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STATE NEEDS TO APPROVE CLIMATE BOND MEASURE FOR NOVEMBER’S BALLOT
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
June 13, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
HEAT IS ON AS LEGISLATURE ATTEMPTS TO FINANCE DISASTER RELIEF
Photo courtesy of Chart Room Media
In a stirring display of unity, a formidable coalition of 170 groups converged on Sacramento last May to urge lawmakers to place a climate bond measure on California’s November ballot. This bond measure, if approved, would permit the state to borrow $10 billion for initiatives designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Consider this: California has endured 46 extreme weather events since 1980, each causing at least $1 billion in damages. The proposed bond is seen as a vital step toward addressing these increasingly frequent and costly disasters. Opponents of the measure point to concerns about adding to the state’s debt, particularly during a period marked by budget deficits. However, supporters argue that the bond measure is essential for securing dedicated funding for climate initiatives, especially during lean budget years. They emphasize that without this bond, critical climate projects could be sidelined due to financial constraints. The State Legislature is currently considering two bills that would place the bond measure on the ballot. Should it pass, the bond would represent the largest voterapproved climate investment in U.S. history, with at least 40% of the funds directed toward the most vulnerable communities. This commitment ensures that those who are most affected by climate change receive the support they
FLORAL JAZZ Singer Jazzmeia Horn will appear at Bacchus Landing on June 20 with the Marcus Shelby Orchestra, during the 26th Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
Jazz Comes Back to Healdsburg SATURDAY JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION KICKS OFF 9-DAY ANNUAL FESTIVAL By Christian Kallen
The City of Healdsburg began holding Juneteenth celebrations with the lifting of the Covid restrictions, and since then it’s also marked the kick-off of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival. The local nonprofit, which has brought worldclass jazz to this Wine Country town since 1999, always makes a point to educate and celebrate the cultural diversity that makes up America’s music, introducing a series of established jazz masters and rising stars to local stages. For this Juneteenth
vibraphonist Mike Horsfall, drummer Cecil Brooks III and bassist Marcus Shelby, the artistic director of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
event, on Saturday, June 15, educational workshops will take place on the Plaza during the 2-8pm festivities, along with no fewer than three performing bands on stage, plus jazz poet Enid Pickett and KCSM’s Greg Bridges, who will again emcee among other speakers. But it’s the musicians who will make the day. These include master trombonist Steve Turre (of the SNL band) with his sextet; a quintet featuring 89-yearold Houston Person and another saxophonist named Eric Person (called Person2Person); and a quartet called MJ New. This last is a group inspired by the Modern Jazz Quartet, a.k.a. MJQ—but MJ New, get it? Like its inspiration, it plays a blend of classical and jazz arrangements, led by pianist Darrell Grant,
The Shelby Era
“My interest is developing projects and programming around cultural holidays,” Shelby said. “Even outside of the festival, we have a Maya Angelou Day. Every year, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King. We always celebrate Women’s History Month somehow.” So a Juneteenth celebration is, as they say, in his wheelhouse. Though he’s only been the Festival’s artistic director since 2020, Shelby’s association with the education and performance nonprofit goes back 14 years. During that time he played a key role teaching in the
jazz-in-the-schools program, and he introduced one of the nonprofit’s key community programs, the Healdsburg Freedom Jazz Choir, now headed by Tiffany Austin. Shelby takes that intersection between education, community and the arts very seriously. “You know, I’m an artist,” he said. “Our education coordinator is an artist and vocalist; all of our teaching artists are running our various education programs. And so we put the artists smack dab in the middle.”
Artists First
Putting the artists first is one reason that Healdsburg has become a valued gig for the wide-ranging, globetrotting jazz artists of today. “Jessica Felix, who founded the organization and was the artistic director for
➝ Climate Bond, 4
TREES DEMAND EQUAL RIGHTS OAK WOODLANDS PITTED AGAINST REQUEST FOR MORE PARKING By Christian Kallen
Photo by Marlin Harms
FOREST A footpath winds through a blue oak woodland, one of the key ecosystems of coastal California. This trail is in the Tree Bridges Oak Preserve near Atascadero.
‘Don’t it always seem to go, That you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone They paved paradise, put in a parking lot.’ — Joni Mitchell, 1970, “Big Yellow Taxi” Even as a 130-year-old valley oak hangs onto life in one of the city’s oldest
neighborhoods, the City’s Planning Commission approved construction of a proposed parking lot at a resort on the north end of town that would remove more than 100 blue oaks. Two weeks after the Healdsburg Planning Commission voted to approve a new parking lot at Montage Healdsburg, members of the citizen group Climate Action Healdsburg (CAH) filed an appeal that will take the decision to the City Council for reconsideration. The formal appeal, dated June 7 (10 days after the May 28 Planning Commission meeting), was filed on Monday, June 10; the delay caused by the City’s recurring closed offices on alternate Fridays. Planning Director Scott Duiven confirmed in advance that the filing would be effective. Ty Benoit signed the appeal “on behalf of Climate Action Healdsburg.”
22 years, left a very, very strong foundation and a roadmap for us of how we have continued,” Shelby said. “And some of that is how we have an emphasis on how we treat artists.” The jazz giants who have found a receptive audience in Healdsburg are innumerable—Billy Higgins, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Lloyd, Eddie Palmieri, Abbe y Lincoln, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter, Roy Haynes, Bobby Hutcherson and Kenny Barron, to name a few. But don’t overlook the newcomers too, like Esperanza Spaulding in 2009 and more recently, Samara Joy just last year. “No one knew Samara Joy was going to win three Grammys between the time we booked her and the time she performed,” Shelby said. “These things you can’t ➝ Jazz, 4
Other members of CAH who worked on the appeal included local arborist Martha Hunt and Janis Watkins, an attorney. The proposed removal is for 107 blue oak trees on a .64-acre parcel next to a current parking lot at Montage Healdsburg resort, to make room for 44 new parking spaces. These, plus another 13 “infill” spaces, will add 57 spaces to the resort’s parking area, which will then total 269 parking spaces. The problem is, blue oaks are not as large as other oak species: When fully mature, they may not even reach 24 inches DBH (diameter at breast height), yet be 250 years old. Native-plant expert Hunt points out that blue oak woodland is one of the key ecosystems of the area we all live in: Sonoma County. ➝ Trees, 2