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‘SHENKMAN LETTER’ PROMPTS AN OVERHAUL OF HBURG ELECTIONS
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
November 21, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
THREAT OF LAWSUIT SPLITS CITY INTO COUNCIL DISTRICTS By Christian Kallen
➝ ‘Shenkman Letter,’ 4
Photo by Michael Lucid
The names on the letterhead strike terror in the hearts of city governments across the state. Malibu-based attorneys Shenkman & Hughes, since 2011, have made it their mission to call out local governments in California that elect officers by “at large” voting. That happened just this month in Healdsburg, where the whole city was asked to vote for three candidates to fill three at-large seats on the City Council. Citing the 2001 California Voting Rights Act (CVRA), the lawyers argue that law and public policy “disfavors” at-large voting, which (again according to the letter) “cause elected officials to ‘ignore [minority] interests without fear of political consequences.” Since winning a case against the City of Palmdale in 2012, Kevin Shenkman and his wife Mary Hughes usually have only to file their letter urging cities to “voluntarily change its at-large system of electing its City Council” to achieve compliance, since it’s a rare city that will choose to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees only to lose. Critics say that Shenkman is shaking down jurisdictions for a $30,000 payment to avoid a lawsuit. And since 2016, more than 150 cities have taken that course of action, according to a December 2023 article in the San Francisco Chronicle. But it’s entirely legal, and if this is the result required by the state Voting
IT’S ONLY 5K Runners take off from the starting line at Healdsburg Running Company in 2022. The 12th annual running of the Turkey Trot will take place at
8am next Thursday, Nov. 28.
Here Come the Holidays, Ready or Not ENJOY THE SEASON IN THE COUNTRY’S THIRD BEST HOLIDAY TOWN Staff Report
Stay Healdsburg, the public-facing arm of the Chamber of Commerce, is making a big deal about the holidays—like most chambers generally do. There are champagne soirees, wreath-making classes, a holiday hit records festival at Little Saint, the Merry Healdsburg treelighting in the Plaza and if one can wait long enough, the New Year’s Eve Celebration at Coyote Sonoma. It adds fuel to the social media fire sparked by last month’s selection of Healdsburg as No. 3 in a national poll of “Christmas Towns,” in Newsweek’s online magazine readers’ poll. The No. 1 spot went to Grapevine, Texas, for its “magical rides aboard the North Pole Express” and “life-size village that you can walk through,” (although both are inside
the enormous Grapevine Mills shopping mall, as those features are not otherwise available in Texas). At No. 2 is the small Danish town of Solvang, California, which hosts “Danish Christmas traditions like hunting for gnomes” among other charming mores. He a l d s b u r g c o m e s in third. Per Newsweek: “From tree lightings and night markets to complimentary carriage rides and photos with Santa, Healdsburg is the perfect place for a Sonoma wine country Christmas. Make your way downtown for the tree lighting ceremony, and then join a holiday wine and restaurant tour that takes you through some of the most festive—and tasty—parts of the city.” Unmentioned in that list of generalities is something unique to Healdsburg—the world’s largest collection of toy soldiers, at Costeaux French Bakery. In fact it’s fair to point out that if seeing Santa is the main attraction, he’ll be doing breakfast there every Saturday in December, from 9-11am. The lure
of checking in on a thousand toy soldiers proved too strong to keep him away; he’s fussy that way.
Turkey Trot
Everyone knows the Holidays begin with Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving in Healdsburg starts off with the Turkey Trot, a 5k “fun run” cosponsored by Rotary Sunrise, the Healdsburg Chamber and Healdsburg Running Company among other sponsors. This is the 12th year of the Turkey Trot, which once again is a scholarships fundraiser for disadvantaged kids who want to go to college, and an inspirational reminder of the positive energy that Drew Esquivel brought to everything he did. So “Live Like Drew”: Get up early—the gun goes off at 8am—and tackle those five kilometers like a winner. For more information, go to 5ktrot.com.
‘Season to Sparkle’
As if on cue, Stay Healdsburg issued their pre-seasonal
CITY PICKS FIRST ARTS & CULTURE COMMISSION 7 NAMED TO NEWEST CITY ADVISORY GROUP By Christian Kallen
Photo courtesy Healdsburg Arts Festival
BE THE ART A face-painting station at the Sept. 28 Healdsburg Arts Festival in the Plaza, which brought together artists, art-lovers and the generations.
Healdsburg’s reputation as a wine and food mecca is only part of the town’s luster. Add to that the arts, which have always been a vital part of Healdsburg’s community life, and the cultural diversity that this town surrounded by farms and vineyards has always enjoyed. Now it’s official: The He a l d s b u r g A r t s a n d Culture Commission will
greeting eblast, with many of those same holiday tricks in a package called “Season to Sparkle,” which started last weekend with a Sparkling Soirée at Barndiva, and continues through the rest of the year at individual businesses and public events. The eblast also doubled as a recruitment pitch for the Chamber’s Window Decorating Contest, encouraging local businesses to “add even more sparkle to our streets” by taking part in the friendly competition. Shop owners should start decorating now, register their store and be ready for judging in three categories—Best Overall, Most Sparkling and Most Creative—during the first week of December. Winners will be announced on Dec. 9. “Late night shopping” is planned for the downtown area, with live music and festive treats as all shops stay open until 7pm on four selected days: Nov. 29 (Friday), Dec. 9 (Monday), Dec. 13 (Friday) and Dec. 20 (Friday). No, 7pm is not particularly late, but it
does add a couple of valuable shopping hours to the day for most gift stores. The welcome return of Merry Healdsburg, a recent tradition that has a lock on the first week in December, is on Friday, Dec. 6. Festivities from 5-9pm include a winter whirlwind of carriage rides, live music and a holiday night market all revolving around the treelighting ceremony itself. That feat of electronic illumination is generally managed by Santa and several of his civic helpers. Again this year, the Sugarplums, a tongue-in-chic trio of singers of holiday favorites, from Big Crosby to Phil Spector to Manhattan Transfer, will perform. The following Friday, Dec. 13, the Chamber’s focusing attention on the Vinyl Valley “Festival Friday Flight” at Little Saint. The holiday hits take a spin on the turntable from DJ Saint Rose Disco, and stills and sparklings from eight Dry Creek Valley wineries lubricate the two-hour
enter the exclusive ranks of quasi-governmental advisory bodies in town, joining the Planning, Parks and Recreation, and Senior Citizens commissions at the top of the menu on the city website. They don’t get much newer than this: The seven members of the commission were all appointed on Monday night at the Nov. 18 meeting of the City Council. They were introduced by Councilmember Chris Herrod; Mayor David Hagele was also on the ad hoc committee to make the selection of the commissioners, but Herrod did the honors. “It was somewhat daunting to see that we had 17 people apply,” Herrod said. “It’s become somewhat customary to gush about how great the applicants are who apply for these commission appointments. And I’ve been a part of a couple of them, and it’s never been
more true than this one.” Of the 17 applicants, Herrod and Hagele interviewed 15 (there were two missed appointments), with a wide variety of “skills, backgrounds, passions,” as Herrod said. They “drilled down” with 10 questions each, and their only regret is that a viable youth commissioner could not be found, with only one eligible Healdsburg High student among the applicants. Commission terms will be three years, but named on Monday night were four commissioners for threeyear terms, and three for two-year terms, so in coming years the selection process will be more staggered.
➝ Third Best, 6
The Commissioners
Three-year commissioners chosen were: Michiko Conklin, a former Parks and Recreation ➝ Arts & Culture, 6