Housing Market Shows Sharp Divide
What makes Healdsburg’s market particularly unique is the continued dominance of non-primary residence purchases. In 2024, 61% of all purchases were for second homes or investment properties, with rural properties showing an even higher rate at 76%. This tracks with 2023 when 64% of properties were purchased as non-primary residences, writes a local realtor.
Open Mic: Surprise Raid in Kern County Foreshadows What’s to Come
The Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield on Tuesday, Jan. 7, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather. Agents in unmarked SUVs rounded up people in vans outside a Home Depot and gas station that serves a breakfast popular with field workers. "It was profiling; it was purely field workers,” said the manager of a local gas station.
Council Sticks with 5-District, Rotating Mayor Decision
It was Assistant City Manager Andrew Sturmfels' last meeting in Healdsburg before he begins work for Sonoma County, but the same old City Council was on the dais to double-down on their controversial decision to set a 5-district limit for Healdsburg's new government....
Brown Act Violations Charged in Measure O, Redistricting Efforts
The grumbling attained legal emphasis just after Christmas, when on Dec. 26 Healdsburg attorney Jon Eisenberg filed a letter with the city that raised a number of alleged Brown Act violations during the lead-up to the Measure O vote in November, violations he clearly is prepared to take to court. He then raises concerns about the Dec. 16 City Council meeting itself, suggesting that additional Brown Act violations took place in that process as well...
What is the Brown Act?
A recent article in this paper made reference to the Brown Act, and it warrants explanation what exactly that is. Most people have the correct understanding that it relates to government transparency, to ensure that public business is conducted in an open and transparent...
Top 5 Local Stories of 2024
There’s a tradition in the news biz, at year’s end, of retracing all the major stories that unfolded during the 12 months prior. It feels like a healthy exercise—an opportunity to zoom out and let the bigger picture sink in, free from the frantic 24-hour news cycle (or, weekly in our case). It’s also a great reminder, though small-town life can seem humdrum, that we’re surrounded at all times by modern-day lore and legend...
Fire Sparks Renewed Concern about ‘the Narrows’
A narrow stretch of Sunset Drive overlooking Villa Chanticleer, which has been called out by its residents as a potential hazardous location in an emergency, experienced a real-time test last Friday morning when a contractor’s pickup truck suddenly caught fire, sending flames some over 20 feet into the canopy of the wooded neighborhood...
Letters to the Editor, Dec. 26
The City Council’s informal decision on Dec. 16 to adopt a five-district, selected mayor format for city government in the redistricting process drew immediate reactions from several community members, who felt the decision was made unnecessarily quickly and short-circuited public discussion of the options. Here are a few of their comments:
Redistricting Gets Started, Council Selects Mitchell as New Mayor
While the role of the mayor in Healdsburg is largely ceremonial—to chair meetings, issue proclamations and be the city’s public face—it is not entirely so. With the imminent elimination of the at-large election of City Council members to accord with the 2002 California Voting Rights Act, the role of the mayor could become much more important...
Local Eye Doctor With a Global Vision
Healdsburg ophthalmologist Dr. Gary Barth has dedicated a significant portion of his life and career to restoring sight to those in dire need, particularly in developing countries. Barth, together with BBH Eye Foundation and partners, has helped restore sight to more than 200,000 individuals in Southeast Asia since 2019.