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MANY NEW LAWS WITH LOCAL IMPACT TAKE EFFECT THIS MONTH
July 11, 2024
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
Date, Date, 20202020
RENTAL DEPOSITS, GUN TAXES, FAST TRACK FOR HOUSING PROJECTS AMONG THEM Weeklys Media Group
Below is a list of new state laws that affect the workplace, firearms, rental security deposits and more, that took effect last week.
Ammo and Gun Tax (AB 28) Otherwise known as the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act, the new law imposes an 11% tax on guns, gun parts and ammunition. It is expected to raise $160 million annually to fund school safety and violence prevention programs, including initiatives to prevent mass shootings, bolster firearm investigations and remove guns from domestic abusers. ➝ New Laws, 2
Photo by Rick Tang
Security Deposit Cap (AB 12) On July 1, a law took effect that prohibits landlords from charging more than one month rent for security deposits. Assemblymember Matt Haney, who authored the bill, said the practice of charging two or three times the monthly rental cost can create “insurmountable barriers” to housing affordability. California joins 11 other states in the country to limit security deposits to only one month’s rent. AB 12 does not impact small landlords who own only two properties with a total of no more than four units. Landlords can still seek damages from tenants who are responsible for harm to the property that exceeds the amount of the security deposit.
BEST CUPCAKE Daisy Atterbury, seen here with her parents Kit and Kala Atterbury, was a winner at last week’s Kids Fourth of July Parade, in the Best Costume (cupcake) category. The Kids Parade and Duck Dash went on as scheduled, but the fireworks show that evening was canceled.
The Big Show That Wasn’t WHY HEALDSBURG CANCELED THE FIREWORKS AND WHAT COULD BE NEXT By Christian Kallen
As more than 2,000 people crowded the Healdsburg Plaza on Thursday morning, July 4, to celebrate the holiday with a Kids Parade and an allcomers Duck Dash, a record-breaking celebration seemed in the works. Then the news broke over Healdsburg that afternoon like a nonincendiary bombshell, but it wasn’t a dud: The City had canceled the fireworks show scheduled to begin that evening shortly after the sun went down. “Due to current fire weather conditions in the region, we have made the difficult decision not to move forward with the fireworks show scheduled for the evening of the 4th,” read the message the City posted about 1:30pm.
behind an engine that day, which meant another station was short as well.” Robert Herrick succinctly termed the decision “BS,” then elaborated, “Simple, other towns, such as Windsor, had no issues with their fireworks shows. It was merely a fear based decision.” It’s true that other towns did move forward with their plans for city fireworks last week— including C loverdale, although its city manager suspended the sale of so-called “safe and sane” fireworks for personal use last week. In Napa County, however, both Yountville and St. Helena canceled their scheduled pyrotechnic displays this year, again citing concerns about wildfires. Healdsburg city staff were unapologetic. “Ultimately, the decision was mine, but it was made in consultation with our executive team and the Fire and Police Chiefs in particular,” said City Manager Jeff Kay.
“With a red flag warning in place for parts of Sonoma County and multiple active fire incidents in the region, we have concluded that we can’t proceed with sufficient confidence that the safety of the community will be protected,” the message from City Clerk Raina Allen continued. Needless to say, the decision was not greeted with universal enthusiasm. Comments on Facebook were split, with very little middle ground. They varied from “Wrong decision. Adding to the list of reasons to move” (Janell O’Connor) to “Very necessary! We don’t need another fire!” (Jazn Jaimee). Tenaya Fleckenstein wrote, “Many of the local resources were sent to other fires in our neighboring counties and regardless of what you might think we had less available exhausted firefighters than usual. Healdsburg CAL FIRE had to contract with a local engine to staff
RETURN OF THE COVID PANDEMIC? STAGE SHOWS DELAYED, PLANS CANCELED BY PERSISTENT VIRUS By Christian Kallen
Photo by John Cameron / Unsplash
POSITIVE The tell-tell red ‘T’ line shows the presence of the
coronavirus in a home test kit.
Samuel J. Gleason, the young actor who heads the cast of the Raven Players’ Company this month, started feeling poorly just after Father’s Day. “I had a cough, a scratchy throat, a headache,” he said later. “I had minor aches in certain parts of my upper and lower back. And also, just a sort of general fatigue, tiredness, not feeling great.”
“When looking at the totality of the conditions— a Red Flag Warning in significant portions of the county, an excessive heat warning, reports of extremely low fuel moisture and the prevalence of significant fire incidents in the region that were drawing firefighting resources out of Sonoma County— we did not have sufficient confidence that we could respond effectively if an incident were to take place locally during the show,” Kay continued.
Breaking with Tradition
It was the first time in memory that a Healdsburg Fourth of July fireworks show was canceled, though they did not take place during the Covid pandemic due to prohibitions against crowds. The traditional fireworks show, sponsored and organized by American Legion Post 111, is launched from the high school playing fields, with
Having had Covid previously, Gleason took a test on June 18 and the results came in positive. He called in sick for further rehearsals of the play, and found out he wasn’t the only one. His story was a common one in June throughout the area—fatigue, scratchy throat and a positive Covid test result, despite being fully vaccinated. So prevalent if under-reported is this latest Covid surge that CVS Pharmacy ran out of Covid test kits, as did other drug stores. Rite Aid in Healdsburg did manage to keep tests on hand, but the fact that some places did not is pretty clear evidence something’s going around. Most of the Company cast gamely continued rehearsals, but the play— originally scheduled to open June 28—was delayed a week. According to Harry Duke, the Weeklys’ theater critic, it wasn’t
several streets in the area blocked to traffic so people can gather to watch the show. As Kay explained, this was a major factor in the cancellation. “Our concern wasn’t necessarily that the fireworks from the official show would cause a significant fire—this is very unlikely—but that the presence of the crowds and all of the necessary logistical support would inhibit our ability to respond to any type of emergency situation,” he said. Since Healdsburg prohibits personal use of fireworks by law, any fireworks heard or seen that night were illegal. Police Chief Matt Jenkins reported that while there were local complaints of illegal fireworks July 4, the number was not out of the ordinary. “We had four reports of illegal fireworks on the Fourth,” he told the Tribune. “In each instance, the fireworks had ceased prior to officers arriving.” ➝ Fireworks, 4
the only show affected by the virus: Kinky Boots at 6th Street Playhouse and Lend Me a Tenor at Sonoma Arts Live both delayed their June openings, and the opera The Passion of Joan of Arc to be staged in Sonoma was canceled outright. While not making the headlines it did in the early days of the pandemic, four years ago, Covid is clearly not a thing of the past. Insofar as the Healdsburg Tribune has a staff, we’ve both got it, or have had it recently. The difficulty in finding test kits adds to the challenge of finding the exact number of cases—and even if a home test shows positive, there’s no requirement to report the results. Healdsburg District Hospital says it doesn’t have tests for the public, although if someone shows up at the Emergency Room as a patient, they can be tested. ➝ Pandemic, 6