Healdsburgers

A blog about Healdsburg, CA, written by its citizens

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Supporting the 4th of July Fireworks Celebration

June 7th, 2010 · Events, Healdsburg

The Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration is coming up (this is its 20th year!), and I’d like to urge everyone to help support it. You can find collection jars at many businesses throughout town, and of course you may donate at the event itself. But it’s always best to donate before the event. It’s a great show, and one of the things that make Healdsburg special. Please dig deep for this terrific community tradition.

You may also support the event by mailing a check to the event organizers:

American Legion Veterans
P.O. Box 208
Healdsburg, CA 95448

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Historic Homes Tour Coming Up

April 5th, 2010 · Events, Healdsburg

We’re looking forward to the 20th Annual Historic Healdsburg Homes Tour, on Sunday, May 2, from 1:00 to 4:30 PM. The Tour is being presented by the Healdsburg Chapter of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Proceeds from the Tour support Healdsburg area public schools and scholarships.

This year, the Tour will visit five charming homes within walking distance of the historic Healdsburg Plaza. Each home on the Tour has a knowledgeable docent that can explain the historical significance of the home and discuss its special features. The last stop on the Tour will be a visit to the Healdsburg Museum’s “Cabins to Craftsman: 100 Years of Healdsburg Architecture” exhibit. The exhibit provides a glimpse into local historical architecture leading up to 1910. It includes pioneer furnishings and objects brought to Healdsburg after the California Gold Rush. You’ll also be able to view handmade quilts and furniture of the time; an 1869 stereopticon with 3-D stereoscopic images of 1870s Healdsburg; and much more. A special part of the exhibit focuses on “Then and Now” photographs of local 100-year-old buildings.

Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 on the day of the tour. Information on purchasing tickets can be found at the Healdsburg AAUW website.

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A deficit of trust

March 11th, 2010 · Healdsburg

Looks like the Healdsburg Unified School District (HUSD) is once again sounding the alarm about the “catastrophic” budget cuts they say they’ll be forced to make in the upcoming year. Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, just about every year since we moved to town more than a decade ago. Their brilliant solution, as usual, is to try to raise the parcel tax that goes to the schools. I’ve voted for past parcel taxes, too. Well, enough is enough; I’m no longer interested in letting the school district stick their hand into my pocket. They simply can’t be trusted not to squander the money.

My experience with the now-defunct Access Healdsburg shows me the worth of HUSD’s promises. Back in the 90’s, they went to the community for a bond issue intended to fund a facility expansion plan that included building a Media Center on the High School campus. The community came through for HUSD, and the non-profit I helped found moved into the Media Center building that was built with the community’s money. We built a great set of studios, ran a community TV station, and served HUSD staff and students and the community for seven years.

But then HUSD decided they needed a new place to put the district office, because they had made a stupid decision to move into portable buildings when they vacated their previous offices. So they cravenly evicted Access Healdsburg and destroyed a fully functional television station that the community had paid for, just so a bunch of bureaucrats could have a more comfortable place to sit their sorry asses while they mismanaged the district. HUSD seems to have plenty of money to renovate the Media Center building into a palace for administrators, but can’t scrape up the cash to, you know, actually deliver an education to Healdsburg’s students. And now they’re once again crying poor.

They get no sympathy from me.

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Letter to the Editor about Access Healdsburg

August 11th, 2009 · Access Healdsburg, Healdsburg

I wrote this letter, which appeared in the Healdsburg Tribune, August 5, 2009. It addresses some of the continuing distortions of the truth and misstatements of fact that have been promulgated by the HUSD Superintendent, Jeff Harding.


Dear Editor,

I am writing to correct inaccuracies in your article of July 29, “TV station may have to move out.”

Some statements attributed to HUSD Superintendent Jeff Harding were misleading, at best. The article stated “[When Harding] looked into the matter, he found that the facility lease for the Media Center between the city and the schools had expired in 2007 and the agreement that the local station would provide HUSD students with 18 hours of instructional time per week had long stopped.”

There are two misleading things here. First, the City, in the person of now-City Manager Marjie Pettus, repeatedly attempted to renew the Media Center lease with the District in 2007 and was rebuffed by the then-Superintendent, who according to Marjie, promised they would negotiate that deal separately. So in reality, the lease expired because the District refused to negotiate, while claiming that it would later do so. Second, Access Healdsburg has never stopped providing the District access to our facilities, even after it became clear that the District was planning to evict the station so they could remodel the Media Center (purpose-built by the community with $1.5 million of our bond money to be a TV station) into administrator’s offices.

Mr. Harding continues: “It’s been seven years of free rent.” This is false. Access Healdsburg has never received free rent from HUSD. AHTV and HUSD signed an agreement to staff and make available our facilities for the District’s use for 18 hours per week. In return for our investment of staff salaries and time, money, and equipment, the school district agreed to waive cash rent and supply us with other services, such as janitorial. It was not done out of the goodness of District’s hearts. It was a business deal, from which they derived significant benefit; many students have used AHTV facilities. The end result was that the District received more than $350,000 in value from that agreement.

Over the past seven years, our people made countless overtures to the schools to use the facilities that were subject to the deal. It is not our fault that they were short-sighted, underutilized the facility, and squandered an amazing opportunity for students and District staff.

I realize that Mr. Harding believes that it is in his best interests to now minimize and denigrate the services that Access Healdsburg provided the District, for the many years before he came upon the scene. But his word does not change the reality, much as he might wish that.

Finally, Mr. Harding states, implying that there could be safety concerns for students: “They are making videos in private rooms with no windows.” This is false. All rooms used by students at Access Healdsburg have windows, and our staff monitors those rooms while they are being used.

Tom Negrino
Access Healdsburg

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Please support the 4th of July Fireworks Celebration!

June 10th, 2009 · Events, Healdsburg

Lightly edited, here’s a plea for a good cause from Lorraine Plass, Cdr, American Legion Veterans:

I’d like you to post a note about the Healdsburg Fourth of July celebration. We’re the 501(c)19 Non-Profit group of all volunteers who for no salary have taken on the task of running a fireworks program for the 4th of July, since the City banned fireworks 20 years ago. This is our 19th year and we could use folks to mail in a couple of bucks.  (Just think – if everyone in Healdsburg sent in $2.00, we’d have 3/4 of it paid). I’m short about $6,500 just to finish paying off the bill, which is COD on the 4th. If you can lend a hand, I’d appreciate passing the word on through even your own personal emails to friends throughout the City.

Address for donations:

American Legion Veterans
P.O. Box 208
Healdsburg, CA 95448

You’ll also find collection jars at many businesses throughout town, and of course you may donate at the event itself. But the most bang for the buck is to donate before the event. It’s always a great event, and a great cause. Please dig deep for this excellent community event.

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SF Chronicle reviews El Sombrero

April 21st, 2008 · Healdsburg

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Jon Bonné reviews our gem just south of the Plaza, El Sombrero, and comes to the same conclusion most Healdsburgers have: good food at great prices. The Hat is a welcome, authentic, friendly respite from the fancy shops and tasting rooms that ring the Plaza.

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