Editorial

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors took the easy way out last week, cynically agreeing unanimously to require everyone connected to the county – except themselves – to comply with a living wage increase. Requiring county contractors and grant recipients to raise wages to $15 an hour was a fine thing to do, but exempting the county itself was disappointing, and turned the whole affair into an exercise in self-aggrandizement.

At least that was the question until it rained last week.  Till then, the fish were holed up in pools of the lower Russian River, unable to go on their spawning runs because there wasn’t enough water in the river to allow it.  I expect the rushing brown water from several creeks and tributaries has raised the river flow enough for the fish to be on their lusty way.  

— Rollie Atkinson

Notes from Fitch Mountain

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.

Yes, why do we care about them? With so much in this world to care about, why do we care if a baseball team wins or loses? Clearly, many of us care, millions and millions of us. My cousins drove in from Fresno for the games. Others come from Sacramento and points east. There are identified groups from far north of here at the ballpark: Ukiah, Fort Bragg and I think I saw a contingent from Arcata once.

In Healdsburg and throughout Sonoma County, issues related to housing have been in the spotlight for many months. The city is keenly aware of our community’s housing needs and has been working hard, alongside our residents, to address these serious housing problems. Providing affordable housing to working families and building government subsidized, affordable housing units continue to be top City Council priorities. Much has been accomplished and a great deal remains to be done.

T’was the night before Christmas and all things were a Twitter. Yes, the mice, all the other creatures and the rest of the house was abuzz and full of clattering. The stockings were not hung by the chimney with care; they were overstuffed with “stuff.” When was it that getting through Christmas Eve started feeling like making it to the finish line of a race?