The 24-inch-by-20-inch blue signs have popped up at a number of streetside locations around town: in front yards and shop driveways, at Rec Park and Bell’s Ambulance, even at the Big John’s intersection. They’re anti-idling signs, encouraging drivers to “Turn Your Key, Be Idle Free!” Although a small, three-person group has done most of the work on this, the environmental dangers of idling have begun to break through to the local public’s attention.
The signs are the latest iteration of the Anti-Idling Committee’s ongoing efforts, derived from the energy of the hundred or so active participants in Climate Action Healdsburg. This particular subgroup—Richard Cochran, Stephanie Callimanis Turk and Charlene Luks—has worked on its own for well over a year, meeting with Police Chief Matt Jenkins, city planners and managers. And it has results to show for it.
In November 2024, Cochran sent a letter to 10 wine tour companies informing them of Healdsburg’s City Ordinance 10.28.160, which requires that “vehicles which emit exhaust fumes into the air shall be turned off while the vehicle is stopped or standing or parked on a public street or public parking area.”
The group also focused on elementary school parent drop-off and pick-up lanes, such as Fitch Street at Matheson near St. John’s School and on First Street at HES. The members installed red signs at the parking areas reminding parents that students are breathing in the area (“Estudiantes Respirando!”).
Their current effort to place the bilingual blue signs around town, and distribute 4-inch-by-6-inch cards with a “stop idling” message in both Spanish and English, comes with the City of Healdsburg’s endorsement.
Police Chief Matt Jenkins said the “City drafted and printed the cards that Cochran and the committee are using in this initiative,” part of the standard emphasis on education over enforcement. But since idling is a violation of a city ordinance, Jenkins indicated the department was prepared to go further: Each cited violation carries a $40 parking fine.
Climate Action Healdsburg
The anti-idling group derives its energy from Climate Action Healdsburg, an informal group formed just three years ago to help build the city’s Climate Mobilization Strategy. It’s made up of people who want to participate in solutions instead of just writing letters. Tyra Benoit is the voice of the organization, though she balks at a title. A retired college history teacher and dean at Santa Rosa Junior College, she and her husband found themselves relocated to Healdsburg in 2020 after their house in Larkfield was destroyed by fire.
Three subgroups were formed to work on general issues—a Political Action Team chaired by Hank Skewis, Community Campaigns chaired by Judy Fujita and a Community Events team with Erica Gutierrez. Benoit believes that empowering these subgroups is what makes the whole thing work.
“What we want is for people if they have something that they’re passionate about, let them do it,” she said. “Like anti-idling. That became a passion for Stephanie and for Dick. For Gail Jonas and Linus Lancaster, it’s beaver restoration on the Russian River.”
Another community campaign visible over the past three years is Move! Healdsburg, which promotes bike travel and walking with regular group rides in the Healdsburg area. Judy Fujita currently leads the group’s efforts, which have turned more to advocacy instead of just bike rides.
With bicyclists’ safety one factor among others, several members of the group showed up at the City Council meeting on Aug. 4 to encourage another look at the lane widths planned for March Avenue in the upcoming street renovation. Judy Fujita, Mark McMullen, Doug Lyle and two others all made the case for a 10-foot lane width, as opposed to the planned 11-foot width.
While five speakers was thought to be enough to convince a councilmember to move to put the issue on the agenda at the end of the meeting, that did not happen. But the Climate contingent is planning its next move, if there is one–a direct meeting with Public Works Director Larry Zimmer.
Here Comes the Sun Day
While several committees of Climate Action Healdsburg have been in the trenches, the annual Earth Day event in the Plaza this year did not happen due to divided obligations. But Tyra Benoit and Erica Gutierrez of the Events team have set their sights on a worthwhile alternate: Sun Day, set for Sept. 21 (a Sunday of course), the autumnal equinox.
The ad hoc holiday is the work of grassroots organizations, clean energy experts, solar industry and worker organizations, schools and other partners. Their goal is to recognize the ready availability of solar power and its inevitable future as a primary global source for electrical energy.
A Healdsburg Sun Day, Benoit said, would be a positive thing to do in an admittedly difficult time. “We want to make it joyful. We want to make it fun for kids and families, and just give people hope. I think that’s what we’re all hungry for right now, is we need to know that we have a future,” she said.
She cites a recent article in The New Yorker by Bill McKibben. “4.6 billion years on, the sun is having a moment,” he says, arguing that despite its former perception as an unrealistic fantasy, “renewable energy has suddenly become the obvious, mainstream, cost-efficient choice around the world.” He backs it up with statistics and 5,300 words.
Benoit and Gutierrez applied for a city events permit to hold a Sun Day fair in the Plaza, but were turned down. The Plaza events calendar is usually confirmed and permitted a year in advance. The West Plaza Park, previously the site of Shakespeare productions, remains a possibility, as does the City Hall parking lot where the Vamos al Tianguis markets are held.
Among their many plans: a mini film festival featuring the award-winning film Idle Threat: Man on Emission. About, of course, the environmental dangers of letting one’s car idle instead of just turning it off.
More information at climateactionhealdsburg.org.
