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TheHealdsburg HealdsburgTribune Tribune The Enterprise & Scimitar Enterprise & Scimitar
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VOTERS HAVE OPTIONS TO CAST THEIR BALLOTS AS NOV. 5 NEARS
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
October 10, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
GENERAL ELECTION BALLOTS NOW ACCEPTED IN SONOMA COUNTY Staff Report
➝ Choices, 4
Photo Courtesy of Healdsburg Crush
Starting on Monday, Oct. 7, of this week, voters began to cast ballots for the Nov. 5 general election— including local, regional, state and national candidates and measures. Those voters will be using the Vote-By-Mail ballot system, whose ballots started going out to registered voters in Sonoma County on Oct. 7. Deva Marie Proto, the county’s Registrar of Voters, said the ballots are expected to take between three and 10 days to arrive. They will also include statements in favor of and against all measures, including local Measure O and county Measure J among others. Anyone who prefers not to wait to receive their ballot in the mail may instead pick up a Vote-by-Mail ballot or vote in person at the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office at 435 Fiscal Drive in Santa Rosa. For those who are homebound, traveling or otherwise unable to do so, any voter can also authorize somebody else to pick up a Vote-by-Mail ballot for them by filling out an Application to Provide Vote-by-Mail Ballot to Representative, available at the county registrar’s office. All this emphasis on the vote-by-mail alternative springs from a 2022 state law that gives voters more flexibility regarding when, where and how to cast their ballots. Counties conducting elections under this model must provide at least one official Ballot Drop Box
LYRICS Like the old song says, ‘Smiling faces sometimes sell wine … .’ Breauna Kanzler of Sebastopol’s Kanzler Vineyards greets tasters at last year’s Healdsburg Crush, an HTID-supported event. This year’s Crush is Sunday, Oct. 13.
‘Stay Healdsburg’ Awards $70,500 for Local Events WINE ROAD EVENTS, HEALDSBURG JAZZ AND THE 222 LEAD THE LIST By Christian Kallen
Stay Healdsburg—the hospitality arm of the Chamber of Commerce, funded by a benefit assessment district to promote travel to Healdsburg—announced this month more than $70,000 in sponsorships to 11 local organizations. Among the big winners are familiar recipients such as Healdsburg Jazz, The 222 programs and winery tasting events to be held next spring. The semiannual sponsorship program is derived from the local hospitality industry’s annual bed tax receipts. The contributions
Previous Largesse
fund arts, and cultural and educational activities, consequently improving tourism and promoting room stays among the 32 member lodging properties within city limits. The variety of the programs, ranging from “wine road” tasting events to theater presentations, Plaza events like a Turkey Trot and Merry Healdsburg, and a river-centric art project, also aim to enhance the residents’ overall quality of life. The awards are funded by the lodging partners of the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District, or HTID. Out of an annual HTID budget of over $1 million, with most revenue derived from a 2% tacked onto the city’s Transient Occupancy Tax, 15% is allocated for District Development grants.
Last year, in 2023, that resulted in more than $285,000 awarded to 23 recipients. This fall’s $7,500 in grants to 11 recipients is the first installment on the 2024-25 awards schedule. “ The latest round of sponsorships marks another amazing milestone for Healdsburg that will elevate the experiences the destination offers to our beloved locals and guests,” said the Chamber’s CEO, Tallia Hart. “We’re proud to support the unique Wine Country initiatives that make Healdsburg truly special.” Although the priority of “heads in beds,” or programs that generate revenue for the HTID through hotel bookings, is still in the mix for Stay Healdsburg’s
SQUIRREL CAUSES SUNDAY MORNING POWER OUTAGE Photo by Elena Takmakova/Unsplash
FURRY THREAT A squirrel has been held responsible for an
Oct. 6 power outage in Healdsburg, a not-unusual occurrence.
BUT RESIDENTS’ HIGH SUMMER UTILITY BILLS HAVE OTHER CAUSES By Christian Kallen
It seemed like adding insult to injury, opening a city utilities bill last month to find the bill had almost doubled,
grants, its director of tourism and marketing, Jessica Bohon, said that’s far from the only criteria. “The applications for sponsorships are reviewed by a committee of one Chamber Board Member, one City Council Member, one resident and one local business owner,” she wrote the Tribune. “Stay Healdsburg, the tourism improvement district for Healdsburg, comprises 32 luxury hotels, motels, modern lofts and suites, cozy bed & breakfasts and rustic inns within the city limits,” according to the press release announcing these awards.
Leading the Pack
This fall, the largest single awards of $12,500 were made to two separate events, the 2025 Passport
then finding oneself without power for several hours on Sunday morning. The latter event took place on Oct. 6, beginning at approximately 7:16am and ending at 8:42am. “The outage on Sunday morning was caused by a squirrel contacting Healdsburg’s high-voltage power lines,” said Terry Crowley, the city’s utilities director. “Roughly 1,435 customers were impacted by the 86-minute power outage.” A map posted on social media showed a swarm of affected properties along Powell and Healdsburg avenues, and many homes along Grove Street up Healdsburg Avenue to Parkland Farms. The incident was evidently caused by a squirrel climbing a pole at the corner of Monte Vista and Healdsburg avenues. Crowley said the city’s feed for the north part of town
to Dry Creek Valley, scheduled for next April; and several concerts referred to as the Healdsburg Jazz Winter Festival, from Jan. 30-Feb. 2 next year. Those numbers were an increase from the organizations’ awards last year, of $10,000 for the Passport event, and $5,000 for Healdsburg Jazz. “We are thrilled to be planning this first-ever event and we appreciate the support—it is so key,” said Gayle Okumura Sullivan, executive director of Healdsburg Jazz. “We plan to announce the lineup next month.” Runner-up in the fall’s cycle was an award of $10,000 each to three Wine Road winter events including the Wine & Food Affair in November, Winter Wineland in January ➝ Tourism, 4
runs down Powell Avenue and then up Healdsburg Avenue to the city’s northern border. “It has been hypothesized that the threat to the internet, infrastructure and services posed by squirrels may exceed that posed by cyberattacks,” according to a cybersecurity expert cited in a Wikipedia report, and a New York Times opinion columnist last year admitted his obsession with squirrel-caused power outages—such as that which shut down NASDAQ in 1987, and again in 1994. But the city didn’t just throw the breaker and get back to business as usual. Instead, according to Crowley, it took the opportunity to perform a “thorough inspection of overhead power lines before restoring power.” Persistent high daily temperatures and the lower ➝ Squirrel, 5