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CANNABIS UPDATE: 8 APPLY FOR DISPENSARY LICENSES
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
August 10, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
APPLICANTS FACE LENGTHY REVIEW BY CITY STAFF AND CONSULTANTS Staff Report
All photo by Christina Thai, except where noted
The process to bring at least one, possibly two cannabis dispensaries to Healdsburg is moving into its next stage, with the submission of eight applications for the coveted business licenses. The applicants are currently in a period of evaluation by the city and HdL, the consultant engaged by the city to manage the process. A “letter of completeness” to the applicants is expected this week; it’s possible one or more of the applicants will not meet the city’s threshold for the licenses, and the list of eight will be reduced. More than half of the cities in the county have already welcomed dispensaries to their jurisdictions—the exceptions to date being Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor and Healdsburg. Healdsburg’s reluctance to enter the market has faded in the last couple years, and the licensing of cannabis businesses is now underway. In April 2023, the council adopted a comprehensive cannabis policy and a competitive process for business licenses. Preparatory to the current process, the city approved a separate tax rate for cannabis businesses of up to 8%. Along with the names of the applicants, their chosen location for a dispensary has also been announced. Although it is allowed for more than one applicant to choose the same location (though only one dispensary would be allowed at any given address), the list of applicants shows that each has zeroed in on a different location.
PILE ON Moments after the third game of the CCL championship series ended on Aug. 6, the winning Healdsburg Prune Packers celebrated on the field their third consecutive CCL title.
Three-Peat! Packers Go the Distance Again HEALDSBURG’S BASEBALL TEAM SCORES RARE SPORTS SUCCESS By Christian Kallen
The term “three-peat” is well known though rarely earned in sports. But the Healdsburg Prune Packers proved themselves in exclusive company by winning their third consecutive championship title in the California Collegiate League (CCL). The entire series, as it is every year, is played in Southern California and not in the more hospitable atmosphere of the Packers’ Sonoma County— despite the fact that the Packers were once again the number-one seed in the championship series,
Division Playoff
not least because of their winning the championship the last two years. “The adversity that we felt going down there was pretty apparent,” said team GM and coach Joey Gomes, the day after that third game. “But, you know, we all kind of gathered together, and the message was, they have to play us on the field. The antics are going to be over once that umpire says, ‘Play ball.’” Case in point: Though the games were broadcast on the CCL South YouTube channel, the commentators were from the Arroyo Seco Saints and, of all things, the Walnut Creek Crawdads. Ironically, the Packers had defeated the Crawdads just days earlier to win the Northern Division title.
That Aug. 2 game for the division title was, as Gomes said, “a grind.” It clocked in at over four hours, an unheardof length in the majors these days, where the pitch clock has cut almost half an hour off every game. And it didn’t even go into extra innings, but was settled with a 10-7 score after the Crawdads top-of-theninth rally fell short. The game started out close, but the home team Packers accumulated runs in the twos and threes to lead 8-1 at the end of seven. A turning point of a sort came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Ivan Brethowr—who had already walked and doubled—was hit by a pitch. A 93-mph pitch. In the head. Gomes said the increase in hit batters, and walks, is
probably not out of malice. “It’s how players are training. Velocity makes money, not accuracy anymore. So if you throw a hundred miles an hour, you’re gonna get paid. They don’t care if you throw it in a rectangle or not,” he said, referring to the strike zone. The ball bounced off the big right fielder’s helmet as the Rec Park crowd groaned, but he shook it off and advanced to first. The next time Brethowr came to the plate, in the bottom of the eighth inning, the score had narrowed to 8-4. With a runner on, the UC Santa Barbara slugger turned on a 3-2 pitch and sent it over the right field fence. “A huge nail in the coffin home run,” said Gomes. “That sealed it, you know.” The Crawdads’ threerun rally in the top of the
ninth fell short, and the Packers headed for SoCal for their third championship series in a row.
Championship Series
The first game on Aug. 4 was played on Jackie Robinson Memorial Field near the Rose Bowl (the Hallof-Famer was a Pasadena native). It was a home game for the Arroyo Seco Saints, and they took advantage of it with a 7-3 win. The Prune Packers took an early 3-0 lead. But in the fourth inning, Saints star Connor Bradshaw (Pepperdine) cleared the bases with a 4-run grand slam that turned out to be all the runs they needed. The next day, Saturday, Aug. 5, the teams relocated ➝ Three-Peat!, 8
➝ Cannabis, 4
HISPANIC
VINTNERS CELEBRATE HARVEST AT BACCHUS ALDINA HOSTS ANNUAL ‘LA COSECHA’ FEATURING ART, FOOD, WINE By Christian Kallen Photo by Christian Kallen
HOST Monica Lopez of Aldina Vineyards, a winery named
for her parents, Al and Dina, welcomes the 11th annual La Cosecha Grand Tasting, to be held at Bacchus Landing on Aug. 19.
Since its opening two years ago, in July 2021, Bacchus Landing has become recognized as a prime place to hold larger events in Healdsburg, from the monthly “Music
on the Piazza” affair on first Saturdays, to several sold-out concerts for June’s Healdsburg Jazz Festival. On Saturday, Aug. 19, the expansive courtyard off Westside Road, surrounded by seven boutique winery tasting rooms, will be the site of the 11th annual La Cosecha Grand Tasting. The celebration will bring together most of the 20 wineries of the Mexican American Vintners Association (MAVA). Though the annual MAVA event usually takes place in eastern Sonoma County or Napa, this year Aldina Vineyards hosts the grand tasting, and the accompanying art presentation, Latin music, Mexican foods and fundraising activities. “We’re super excited
to host for the very first time,” said co-owner Monica Lopez. “A lot of the wineries within the MAVA group are actually Nava Valley-based, so I’m thrilled to have them come to the Sonoma County side.” Lopez owns the company along with her brother, Francisco, but it’s the spirit of their parents, Al and Dina Lopez, that pervades the endeavor— and explains the name of the winery itself. “Aldina Vineyards really started as a hobby project for my dad,” said Lopez during a tasting room visit recently. “They were the previous owners of Low Rider Magazine. And when they sold the business, they knew that they wanted to retire in Northern California wine country.” ➝ Hispanic Vintners, 4