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OPEN MIC: SMART OWES PUBLIC A REVIEW OF RAILROAD BRIDGE PLANS
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
December 5, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
SPAN BUILT IN 1901 IS ONLY SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF ITS TYPE By Mark Horne
➝ Railroad Bridge, 7
Photos by Rick Tang
Healdsburg’s Russian River Railroad Bridge is the sole remaining example of a steel Subdivided Warren Truss bridge on the former line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Built in 1901, the bridge has three spans supported by four concrete piers, a steel deck and superstructure on both sides of a single track. In 2005, Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) released a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the environmental impacts from construction and operation of the entire SMART system. The Draft EIR assumed Railroad Bridge could be rehabilitated per Secretary of the Interior guidelines, but concluded necessary modifications would disrupt the historic integrity of the structure. A r c h i va l p h o t o g ra phy of the bridge and the incorporation of “new concrete members… colored to match the existing metal [superstructure] would reduce visual impacts to less than significant...”as the rehabilitated bridge would be visually consistent with the original design. When SMART’s board of directors certified the Final EIR in 2006, the mitigation measures in the Draft & Final EIRs became conditions of project approval. In an October 2023 workshop at the Healdsb u r g S e n i o r C e n t e r, SMART’s general manager, Eddy Cumins, informed
PROFESSIONAL TOUCH David Vega of Image Tree Services stretches to place an ornament just right on the 2024 Healdsburg Christmas tree on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
Setting the Stage for the Holidays ‘MERRY HEALDSBURG’ TREE-LIGHTING INCLUDES SANTA, SHOPPING AND THE SUGARPLUMS By Christian Kallen
When Santa Claus throws the big switch that illuminates the “Merry Healdsburg!” tree on Friday night, it will be the culmination of many days, many more people-hours and many thousands of dollars invested in the display. Will it be worth it? Heck yeah! This year’s Merry Healdsburg party is, surprisingly, only the fourth for this still-fresh city celebration, though the tradition of a tree-lighting the first week of December is much older. But it used to be a quieter affair—maybe the Community Band would play a program of holiday music from the gazebo stage or something, but the glamor and the glitz of Merry Healdsburg didn’t start until 2021. Though this tree is two feet shorter than last
Soaps, candles, amethysts, pottery, lavender and more are sold by local vendors— the market manager is Janet Ciel, who manages the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market almost all year round and twice in summer. The lighting of the tree, which is expected on the hour or close to it, is an astonishing revelation that emphasizes not only the height of the tree but its width and conical shape with 5,000 colored lights in both wrapped and vertical strings. “First day, we wrapped the tree in lights. Second day, we finished with the ones that come from the top, and then we do the ornaments,” said Rich Swartz, the recreation supervisor for the job with the Community Services Department.
year’s, in every other way Merry Healdsburg 2024 is a larger-than-life expansion of the “winter wonderland” concept. The jinglejangle is everywhere, from the free Cinderella-worthy carriage rides around the colorfully lit Plaza to the surrounding sounds of holiday song.
Here Comes Santa Claus
Santa should show up after dark, but this is not a night for anyone to show up late. The attendance for Merry Healdsburg grows every year, and with this weekend’s good weather, it’s sure to beat last year’s rainsoaked crowd of 2,000. The evening begins with a 5pm holiday performance by the Healdsburg Chorus, and before 6pm, Santa arrives. Meanwhile a 76-vendor Holiday Night Market starts up in full swing, with everything from hot savory foods to sweet and baked goods, gifts and crafts, plus wine and beer. And that’s just the basics.
This Year’s Tree
Speaking of the tree, once again it is a farmed white fir from Jones Forest Products in southwestern Oregon, many a city’s usual source for Christmas trees
FAHERTY OPENS AS COUNCIL CONSIDERS THE FORMULA ISSUE THOUGHT RESOLVED IN 2011 RETURNS TO HAUNT HEALDSBURG By Christian Kallen Photo by Christian Kallen
SIGN OF THE TIMES A new ‘formula store,’ using a common retail aesthetic among ten or more stores, opened recently just three doors from the Plaza.
The City Council returned this week to an issue it wrestled with once before: The opening of “formula stores” in the downtown shopping area. Skip Brand of Healdsburg Running Company and Merete Wimmer of Rete, among others, raised
(“Majestic Christmas Trees – No Tree Is Too Large,” the company proclaims). Healdsburg has even published an About Our Tree pdf that can be downloaded from the city’s website. It includes the history of the tree’s 40-year growth cycle, from innermost ring to harvest, and a photograph of the cross-section of the trunk for anyone interested in counting the rings. To see the real thing, go to the Healdsburg Plaza. The tree’s been standing since the middle of last week, once the rains let up and it could be delivered on its huge double trailer, then sunk in a custom Christmas tree holder in the middle of the Plaza’s west lawn. O n Tu e s d ay a f t e r noon, workers rose on bent-neck cranes into the green shaped canopy, to dangle ornaments in primary colors from its limbs and branches, as Swartz directed their movements from the ground. “Each year the tree’s a little different,” said Swartz, who has acted as
alarms last summer about the lease of a storefront at 326 Healdsburg Ave. to a national men’s clothing store brand, Faherty. Their complaints reached the council on Aug. 19, and they turned it over to the Planning Department to figure out how to deal with it. Monday night that issue returned to the council with a report from the senior planner, Ellen McDowell, augmented by additional input from the community. Her solution: Expand the zone wherein formula stores are prohibited, from just around the Plaza to almost seven full city blocks, from the roundabout to Nor th Street, from Foss Creek to East Street. The weight of the largely positive public comment, however, was to further refine those borders around the edges, to make this expanded
the city’s St. Nick for the past three years. “This one’s 46 feet. Last year was 48. But this one’s three feet wider, so it’s a little fluffier.” How many ornaments will be used overall? “I think we’re at 700 now. We had 600; we added more this year,” Swartz said.
Elsewhere in the Plaza
Back to the Merry Healdsburg events. Following the tree-lighting that will reveal the fir in its finest glory, Santa will stick around for photos with the kids (and their parents, if they insist). At around 6:45pm the Sugarplums, a trio of talented young women in red Santa suits, will perform. Their style is based around Andrews Sisters-styled female harmony, with a nod and a wink. While their musical accompaniment is pre-recorded— don’t go looking under the palms for a hidden string section—the vocals are ➝ Tree Lighting, 4
definition of downtown something that everyone could agree on.
Behind the Open Door
In the meantime, Faherty opened its store in the former Ooh La Luxe space, a roomy but narrow showplace for the upscale beach fashion Faherty is known for. It opened on Nov. 3, just one month ago, and while a robust “grand opening” was originally planned, it didn’t happen. “We did more of a soft one, and then kind of just rolled right into shopping season,” said Iyayi Onaghinor, the local store manager. The shop is filled with high-quality clothing, not inexpensive, and more stylish than one might find at another men’s store in town. “It gives off, like, a beach feel and a beach vibe to it when you walk ➝ City Council, 7