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I am For Growth, Just Not the Growth I am Seeing
To exploit every single aspect of a small town is to not appreciate–it is to dishonor. After fully participating in the Vertice LLC aka Single Thread “Farm” community input meeting (2/7/24) held in Healdsburg’s former movie theater, I remain committed to asking questions about more elite and so-called “Farm-to-Table” dining experiences.
Why tie up half of Downtown Healdsburg with a single thread? I prefer multi-threads for a more representative tapestry. Our town’s General Plan honors the value of balance in our Downtown. It emphasizes “a mix” of housing types and affordability. Follow our plan.
What is at stake when we say/write nothing, (which means we agree) ?
Silence means Yes. We are seeing predatory capitalism, and we become negligent stewards.
Yes, we are lucky to live here and, agreed: “Thankfully There is Healdsburg,” but we should be more than “Thankful” for the surrounding fertile valleys that sustain us. How about protecting our precious, troubled Russian River Watershed, and safeguarding housing units for our shrinking working class, and enrolling children in our public schools?
Healdsburg’s most vital wealth is not real estate; it is our intelligence, our commitment to our social capital, and our commitment to cultivate public good. What is happening Healdsburg?
What is the “cost” of our attraction? How are these ultra-luxury hotels and restaurants and second homes impacting our future sustainable economy?
How will our town earn its “Three Stars,” its Badge of Honor? What I know is our “rankings” must come from the welcoming, hard-working folks who can,hopefully, live here, the 95448’s, the people who made this small town what it is today. The “finer things” have always been here. I am For Growth, just not the growth I am seeing.
It’s time the old Healdsburg families and longtime residents united to help shape the “new” direction that Healdsburg is going (both within city limits and the greater Healdsburg region). I’ve been here for almost 50 years, and am a 3rd generation Healdsburger (although outside city limits, so with fewer direct action options).
The biggest miff I have with the way things have gone in the last 15-20 years is that the decisionmakers are wringing out the very essence of healdsburg to line their vanity coffers, and in the process, have demolished the innocent and unassuming charm that made Healdsburg resonate with visitors. We should not be trying to be the next Napa. We should be keeping our small town agricultural roots, warts and all, since that was what made Healdsburg different from the rest of the Wine Country, and therefore so attractive: it was real. But alas, I suppose I’m writing this much too late I’m afraid…
As a decidedly left wing resident who lived through the 70s here, I’ve always had mixed feelings about the mutations that have gone on in Healdsburg. On the one hand, I was derided and threatened on the street by hicks in lifted 4x4s for riding a skateboard while having long hair in the 80s, and connected with the Latino population since we were similarly on the receiving end of derision by arguably right wing factions during the same era. Now however, I want those lifted hick trucks back. We are a country ag town, not Rodeo Drive North! I can’t even afford to buy socks in my own town (except for one place – thank you EveryWear & co!).
There is much more that can be said on this subject, and brevity has never been my strong suit, so I think I’ll just leave it that that. For now.
Editors: please correct my typos and such if you have the time. This was essentially a passion-felt first draft 🙂 THANK YOU!!
I miss the old characters of Healdsburg. Shopping Bag Man is still around. That’s a sad story. We old-timers know it. And then there was the hippie kid with long blonde hair riding his skateboard down Tucker Street while playing the guitar and only wearing a Speedo. He set fire to some buildings later on and went somewhere. Another sad story.
Luis is still living in his house though. He’s hanging on.
The horse lady’s concrete stepping stone with the iron bridle ring for her horses is still next to the curb on Fitch Street. I suppose someone will steal it now that I’ve mentioned it. The horsewoman rode from Healdsburg and back twice, alone, on horseback in the late 1800s. Some say she was one of the Donner girls from the Cannibal Campout at Donner Lake back in the day. She lived to be 103.
The Jesus and Joseph statue in the grotto built by Italians on Alley One behind the Haydon Street Inn was stolen years ago.
Now I see that even the gravel plant has closed.
My favorite bar, Healdsburg Bar & Grill, turned into some kind of authoritarian nightmare during Covid as it demanded masks and proof of vaccination to sit at the bar.
The narrow 1921 truss bridge took years to rebuild and is so narrow buses can’t use it and the sides of the bridge are covered in scrape marks of all different colors from collisions.
The roundabout is nice, but again, a two-year-plus project.
I miss the old days of Felix & Louie’s on the square. John & Zeke’s on the square.
Well, it’s all gone. We have parklets now and tourists galore.
Our hospital is now owned by Providence Hospital Group and things aren’t the same there.
And yet the police and fire departments are still efficient and friendly. People smile and talk to each other in a friendly caring way.
Maybe only the scenery and costs have changed.
I don’t know.
If you listened to the Ariel Kelley campaign, Healdsburg has done a fantastic job bringing down homeless over 60%. In truth, this is far from the case. When Ms. Kelley was elected in 2020, there were 67 total homeless counted in Healdsburg. The most recent count reflected 33 total homeless, but did not include 42 campers living on Syar property at the town’s southern border as it had the previous year’s count. Healdsburg had a chance to rectify this after it was announced in September that it had received a $2.7 million grant from the Encampment Resolution Funding Program to rehome all Syar campers. Reach for Home initially decided to rehome the campers individually without clearing the camps. This led to even more new campers taking over the former dwellings. After multiple homeless break-ins at Amy’s Wicked Slush, which is adjacent to a Syar property homeless camp, it was set on fire last week. This was not the first homeless related fire in the area. Healdsburg has received approximately $11 million in grants to address homelessness. Its proposed budget has $1 million dedicated to the L&M shelter. What Healdsburg has achieved is not a success story unless it rehomes all Syar campers and permanently clears the camps which have existed for over ten years.
Dear Editor,
My previous letter on Spitton’s website about Healdsburg appearing to have anticipated the SMART train, like a bitch in heat, has been removed. I don’t mind this. I expect it. I’ve been banned, censored, and insulted for years now because of my beliefs and opinions. It just makes me sad. If this Spittoon is just an echo chamber of left-wing spittle, what’s the point?
This week is the fourth anniversary of the COVID scam. I suppose people in town just want to ignore and forget how crazy it was and how crazy they became back then. But I don’t forget. Our town will never be the same as before the Ides of March 2020.
Tim McGraw
Fitch Street