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The Future of Labor in Wine Country

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 Does the success of our local industries rely on the poverty of their essential workers? This is the question I always return to as I learn more about the widespread housing, health, education, and income struggles of our regional farm workers. The fact is that we have been in a stalemated situation regarding worker welfare (and the lack thereof) in Wine Country for as long as I can remember. But now things are starting to open up as the labor movement gathers new steam nationwide. Recently, we have seen a series of headlines where farm workers and their allies are celebrating legal victories because they are, at long last, finding the strength to stand up and defend their rights. I recently spoke at one of these celebrations and was inspired to hear the workers there speaking of a new sense of bravery and willingness to bring their employers to negotiations -this time with skilled allies, legal aid, and the law itself at their side.  Support comes from, but is not limited to, The

The Intersection of Climate and Economic Planning (Sonoma Gazette 3/23)

 How would you live differently if all of a sudden gasoline were $20 per gallon? Answering this hypothetical question should get you closer to understanding how things might be in the not-so-distant future if we are to seriously address climate change. We are living in a ‘climate emergency’. Many governments have echoed this phrase, hopefully bracing us for some fundamental lifestyle changes. It seems that for the most part, we are focused on maintaining our quality of life while attempting to meet the corresponding energy requirements through ‘green energy’ alternatives, such as electric cars and hydro-electric power. These two examples are presented here to demonstrate the trouble with this way of thinking. The production of large batteries—for electric cars, and for regulating solar power supply—is currently far from sustainable. Hydro, we have learned during recent years, can’t produce power during a drought. In addition to our efforts to cultivate green energy, we need to learn ho

Rental Security in Healdsburg

  Rental Security in Healdsburg Renters in Healdsburg are exposed to a tremendous amount of anxiety. All around them they see properties being improved by their owners and resold in an effort to take part in Healdsburg’s lucrative real estate market. Many times, renters have lost their homes and were forced to look for new rentals, often in another town, in an increasingly unaffordable market. The discussion about affordable housing really exploded in Healdsburg around 2015, though the problem’s roots go back much further. During that time, the City Council heard from hundreds of residents being forced to leave their hometown to find an affordable place to live. Developing new affordable rental housing has been a priority for the city ever since and inventory is increasing. However, we are not seeing a corresponding leveling in rents in existing rental homes and apartments. This may be because the influx of new, wealthy residents seem willing to pay anything to live in Healdsburg

Economic Diversity

​ ECONOMIC DIVERSITY AND SUPPORTING OUR LOCAL BUSINESSES As I am fond of telling folks, my father Jack ran his pharmacy inside of a large retail space and sold a wide variety of consumer goods. His business was right on the Plaza and before his retirement, he moved to the Mitchell Center. His store was a real meeting place, bustling with residents, visiting and shopping. My work life is different from Dad’s. I have helped manage a small, retail, largely-online, store that sells supplies to guitar makers. The business started in Healdsburg and we moved to Windsor a few years back. I have been at Luthiers Mercantile for 25 years and I am proud of the reputation I have within the stringed instrument industry. I mention this to make one thing clear. I am a friend of small business.  Goals: An economic diversity program in Healdsburg should:  Encourage entrepreneurial opportunities in such a way that we see an increase in businesses that serve the needs of Healdsburg residents.  Re

The Closing of Campo Fina

  In Ari and Dawnelise Rosen's heartfelt letter announcing the closing of our beloved Campo Fina, they laid out how their business was impacted by a number of challenges facing our community. All of them are meaningful, but what stands out to me is that their rent DOUBLED in the last year. Doubled? We are all experiencing inflation, but this kind of increase is clearly indicative of something occurring outside normal economic pressures.  What I think we as a community deserve is an open forum with the property owners so we can learn their reasoning, and so they could know firsthand the high price that our community will pay for this loss, especially if this space stays open for an extended period or is replaced with a business that few residents can afford. More likely, the owners will protect themselves in their San Francisco office, deaf to the community they are affecting so deeply. It's an outrageous way for them to do business, in my opinion, but they are no

Alternatives to the HWFE

(to the City Council) Hello All! After reviewing the agenda packet for 8/1, I think you need to acknowledge that the Wine and Food experience didn’t work out the way we were led to expect it would. The organizers posted a loss and missed their fundraising goal (which, it should be mentioned, was lower than the figures being floated when the event was originally being pitched to the city). They failed to contribute to the Day Labor Center, which was promised though not required. This is in spite of a small army of local volunteers who came to help. Their suggestion to remedy this is to grow the event further, despite many residents feeling that the whole event was already out of scale for our small town. Finally, many local businesses reported that they did not benefit from the event, and that the event "sucked the air out" of the downtown business district as locals steered clear of the commotion. Let’s do something different. If we have a local non-profit in need,

Why are so many local officials quitting? (LTE to the PD)

  In Lynn Haggerty King’s recent letter to the Press Democrat, she kindly warns future City Council candidates to heed her warning; that this job has a huge time commitment. She wrote this in response to Benefield’s column titled “Why are so many local officials quitting?” King’s warnings come with good intentions but what bothers me is that the author sees the “wave” of officials quitting as a result of not having prepared themselves to take on the work ahead. If all this quitting is a fairly recent phenomenon, then we are led to assume that people are somehow more naive about the demands of the job than officials in the past. Doubtful.  We need to be cautious that we aren’t pushing working people in 9 to 5 jobs away from opportunities to serve in what are fundamentally volunteer positions.  Most Council members work for themselves or have flexible schedules, and no doubt, they work a ton. But those 9 to 5 employees; they’re the bulk of the working class. We need their voices an