Editorial

A Rocky Start


No to mosquito assessment

Supporting Ziedrich

Editor: I am writing to thank all of the more than 3,000 north

Voting

Vet vetting

Healdsburg’s GMO (Growth Management Ordinance) is a complicated citizen’s initiative that was passed in 2000. In essence it limits the number of homes that can be built in a given year to 30. Since then the population has increased by less than 500 people. It is very difficult to provide housing opportunities for working folks in our community as median home prices have risen dramatically, inventory shrinks and nearly one third of re-sales are for second homes. Two years ago a committee was formed to look at amending the GMO. A compromise was reached that would give us a few more units for a 15 year period and then revert back to the current GMO. It wasn’t perfect, actually far from it. The original author of the GMO measure attended and spoke at the meetings. However he would not support even the modest changes the committee proposed, but agreed to remain neutral. He insisted that the GMO wasn’t broken and didn’t need a fix.

“Why doesn’t someone do something about all the trash in the creek?” This question from an 11 year old girl scout surprised me. Dozens of energetic volunteers surrounded us scouring the banks of Santa Rosa Creek along the Prince Memorial Greenway for trash washed down by the winter rains. I started to explain that many people were indeed doing something, only to be interrupted by her observation that cut to the quick of any storm water program, “Yes, but if people were really doing something, we wouldn’t have to be here cleaning up after them.”