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ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE FACES REVOLT AMONG PARTY DELEGATES
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
January 25, 2024 Date, Date, 20202020
RUSTY HICKS’ DUAL ROLE AS PARTY HEAD AND CANDIDATE QUESTIONED By Christian Kallen
Photo by Christian Kallen
By any measure, Rusty Hicks should be one of the strongest candidates of the seven in the running for Assembly District 2 in the upcoming primary election, March 4. He has the endorsement of a passel of labor organizations—always a key indicator for a Democrat—as well as many of the public officials in the northern part of the assembly district. And not only did he win the endorsement of Jim Wood, the current assembly seat holder who is retiring at the end of his current term, but on Wednesday of this week he also received Gov. Gavin Newsom’s endorsement to add to his credentials. Hicks’ home is now in Arcata, where he lives “with his wife, Sandra, and their chocolate Labrador, Charlie,” according to his campaign website at www.rustyhicks.org. He serves as an associate professor at College of the Redwoods, a community college in Eureka, and teaches American government to incarcerated students at Pelican Bay State Prison. But he only moved into the district in 2021, making him a relatively late arrival, the most recent of the seven candidates. And he still has the job that could make him the odds-on favorite. As the chair of the California Democratic Party (CDP), Hicks has access to significant cash and other resources that the party doles out to candidates in elections. That favored status has
CAROUSEL Cars, trucks and buses enter Healdsburg through the Roundabout at the Mill Street intersection. Pedestrians and bicyclists are able to safely cross the Roundabout because of the slowed traffic.
$1.15M Closes the Books on Roundabout LENGTHY STUDY, CONSTRUCTION PROCESS COMES TO AN END WITH SETTLEMENT By Christian Kallen
The Healdsburg Roundabout that greets northbound visitors to the downtown area, at the 5-way intersection of Mill and Vine streets and Healdsburg Avenue, has proven its worth in traffic control. The rush-hour jams that were projected by pessimists have failed to materialize, and while the traffic can be heavy it rarely comes to a standstill. Larry Zimmer, the city’s Public Works director and engineer, said the Roundabout is fulfilling its intended use. “The goal of a roundabout is
that year for their low bid of $10,318,540. Construction officially began in June 2016, but due to a variety of circumstances the project did not meet its 450day goal. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in November 2018, declaring the Roundabout operational, but lingering legal and bookkeeping questions kept the project alive until the August 2020 date when the city accepted it as complete. Even then, however, the dispute over the amounts billed for the treatment of contaminated groundwater was alive. It was only settled this month with this final settlement. The engineering firm GHD was paid $197,000 to prepare the EIR, $1.17 million for the design, and $2.86 million for
intentionally to slow traffic so that a cyclist can safely go through and pedestrians can safely cross. It does that.” And while the Roundabout has been operational since late 2018, and was accepted by the city as complete in August 2020, a lingering dispute between the city, its contracted engineering firm and the contractor chosen to construct the project was only resolved last week, on Jan. 16. That outcome resulted in a $1.15 million settlement in the city’s favor.
Background
Initially scheduled to be a 450-day job, about a year and a quarter, the project went out to bid in February 2014 and a contract was awarded to Bay Cities Paving and Grading in April of
➝ Revolt in Party Ranks, 6
COUNTY, CITY ELECTEDS GREET THE FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN’S VISIT TO TOWN AS RECOUNTED BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE By Christian Kallen
Photos by Christian Kallen
HER ENTRANCE First Lady of the United States Jill Biden
deplanes from the Gulfstream private jet that brought her to Sonoma County Airport on July 18, as a delegation from the county supervisors waits to greet her.
A little after 2pm on Thursday, Jan. 18, the private, unmarked Gulfstream Aviator zipped to a landing at the Sonoma County Airport, and taxied back to the Sonoma Jet Center terminal. When the small jet wheezed to a stop it was
construction management. outrageous,” said Zimmer. (The construction manage- “We’re not going to be able ment cost was high due to to pay this price to conthe extended time it took to tinue pumping water.” The complete the project.) city of Healdsburg took the GHD’s estimate for job away from Bay Cities, groundwater that would and directly hired a sepneed to be treated was only arate contractor to treat 20,000 gallons, projected the contaminated water at at a per-gallon rate. a negotiated rate of about But during construc- $10,000 per month. tion, Bay Cities treated Bay Cities didn’t like 1,388,900 gallons of that and filed a complaint, groundwater in the first but the city held firm. “It month alone before the was completely justified task was removed from the for us to take this item contractor’s scope, because over at that point,” Zimit was billing for water mer said. “But the probtreatment at the per-gallon lem was, a lot of water had rate set for a much smaller been treated, and from the quantity. time it had been treated up A smaller quantity until the close of the projmeans a higher price per ect, that issue had not been unit; larger quantities have resolved.” a lower price per unit. “And once they started pump- Long Story Short ing so much water, the The Consent Calendar city realized that, wait a item of Jan. 16 includes a staff report that reads, minute, this is ➝ Books Closed on Roundabout, 6 met by an official Sonoma County delegation—David Rabbit, chair of the Board of Supervisors, and 4th District Supervisor James Gore with his wife, “Hello Alice” entrepreneur Elizabeth Gore. The plane disgorged about 20 people—most of them in casual business suits, a few less well turned out—before Jill Biden, First Lady of the United States, emerged resplendent in a dusty rose pantsuit. She made her way carefully down the airplane’s staircase, gripping the handrail and watching her feet, and when she finally hit solid ground and turned to accept the local luminaries’ greetings the reason for her hesitant descent was made clear: She wore a pair of J’Adior slingback pumps, with 4-inch spike heels and a floral textile pattern
that complemented her pantsuit. Chair Rabbitt grabbed her hand and made a brief, sincere welcome-toSonoma speech, then Gore took his turn. “She was great,” the district supervisor said. “She stood there for enough time and wanted a little authenticity. You never know if you’re just going to have a handshake and a ‘Thanks for having us here.’” As the supervisors and the First Lady spoke, two marksmen on the terminal building 100 yards away trained high-powered weapons on the gaggle enclosed in the press pen, just in case. But Gore had more to say: “I said, on behalf of all of us who are serving [in government], ‘Thank you for the weight you carry. Thank you for the burden, for dealing with the hate.’” He told her about the hate
➝ Electeds Greet the First Lady, 6