Editorial

Economic stagnation

Measure R, Healdsburg’s voter-defeated housing plan, has left city leaders and attuned citizens scratching their heads and wondering why it lost and what will come next, if anything, to address a severe local housing crisis.

For centuries, civilized peoples recognized the need for removal of bodily wastes from the human environment. Apart from the obvious odors and appearance of this waste, either on land or in bodies of water, the disease-causing germs were also present. Dysentery, Typhoid Fever, Cholera, and other public health issues were often found to be caused by the presence of bacteria and parasites in drinking water sources which were contaminated by wastewater. In areas where populations are concentrated, and where there is more wastewater to treat, communities construct wastewater collection systems that collect the wastewater and convey it to a treatment facility. The wastewater collection system typically consists of gravity-fed and pressurized underground piping which allows the unobstructed flow of wastewater to treatment facilities.  

Editor: I just returned from a great night at AT&T Park

Thank you Sebastopol

The specifics of the effort to re-draft the JPA governing the County Library System came to my attention very late in the process. I was pleased to read the paragraph in the draft revision which proposed allowing communities to provide supplemental funds for local branches. When the county library system budget does not meet locally perceived needs a community could support their local branch. The Monday closure of the branches, in place for the last three years, could be reversed by allowing communities to fund Monday library services. It would be a valuable mechanism for communities to have library services responsive to local needs.

A fascinating new rationale is going around to explain why wineries have to throw so many big parties. It has to do with a relatively new social force called “wine club pressure.”

Editor: Thank you for your recent comments on Casino wastewater