LocalLocal newsnews at your at your ngertips everyevery weekweek fingertips $1.00 JustJust $1!.00!
Greyounds sports Greyounds sports section teaser section teaser Sports,Sports, Page XPage X
at the newsstand at the newsstand
$1 at$1the at newsstand the newsstand
TheHealdsburg HealdsburgTribune Tribune The Enterprise & Scimitar Enterprise & Scimitar
Visit for daily updates on local news views www.healdsburgtribune.com for daily updates on local news andand views Our 159th year,Visit Number 8 www.healdsburgtribune.com Healdsburg, California
Our 155th year, Number 00© ur 155th year, Number 00©
YET ANOTHER ‘OUTSTANDING HEALDSBURG DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY’
February 22, 2024
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
Date, Date, 20202020
88 ACRES OF CITY LAND HIT REAL ESTATE MARKET By Christian Kallen
Photos courtesy TEDx Sonoma County
It may be hard to believe there are more than 88 acres of land inside city limits on the market, but a recent listing by Jones Lang LaSalle Brokerage Inc. presents just such an “outstanding opportunity.” Visuals in the 5-page, full-color promotional listing show multistory apartments or office space, treelined streets and a riverside park. The copy promises “a high quality, mixed-use development, which may include a luxury destination hotel, townhomes, single family residences, and a mixture of retail & related commercial uses.” The property, the former gravel mine owned and operated for years by Syar Industries, sold in 2022 to Vulcan Materials Co., an Alabama-based company in a similar business. It is located along Old Redwood Highway as it enters town south of the Memorial Bridge, and is entirely within Healdsburg’s city limits. The appearance of the Syar property on the real estate landscape is causing ripples in the community as well as the offices of city hall. But city officials and community voices caution that there’s a long road to travel between the current status of the property—a played-out gravel mine, mounds of tailings and a homeless encampment being removed by Reach for Home—and the utopian vision presented. What piques some local concern is its resemblance to a similar array of development options already being pursued at North Village, just inside the northern city limits. Enso
WELCOME Jennifer Raiser spoke at the 2023 TEDx Sonoma County about Burning Man, which she described as ‘a carnival on Mars.’ This year 13 guest speakers will elevate and stimulate attendees on Saturday, March 2.
TEDx Returns With Inspiration ‘IDEAS WORTH SPREADING’ TO BE SHARED AT JACKSON THEATER Staff Report
The Big Brains are coming back to Sonoma Country Day School, and we’re not talking about the senior class. TEDx Sonoma County returns to the spacious, comfortable Jackson Theater on Saturday, March 2, for a lively afternoon of intellectual stimulation and life-changing inspiration from a dozen speakers who have something to say.
This year’s theme, “Reimagine, Reconfigure, Reconnect,” is a classic TED sentiment: brief, open-ended and alliterative. “We’ve entered a cycle of seismic change and are challenged to keep pace with the political, economic and social consequences of new technologies and an accelerated world,” said Anisya Fritz, proprietor of Lynmar Estate and master of ceremonies of the local TEDx talks. Fritz said that this year’s list of presenters “inspires us to lean into big questions with curiosity and courage, and to participate in the shaping of a better future.”
We’ve entered a cycle of seismic change and are challenged to keep pace with the political, economic and social consequences of new technologies and an accelerated world.” ANISYA FRITZ It will mark the 12th local year of the independent community offshoot of the celebrated TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conferences. Along with producer
Marilyn Nagel, Fritz is a primary license holder for TEDx Sonoma County, a qualifying conference of the 40-year-old national organization whose motto is, “Ideas worth spreading.”
➝ Development, 7
The Saturday event begins at 1:30pm and runs through 12 presentations expressing a variety of voices and perspectives. The standard duration for a TED-style talk is 18 ➝ TEDx Returns, 3
CAMPAIGN FOR ASSEMBLY GETS DOWN AND DIRTY ‘CARPETBAGGER’ CHARGES, DEEP POCKETS DISRUPT ELECTION PROCESS By Christian Kallen
Photo by Christian Kallen
VOTING Ballots are now being accepted at the Healdsburg drop box at City Hall, 401 Grove St.
In early February, about the time vote-by-mail ballots began arriving at registered voters’ homes, political mailers began appearing as well—glossy, eye-catching, attention-grabbing, oversized postcards. Most promoted their candidate of choice by touting
community endorsements, grassroots support, party or labor connections. But during the past three weeks open conflict between two candidates, Rusty Hicks and Ariel Kelley, erupted into hit advertising through direct mail and targeted video. The initial attacks on Hicks pictured him in an L.A. Dodgers baseball cap, a sure-fire trigger for Northern Californians. The obvious, if not overstated conclusion is that he is not really a local, but a recent arrival coincident with Jim Woods’ early departure from the 2nd Assembly District seat. Hicks is presented as the definition of carpetbagger, who flew a loopy route up north from Santa Monica to Sacramento just to run for Assembly in Arcata. “He knows little more about our area than
a tourist,” the mailer digs. Hicks is perhaps the best-funded candidate for the District 2 seat, with the endorsement and support of a battalion of labor groups. He is simultaneously continuing to serve as the chair of the California Democratic Party, as he has since 2019. He currently lives in Humboldt County and teaches at the nearby federal penitentiary, Pelican Bay. He is endorsed by Jim Wood, the man he is running to replace, as well as by Gov. Gavin Newsom (whose endorsement is infrequently mentioned), several previous Assembly persons and labor leader Dolores Huerta, among many other organized labor organizations. While the North Coast district has not always been a power broker in state politics, the firepower ➝ Campaign for Assembly, 6