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The city of Healdsburg is only just beginning to craft a South Entry Area Plan, a process that is expected to cost about $1.5 million. Although the plan is expected to get underway in 2024, City Manager Jeff Kay stressed that it is in its earliest stages.

When asked about how the idea for a rock ’n’ roll orchestra for all came about, Jason Eckl dove in on the feeling that orchestral performances can be a bit stiff. “My wife is cellist Rebecca Roudman, who is a member of a number of Bay Area orchestras [including both the Oakland East-Bay Symphony and the Santa Rosa Symphony], and this means I’ve been to a lot of orchestra concerts,” he said.

The City of Healdsburg has begun planning for the eventual arrival of SMART, perhaps as soon as the end of 2028. The planning began at Monday’s City Council meeting, when the five-member board heard from Planning Director Scott Duiven about the formation of a Healdsburg Station Area Specific Plan.

“We traveled a lot when I was growing up. I’m an only child, and so that made it feasible.” That broad background in travel came to define Liza Gershman’s journey, although it was as a photographer that she began to build a career,

9:38pm A woman on Powell Avenue near the laundromat screamed at people and asked for marijuana and beer. An officer contacted the woman and she agreed to quiet down.

Proposed cuts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of $500 million to funding for regional hunger relief organizations will stop deliveries to local food banks nationwide, including the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB). That could mean the suspension of $750,000 in food shipments to REFB alone, and their availability for redistribution to local families.

Given all the angst and opinion voiced in previous public hearings (and social media) about the city’s transition to District Elections, Monday nights’ meeting took place in a desert. Fewer than half a dozen members of the public were in the room when the hearing, fourth in a series of five, got underway at the posted “time certain” 6:45pm on March 17. But the meeting set forth the future of Healdsburg district elections for years to come.

The City Council must address this issue with a “formula retail ordinance” that expands the boundaries of the retail area and codifies “formula business.” The 2030 General Plan protects businesses directly facing the Plaza, but not those around the Plaza, which explains why Faherty can slip into Ooh la Luxe’s space.

A full spread of fruit, cookies and cupcakes, coffee and tea helped take the edge off dinner-hour munchies at the SMART Open House in Healdsburg on March 23.

Visitors to Healdsburg are now finding more public parking spots right downtown, in a large central lot formerly reserved for business use. The lot is getting heavy use on weekends, and the competition for those 30-plus slots can be stiff. There’s one catch—it’s not...