Editor, Feb. 13, 2020
The Windsor High School Committee for Change, a group of students working to create a “transparent, just, and safe life for people: ranging from students to laborers, from school campus to state legislature, and from social to environmental factors” sent in several letters to the editor relating to the current lawsuit against the town of Windsor over the adoption of an all-electric reach code and approval of the SMART train funding Measure I.
Someday We’ll Laugh About This . . . Right? ‘Clothes Captaining’
My son likes to watch preschool programming, which means we still endure programs like "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Dora the Explorer." They are sort of nostalgic and comforting, I find them predictable and familiar. However, he has now discovered the closed captioning feature, which would seem like a great way to sneak some reading in, right?
Forays in the Fourth District
Big wins for affordable housing underscore value of leveraging government funds
Our Own Red Carpet
Oscar night red carpets were rolled out last Sunday around Sonoma County, including at Sebastopol’s Rialto Theater and at the Alexander Valley Film Festival’s (AVFF) Red Carpet Evening at Trentadue Winery. For those not already in the know, Sonoma County has a long relationship with Oscar-winning films, Hollywood visitors and our own local movie stars.
Arts & Entertainment
Return to the Russian River
When Jake Messing stood in front of the mural he had just completed for Russian Riverkeeper on the north side of the nonprofit’s headquarters at 139 Healdsburg Ave., he had finished more than another mural. He had made a return to the source from the sea himself, like the salmon he portrayed.
