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COUNCILMAN COMES AROUND ON GROWTH MANAGEMENT ORDINANCE
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
June 6, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
JUNE 3 DISCUSSION CONVINCED AT LEAST ONE COUNCILMEMBER TO BACK BALLOT OPTION By Chris Herrod
These views were prepared independently for the benefit of Councilmember Chris Herrod’s newsletter subscribers and may not necessarily reflect the views of other councilmembers.
Photo by Emma K Creative
The Growth Management Ordinance, the GMO, was adopted with good intentions. I voted for it myself, thinking it would safeguard “measured growth” and would protect our town from sprawl (in a 2000 citywide election). It might have done those things, but the unintended negative impacts are clear. We haven’t built a single multi-family rental (over 5 units) in the 24 years since voters adopted Healdsburg’s GMO. This failure has contributed partially to wildly escalating rents and home prices—and has certainly contributed to dwindling options for Healdsburg’s working-class majority. Opening the GMO has long been suggested as a way to give housing developers the options needed to engineer financing. On the other hand, by excluding expensive single-family dwellings and by installing proper zoning rules and size limits, the City keeps the focus squarely on workforce housing as opposed to more luxury housing. We need feasibility and commitment from both sides of the equation to reach our goals. At our June 3rd meeting the Council solidified a path that encourages workforce housing in specific areas, while maintaining the GMO throughout the neighborhoods, Plaza area and ridgeline.
HIGH POUR Laurel Livezey, head sommelier and wine program manager, pours wine for guests at The Second Story. The upstairs restaurant’s program has been discontinued; the space will be used for events.
Little Saint to Close Upstairs Restaurant FOCUS TURNS TO GROUNDFLOOR CAFE, SECOND STORY AS EVENT SPACE By Simone Wilson
The fanciest vegan finedining restaurant in the Bay Area, located right here in Healdsburg, will shut down just shy of its first birthday. The restaurant is called Second Story. It opened last July on, yes, the second story of Little Saint—that 10,000-square-foot emporium on North Street for experimental vegan food, “slow wine,” cocktails, coffee, art, live music and other events, both public and private. In particular, in the two years since Little Saint
regular community events like farmer-led singalongs for kids; yoga sessions; author and winemaker talks; and a series of cocktail-making classes under the tagline “Your Drink Is Trash,” utilizing leftover farm-to-table ingredients from the vegan cafe operation. Second Story’s last day of service will be next Friday, June 14. Little Saint launched the restaurant last summer, with a 12-course experience costing $120, to big hype about the chef at the helm: Stu Stalker from Copenhagen’s Michelin three-starred Noma restaurant. In their closing statement this week, Second Story’s founders called it “an incredible year” during which they’ve been able to “open hearts and minds to what’s possible with plantbased cuisine.”
opened, its intimate upstairs concert space—which occupies the same physical area as the Second Story restaurant—has grown into quite the buzzy local music venue, where top acts like Boygenius and Jenny Lewis play to sold-out crowds. “Our team recognized that we couldn’t sustain a high level of performance in each of our upstairs experiences simultaneously,” said Little Saint’s spokesperson, Sara Beckstead. Little Saint leadership elaborated in a statement: “Behind the scenes, our team does a weekly ‘dance’ upstairs to transition from a community event to live music to the restaurant and onto a private party. While we love the dynamic use of our space, we want to focus our team’s energies on further building our community.” Little Saint also hosts
Chef Stalker and his culinary team will remain on staff, according to spokesperson Beckstead. She stressed that Little Saint owners Laurie and Jeff Ubben are simply phasing out one aspect of their multifaceted operation and doubling down on events. She also said they’ ll be “infusing some of the experiences and energy” from Second Story into the more casual ground-floor cafe and lounge. “While you won’t see specific dishes from the Second Story restaurant in our cafe and lounge,” she said, “you can expect a more regularly evolving menu with fresh influences.” Little Saint’s predecessor in the giant, hangar-like building at 25 North St. was a similar concept called SHED. The previous owners, Doug Lipton and Cindy
Daniels, closed SHED after five years due to what they called “a tough retail year following the 2017 Sonoma County fires.” This week, when news broke about Second Story, Beckstead said certain headlines caused some customers to think the entire Little Saint operation was shutting down. “That’s tough for a business,” she said. “We’re here. We’re not going anywhere. We’re only investing further into the community.” Beginning June 17, the cafe and lounge at Little Saint will expand its opening hours to seven days a week—from 8am to 9pm on Sunday through Wednesday, and 8am to 10pm on Thursday through Saturday. The event schedule can be found at littlesainthealdsburg.com/happenings.
within walking distance of most in-town residents. Many families returning to these neighborhood parks are finding a new element on the swing set—a green adaptive swing, with a sturdy molded seat and a drop-down harness, that gives disabled children the opportunity to swing like other kids. At Giorgi Park, the bulked-out green swing hangs from a tripod structure with three other regular swings, but they all provide one of the quintessential play activities that kids enjoy: a gentle ride back and forth, propelled by a supportive parent or the child’s own weight, ever higher into the realm of imagination. Emily Peterson brought her 5-year-old daughter, Aisley, to Giorgi Park in a stroller to try the new swing. They live almost a mile away near Badger Park, which doesn’t have a
swing that Aisley can enjoy. Once placed in the swing at Giorgi, though, Aisley clearly enjoyed the rhythmic movement, her mother’s attention and the proximity of other children. Aisley has Cornelia de Lange syndrome (CdLS), a genetic birth condition that leads to delayed physical development. Though she’s five years old, she’s quite small and nonverbal, with the condition’s distinctive facial appearance—but she can communicate enjoyment, or displeasure, when she feels it. And she loves the swing. The swings were installed at Giorgi, Gibbs and the new Barbieri Brothers city parks last year. The manufacturer, Miracle Recreation of Monett, Missouri, promises users “a high-flying ride while helping them coordinate head and eye
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GIVING ALL KIDS A CHANCE TO PLAY INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUNDS A GROWING TREND IN NEIGHBORHOOD PARKS By Christian Kallen
Photo by Emily Peterson
ADAPTABLE Aisley Peterson, 5, enjoys the new adaptive swing at Healdsburg’s Gibbs Park.
Healdsburg’s parks are getting more attention as summer approaches. But all the noise over the recent opening of the Fitch Mountain Open Space should not overshadow the value of the city’s parks system, especially the small neighborhood parks
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