News

The Healdsburg City Council will have a lengthy goal-setting meeting on Friday this week, an annual discussion that assists the body and its members in prioritizing their efforts for the coming year. The following Monday, April 21, the council will hold its second regular meeting of the month, one which is likely to have its own challenges in light of the April 7 meeting and its revision of the 5-district map for City Council seats. Buckle up...

After having reached consensus at the fourth public hearing on March 17 that what has been termed Map A best represented the interests of the city in crafting five separate districts, the expectation was that the council would make a final perfunctory review, then move to adopt and accept that finalize the map. Mayor Mitchell had other ideas.

In his bi-weekly City Manager’s Report of April 4, Jeff Kay broke the news that the Bird Bikes program, providing a “micro-mobility” option for Healdsburg residents and visitors, has been canceled well ahead of its expected expiration date in early 2026. “Bird recently notified the City of their intent to terminate the agreement and we regret to announce that the e-bike share program will be concluding its operations in Healdsburg,” Kay wrote.

As Q1 2025 data reveals, Healdsburg’s real estate market is defying conventional wisdom with a 150% surge in luxury home sales while Sonoma County’s high-end market continues to decline. These counterintuitive trends are reshaping our understanding of the local market in ways that might surprise even longtime residents.

Proposed cuts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of $500 million to funding for regional hunger relief organizations will stop deliveries to local food banks nationwide, including the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB). That could mean the suspension of $750,000 in food shipments to REFB alone, and their availability for redistribution to local families.

Those streetside dining areas and tasting rooms that everyone has an opinion about will be given another look by the Healdsburg City Council at the April 7 meeting. The council will evaluate the plan last formalized in January 2023, with an eye toward potential modifications before the end of 2025.

The county’s Department of Public Infrastructure has announced a schedule for rebuilding the Wohler Bridge, a historic steel-truss span over the Russian River less than six miles from Healdsburg. Construction will begin on April 1, and the bridge will be closed throughout the summer.

Early in the morning of March 12, three Healdsburg Police officers went to Los Gatos to arrest the suspect Damian Martines-Osorio, who was now living under another alias. With the cooperation of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department, whose officers surrounded the scene, police attempted to arrest Martines-Osorio. Once again, however, he attempted to flee on foot but this time he was captured while trying to jump over a fence. The arrest was logged at 8:48am. 

Another one-of-a-kind Healdsburg resident passed away earlier this month from cancer at age 77, according to the Press Democrat: local textile artist and art teacher Sylvia Seventy. The fascinating, multimedia, Pomo-inspired “vessels” she made (pictured above and below) became quite well-known in certain circles of...

Given all the angst and opinion voiced in previous public hearings (and social media) about the city’s transition to District Elections, Monday nights’ meeting took place in a desert. Fewer than half a dozen members of the public were in the room when the hearing, fourth in a series of five, got underway at the posted “time certain” 6:45pm on March 17. But the meeting set forth the future of Healdsburg district elections for years to come.