LocalLocal newsnews at your at your ngertips everyevery weekweek fingertips $1.00 JustJust $1!.00!
Greyounds sports Greyounds sports section teaser section teaser
BEST OF HEALDSBURG 2024 INSIDE
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 45 www.healdsburgtribune.com Healdsburg, California
Our 155th year, Number 00© ur 155th year, Number 00©
CITY SETTLES INCLUSIONARY HOUSING FEE LAWSUIT
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
November 7, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
$35,000 SETTLEMENT MADE TO AVOID ‘PROTRACTED LEGAL DISPUTE’ By Christian Kallen
Family Matter
As reported earlier in the Tribune and elsewhere, the suit was brought in early September by the Pacific Legal Foundation of Sacramento and Seattle on behalf of Jessica Pilling and her husband Chris, owners of bikehealdsburg.com. They planned to build a new, 2,108-square-foot ➝ City Settles, 4
Photo by Christian Kallen
In late October it was announced that the City of Healdsburg had reached a settlement with a local couple who challenged a required $20,000 inclusionary housing fee for a new house and ADU on their residential property. The settlement, for $35,000, puts a temporary end to a legal challenge of the City of Healdsburg’s inclusionary housing fee policy. City Manager Jeff Kay said, “Regardless of the strength of our case, the alternative was to spend exponentially more money on a protracted legal dispute, which would have redirected funds away from housing programs for our community.” But Kay said the settlement did not invalidate the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance as a tool for supporting the development of affordable housing for residents. “When projects are unable to provide affordable housing units, they are generally required to pay an in-lieu fee to support the City’s efforts to build those units. This policy framework has been validated repeatedly by California courts and is consistent with the approach taken by many other cities,” he said.
ELECTION DAY Christine Webster shows her enthusiasm about voting for a woman as president at the Healdsburg Community Center on Election Day, 2024.
The next day she described herself as bewildered and sad, but said, ‘I can’t lose hope—I refuse to give up.’
Last Election of Its Kind HEALDSBURG HEADED FOR DISTRICT ELECTION MODEL FOR CITY COUNCIL By Christian Kallen
On Tuesday night, the five residents on the ballot for the Healdsburg City Council whiled away the afterdinner hours downtown, waiting for the results of the day’s general election. Although newcomer Heather Hannan-Kramer was nowhere to be found, Ariel Kelley and her extended family at Healdsburg Bar and Grill, and David Hagele and Ron Edwards with their entourages at the Elephant in the Room, had their own worries in mind. It was after 8:30pm that the first results of the election came in from Sonoma County Registrar
obligation for one or both of her two children.
of Voters, and the short read was that the three incumbents—Kelley (2,186 votes as of 2am the next morning), Hagele (2,095) and Edwards (2,219)— had been re-elected to the council seats. A cheer went up at the Elephant outside table, followed by a toast to Edwards, who early in the count had won the most votes of the three. Repeating an adage of local political candidates, Hagele said, “Walk, knock, and win.” Edwards for the past two cycles has made it a point to knock on every door in Healdsburg, and once again it paid off. The other candidates all did their share of walking, but none approached Edwards’ diligence (or step-count). Shortly thereafter Linda Cade, the fifth candidate and last place in the race (995 votes), dropped by as well. Hannan-Kramer (out of the running at 1,321) never did make it, presumably dealing with a parental
The Shenkman Letter
But all candidates shared the awareness that this was the last election of its kind, a city-wide free-for-all where the top three finishers, or two depending on the year, could claim victory. In late September a letter had arrived by Certified Mail, addressed to City Clerk Raina Allan, from the law firm of Shenkman & Hughes—the dread “Shenkman Letter” that so many cities in California have received over the last few years. Since 2016, the firm has sent letters to jurisdictions all over the state, demanding they adhere to a tight reading of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, which requires elections to reflect the demographics of the jurisdiction that holds them. So a city like Healdsburg, which elects five
MOLTI AMICI DREAM ENDS WITH RUDE AWAKENING ONCE-POPULAR DOWNTOWN DINING SPOT LOCKS ITS DOORS FOR GOOD Staff Report
Photo collage by Christian Kallen
REGRETS A message posted on social media on Nov. 3 announced the abrupt closure of Molti Amici, a restaurant that had only been open 16 months in a prime Healdsburg Avenue location.
The news that the Italianesque Molti Amici on Healdsburg Avenue was the latest café to fail spread like olive oil through our fair city early this week, proving that Restaurant Roulette continues to “be a thing” in Healdsburg. The coming and going of popular local eateries (and an entrepreneur’s gamble in opening one)
council members as a city should instead elect them by district, and should instead divide up its 4.1 square miles of geography into five districts. After the first few cities to contest Shenkman’s letter failed in the courts, at great legal expense, most cities acquiesced without a fight, though not without injury—Shenkman demands $30,000 to prevent a lawsuit, and usually gets it. As of a year ago the law firm had successfully extorted 151 jurisdictions in the state, and now it’s Healdsburg’s turn. It will be a lengthy and contentious process to carve Healdsburg into five districts, but it’s inevitable. The first public airing of this challenge will be at the next City Council meeting, on Nov. 18.
Other Races
The council members knew theirs wasn’t the
has almost become a betting game in town. Is it Risk? Blackjack? Craps? At the start, Molti Amici gave every indication of hitting Bingo. The location was much-loved by locals, having housed Ari Rosen’s Campo Fina for 10 years and A Divine Affair, a Ukrainian restaurant, prior to that. It was only a few steps off the Plaza, and featured not only a large stone pizza oven but a bocce court as well (both left over from Campo Fina). Jonny Barr, the former SingleThread general manager who waxed enthusiastic over the opportunity to open his dream restaurant in Healdsburg—where in 2023 he vowed to live forever—enlisted other high-profile local foodies to help with the menu. Sean McGaughey and Melissa Yanc, alumni of the SingleThread universe as well, signed on as co-executive chefs at the new restaurant.
only race on the ballot. The highly-contested Measure O, to exclude the downtown area from the city’s long-standing Growth Management Ordinance to permit multi-unit housing, had lost by a firm 60-40 split. This despite a concentrated and expensive push by the city, including members of the council acting individually, to sell voters on the plan. Measure R, a school district bond initiative, was passing with 63% though only 55% was needed for the voters’ approval. It authorizes $49.5 million in bonds for school deferred maintenance, improvements and construction. At the same time, voters filled three seats on the Healdsburg Unified School District Board of Trustees—incumbent Rose McAllister, and former trustees Donna Del Rey and Judy Velasquez. ➝ City Council, 2
And the initial response was through the roof. However, the glow soon faded. McGaughey and Yanc quietly slipped away, to attend to their own projects at the Troubadour bakery across the street from the restaurant, and the Quail and Condor bakery farther down Healdsburg Avenue. Yelp reviews began to slip, with negative comments first about the indifferent service, then the food and the prices, and even Barr himself. While most diners gave it high marks, a persistent undercurrent of disappointment dragged the numbers down. Over the summer, Molti Amici scored a couple of status points in the form of a mention in the Michelin Guide’s list of recommended restaurants for 2024, as well as a Bib Gourmand designation for “good quality, good value cooking.” ➝ Molti Amici Dream, 7