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TheHealdsburg HealdsburgTribune Tribune The Enterprise & Scimitar Enterprise & Scimitar
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$28 MILLION GRANT TO SMART RAIL CLOSES GAP IN FUNDING
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
October 12, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
OCT. 19 PUBLIC MEETING TO REVIEW NEW STATION LOCATION Staff Report
➝ SMART, 2
Photo courtesy Food Network
Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit announced last week it had received a $28 million grant through the Federal Railroad Administration that will be allotted to build out the rail system from Windsor to Healdsburg, a 5.5-mile extension that brings the regional commuter rail system closer to reality for Healdsburg residents. The grant was part of a larger $32 million grant awarded through the Federal Railroad Administration, consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvement grants. The rest of the grant is earmarked for the replacement of older, high-emission freight locomotives with lower-emission, environmentally sustainable locomotives, officials said. The announcement adds impetus to the city’s scheduled community workshop to discuss the SMART commuter rail service coming to Healdsburg and a potential location for an in-city depot. That community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19, from 6-7:30pm at the Healdsburg Senior Center, 133 Matheson St. The Oct. 19 meeting will be another chance for residents to weigh in on the potential location of a passenger rail depot for Healdsburg. Although the city, in 1997, conducted hearings and produced recommendations to position the station at the former train depot on Hudson Street, the city council
DRONE VIEW Flying over the Healdsburg Crush event in the Plaza during 2022, with the gazebo roof in the foreground.
Wine Tasting from Plaza to Parking Lot HEALDSBURG CRUSH THIS WEEKEND, WINE & FOOD EXPERIENCE NEXT MAY By Christian Kallen
Even as the city prepares for Sunday’s Healdsburg Crush—a Plaza event to “taste limited production Pinot Noir and Sparkling Wines from over 60 of the top California wine producers”—the city council on Oct. 2 agreed to allow the much larger Healdsburg Food & Wine Affair to continue for three more years at the West Plaza Parking Lot. Healdsburg Crush, formerly known as Pinot on the River, is produced by— and benefits—Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma-Marin, whose local Healdsburg club is in need of significant remodeling. The event takes place in the Plaza from noon to 4pm on Sunday, Oct. 15, with a $125 ticket price. While there are several VIP events, the centerpiece of the Crush is
the Sunday open-air wine tasting at the Plaza, one of a relatively few large events in the Plaza this year along with February’s Lunar New Year, April’s Earth Day Climate Fest, a Juneteenth Celebration and December’s Merry Healdsburg event. Contrast that to the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience, which began in 2022 and which is scheduled for a third year on May 17-19, 2024. More than 270 wineries and a handful of distilleries are expected to participate, along with multiple food vendors who will prepare tastes and dishes for the Grand Tasting to be held on Saturday, May 18—not in the Plaza, but at the large city parking lot on the west side of Foss Creek where the Saturday Farmers’ Market takes place. Both wine tastings pay special-event fees to the city, though the Healdsburg Crush fees are significantly lower since it is a local nonprofit organization. The HW&FE is a non-resident commercial event; it paid approximately $5,500 in fees for this year’s event, plus a
refundable security deposit of $5,000. “As of now, the Boys & Girls Club has paid roughly $860 in fees for this year’s Healdsburg Crush event, in addition to a refundable security deposit of $1,250,” said Matt Milde, the city’s event coordinator.
of the meeting SD Media had gained the council’s backing for a three-year contract—though it had to commit to higher fees than it had asked for and was put on the defensive for its claim that the event “celebrates the makers behind the magic” while largely ignoring the farmworker community that drives the industry. Most, though not all, of the criticism came from in-room public comment, when six residents argued that the event was a private event held on public property, priced to exclude Healdsburg residents. Tickets to the Grand Tasting were $250 in 2023. They said the event had an outsized impact on the town on the day of the Grand Tasting but brought little benefit to local businesses, gave lip service to farmworker charity, and had a too-cozy relationship with the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation and the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce. Only one resident, Jim Heid of CraftWork, voiced his support of the event. Calling it “a lovely event”
Promotion for Profit
The HW&FE is not driven by a nonprofit, as are nearly all of the other downtown events, but by SD Media Productions, a privately held event producer led by Steve Dveris. Over the past 30 years he has created a half-dozen highticket-price promotional food-and-wine events, from Aspen to Austin and from Pebble Beach to South Beach, Florida. Dveris was at the Oct. 2 city council meeting to make the case for a threeyear contract with the city to continue the HW&FE at the same location, asking for the multi-year contract to line up long-term sponsorship partners and establish continuity and reliability in the majorevent sphere. While it wasn’t an easy or quick process, by the end
BIG TROUBLE STARTS AT GIORGI PARK ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING LEADS TO ASSAULT, CAR CHASE, ARREST Staff Report
Photo by Christian Kallen
UNSAFE The Mason Street house that was struck by a fleeing suspect was tagged as ‘Unsafe for
occupancy’ by the city the day following the Oct. 5 accident.
Just before 8pm on Thursday, Oct. 5, Healdsburg Police Dispatch received a call about a possible attempted kidnapping of two 12-yearolds at Giorgi Park. Officers were dispatched and arrived within three minutes. Upon their arrival the officers were met by adult family members of
at which he saw many locals, Heid said, “It was a celebration of Healdsburg, and we need to celebrate Healdsburg.” CraftWork partnered with the HW&FE and served as the staff ’s base during their time in town. Tyra Benoit, on the other hand, called the event “a block party of epic proportion” that would better be held at a private location like Bacchus Landing or Montage; Valerie White said that the people who were “the backbone of wine industry were completely excluded from the celebration”; and Merrilyn Joyce called it “a near-perfect symbol of Healdsburg’s growing reputation as a playground for the rich.” Benoit also called out the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District, a Chamber of Commerce initiative, for cutting funding for the local communityserving nonprofit Corazon Healdsburg from $15,000 to $7,500, while giving a hefty $24,000 grant to the HW&FE. ➝ Wine Tasting, 6
the 12-year-olds, who had also arrived on scene. The juveniles said they had been approached by a young man in a white t-shirt and jeans who appeared to have been drinking. He tried to lure them into his truck but they refused, which prompted another juvenile at the park to call police. The family members pointed out a nearby 2003 gold Chevy Tahoe with a young man inside, still stopped on University Street near the Grant Avenue intersection. When officers approached the vehicle to order the driver to step outside, the man fled southbound on University Street at a high rate of speed. In so doing his truck hit one of the family members, a 41-year-old female, who was taken to the hospital for her injuries. ➝ Big Trouble, 6