News

Senior-home staffers threw a joint birthday party for the Big Four last Friday afternoon, on the final day of February. They branded it a “centenarian celebration.” The first two birthday girls wheeled into the snug party lounge were Healdsburg natives Marge Lampson and Marge Barnard, who remember attending public school together in Healdsburg.

A spate of graffiti incidents took place in Healdsburg early in the morning of March 1, but before it was over two men were arrested with incriminating evidence that police believe associated them with three such vandalism incidents that same morning.

 “A much-loved member of the community died a few days ago,” seemed insufficient. It couldn’t quite capture the spirit or impact of Jennifer Utsch, who died early Wednesday morning, Feb. 19, in hospice care in Tucson. Healdsburg responded with a spontaneous gathering.

Briefly put, a formula retail store sells a branded line of products with standardized services, menus, decor, uniforms, architecture, signs or other similar features, as if the store is following a formula. If that’s not clear enough, visit the new Faherty’s menswear shop at 326 Healdsburg Ave., half a block off the Plaza.

The third public meeting held in the effort to split Healdsburg’s electorate into districts, to satisfy the requirements of California’s Voting Rights Act, led to a general consensus among the council members to stick with their original preference: five districts each to elect a councilmember, with the mayor’s role rotating between them.

On the southwest corner of the plaza, at 102 Matheson St., the Thumbprint Cellars team just ran their final weekend of wine tastings at their 15-year home in downtown Healdsburg. Second-generation winery owner Carter Lindstrom-Dake, son of Thumbprint founders Scott and Erica, told me over...

“Can you speak to how this project does or doesn’t comply with what the recommendations are in the Active Transportation plans, or what the proposed bike and ped [pedestrian] improvements are that people have been emailing us about?” Councilmember Ariel Kelley asked. “I think there’s a disconnect between what you guys are proposing and what the community [believes] is included in the project.”

Anthony Frost, now of Cloverdale, posted, “I’m lost for words. H.C Frost was one of the founding board members of Healdsburg unified and donated much funds to build the first gym in Healdsburg. The Frost family has been in this town since the early 1800s,” he claimed.

As the months roll by, the Healdsburg Library Modernization Project continues along its steady path. Week by week, the contractors complete one task after another, bringing us closer to the reopening of the 139 Piper St. library we all know and love.

Retired attorney Jon Eisenberg filed civil suit against the City of Healdsburg, charging multiple Brown Act violations in two recent cases that demonstrate what he calls “a pattern of misbehavior that is deeply embedded in the culture of Healdsburg’s city government…” His action focused on what he called the “tainted decision making” in the effort to get Measure O on the ballot and the campaign to get it passed; and the transition to district elections now underway.