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FINAL DEI ‘ENCUENTRO’ TONIGHT ON AAPI
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
1865 –April 27, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
ASIAN AMERICAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER CULTURAL COMMUNITIES EXPLORED By Christian Kallen
➝ Final Encuentro, 4
Photo by Christian Kallen
The fifth and final “encuentro” takes place at 6:30 tonight, Thursday, April 27, on the subject of “Is the Dream Alive and Well in Healdsburg?” It will provide a venue for panelists and community members to discuss the contemporary and historical experiences of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in Healdsburg and Sonoma County. Encuentro is the word adopted by the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultants, Acosta Educational Partnership, headed by Curtis Acosta. While its simplest meaning is a “meeting,” the term encuentro underscores the multi-cultural context of the encounters. Like the previous encuentros, tonight’s gathering will be held at the Healdsburg Community Center Multi-Purpose Room (1557 Healdsburg Ave.). Earlier meetings have discussed Indigenous voices (Jan. 26), the African American community (Feb. 23), housing and planning (March 9), and labor and the migrant community (March 30). “We have had a community gathering nearly every month since the project started in earnest in August 2022,” said Acosta. “By embedding ourselves into the community through the encuentro process, we have been able to build an authentic assessment from the voices of Healdsburg residents.” Panelists for the April 27 meeting include the following Healdsburg residents who identify with the AAPI community: Gayle Okumura Sullivan, co-owner of Dry Creek
TRAIL STEWARDS City Councilmember David Hagele and Caryl Hart, the Great Redwood Trails Agency board chair,
visit the combined Foss Creek Pathway-Great Redwood Trail segment in Healdsburg.
Great Redwood Trail Heads for the Border ‘RAILBANKING’ PROVIDES FOR NON-POLLUTING USE OF RAIL CORRIDORS By Christian Kallen
The board of directors of the Great Redwood Trail Agency (GRTA) held its bimonthly meeting in Healdsburg last Thursday, April 20, reviewing the current status of an ambitious plan to convert 316 miles of rail corridor into pedestrian and bike paths from the San Francisco Bay to Samoa, in Humboldt Bay. They met just across the street from one of the first completed legs of the GRT itself, Healdsburg’s own Foss Creek Pathway. “Healdsburg was in fact the impetus for the Great Redwood Trail,” said
Sen. Mike McGuire, now majority leader of the state Senate, who has been the primary driver behind the Great Redwood Trail for almost 20 years. From 2004 to 2010, McGuire was a city councilmember, and the youngest mayor in Healdsburg’s history at 26. “I remember sitting in the council chambers looking out from the windows seeing folks walk up and down the tracks,” recalled McGuire. He said the idea of opening up the Foss Creek corridor to let folks explore the town by means of the unused rail route had been gaining momentum at the time. “The Foss Creek Trail really has changed the face for recreation in the city of Healdsburg, and it just made sense to build a walking path along Foss Creek. And then we started to think, why couldn’t we
do that through the North Coast?” McGuire said. Trail advocates for decades had talked about building a version of the Great Redwood Trail, but the moribund North Coast Rail Authority (NCRA) stood in the way. It took a change in state law, championed by McGuire when he became a state senator in 2014, to eventually replace the NCRA with the Great Redwood Trail Agency—a change that was finally accomplished in 2021. The nine-member GRTA board is currently chaired by Caryl Hart, a former director of Sonoma Regional Parks. Among its members are Healdsburg City Council member David Hagele, and others from local governments from Marin County to the Oregon border, including county supervisors from Trinity and Mendocino.
Meeting in City Council Chambers last week, the GRTA board heard updates on the state of the Master Plan process currently underway, with recent workshops in Fortuna and Willits. Its goal is a spring 2024 release of a draft master plan, described as a “high-level roadmap” to guide trail design, maintenance and operations, habitat restoration and other project priorities.
a valuable asset, even if there’s no railroad using it,” said Peter Raynor, the central author of the 1983 Railbanking Act. Since rail corridors have already been federally designated for transportation use, it was Raynor’s insight that defining transportation to include hiking and biking would enable the railroad easements to be used for public trails. The trails keep the rail right-of-way intact, as if “banked.” If a rail company makes a good case that they need the rail line back, it will be returned to rail and removed from the trail system. “Since the mid-1980s, out of the 25,000 miles of rail that's been transitioned to trail, less than 100 miles of trail have been removed,” said McGuire. The Great Redwood
Railbanking
The Great Redwood Trail builds on what’s called “railbanking” to enable disused rail corridors to be “banked” for future use through interim use as trails. The national Railsto-Trails Conservancy has advocated railbanking for 40 years. “Railbanking is a very simple concept that a railroad right of way is still
➝ Great Redwood Trail, 3
CITY’S PUBLIC ART GRANTS OPEN FOR APPLICANTS $40K AVAILABLE FOR NONPROFITS OR INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS By Christian Kallen
Photo by Christian Kallen
‘GRAZING HORSE’ A public art sculpture by Bryan Tedrick across from Healdsburg’s city offices on Grove Street,
one of several pieces from the Voigt Family Sculpture Foundation.
As part of City of Healdsburg’s “efforts to foster and enhance our creative community,” it was announced last week that the city’s first Public Art Grant Program is looking for applicants. This program is one of the outcomes of the recently adopted Arts ➝ Public Art Grants , 3