Time to modify growth ordinance
Healdsburg’s Growth Management Ordinance (GMO) is a citizen initiative enacted to preserve the town’s unique quality and character and insulate it from the pressures of unregulated market driven development. It effectively put the brakes on residential development and allowed the community to contemplate its future free from outside development pressures. The GMO’s authors and supporters are to be commended for their courage, perseverance and continued resolve.
Barrel of fun, wine or both?
At least since Isabelle Simi converted a big wine vat at her Healdsburg winery along the Old Redwood Highway into a roadside wine tasting room just after the Great Depression and that “little old winemaker” invited the world to visit the Italian Swiss Colony, Sonoma County has beckoned agricultural visitors. Organized in 1973, a hundred or so small family farms created Sonoma County Farm Trails to welcome thousands of Gravenstein Fair goers, pumpkin patch seekers and Christmas Tree farm trekkers. Before that, apple blossom and prune blossom tours drew busloads of out-of-towners.
Clarifying what makes a tough budget
While Healdsburg District Hospital (HDH) appreciates the visibility the Healdsburg Tribune affords us, there were several errors and omissions from the article titled, “Hospital adopts tough budget” (Feb. 11, 2015). I would like to clarify a few of the points I feel may be misleading to both our community and our hospital staff. Some points may seem innocuous, but for those whose daily work revolves around the hospital and those who have lent financial support to our ongoing efforts, clarity is needed.
Filling our ‘meal gap’
Sometimes we feel embarrassed by all our daily blessings, the many comforts, natural riches and compassionate community we share here in our part of Sonoma County. All our troubles are small, where real help usually comes before we ask for it. We know we are blessed and we know better than to take it for granted. At our best, we are like farmers who pray not so much for rain or good weather, but for the strength to put in another full day’s honest work.
