Page 32 - Sonoma County Gazette January 2016

long after, she bursts onto the scene like a shooting star with her breakthrough album “Back to Black” which sold 20 million albums and won 5 Grammys. The signature tune “Rehab” reflected on her image as a coquette. Too soon her star flamed out following the trajectory of Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix.
against the Japanese at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and during the liberation of the Philippine Islands. He returned home after the war to marry his sweetheart and raise his family. He had his 90th birthday in December. His words came to mind before Christmas as I rolled down the newly paved portion of Sebastopol Rd. between Dutton Ave. and the railroad tracks. It is “smooth as butter” there right now. But when you get to the railroad tracks it is still potholes galore with a bone rattling, car breaking, roadway on the east side of the tracks in front of the proposed Village Station housing development which may go on the old site of the Point St. George’s Fishery. Time will tell!
Amy Winehouse was a
little Jewish girl from north London
who got caught up in the riptide that
traps so many young performers: too
much fame too fast and too furiously.
She did not have the maturity to handle
the “sex, drugs, rock and roll” milieu
into which she was thrust and this T
documentary film traces her descent into tragedy.
“Smooth pavement does not always mean smooth sailing ahead!”
Amy begins at the birthday party of one of her life long friends. Amy is pixie- tiny and brassy-sassy. This is when we first hear that voice and already it has echoes of those smoky, bluesy notes that would become iconic. Not that
hose sage words of advice were told to me by long time Roseland resident Bruce Ohlinger. He has been living on Burbank Ave. since he went to Santa Rosa High School in the 1930s. He only left Roseland to serve our country in World War II as a Sailor fighting in the Pacific
Those in the know would predict that she had the chops to one of the greats, a raw talent. She had a street wise style and with her outrageous bee hive hair-do and garish cat eyes, she was a born performer. Always there was a love/ hate relationship with the paparazzi who documented, in intimate detail, every step of her eventual breakdown. She was endowed with an abundance of positive gifts but along with those came negative proclivities: a zest for excessive partying, a fondness for drugs and alcohol, an addictive personality and an unfortunate choice of men in her life who exacerbated her every weakness. Her father seems to be in denial of her obvious serious problems and her husband fed her drug problem in order to facilitate his own.
Director, Asif Kapadia, edited hundreds of hours of archival footage, some grainy and unfocused and some professional and fairly contemporary He also used performance videos, personal photographs and newsreels. The film is not always easy to watch as Amy spirals out of control but because of the director’s intimate approach it makes it clear what elements led her to the path that she took. There was an Amy Winehouse retrospective at the Jewish museum in San Francisco which gave me an added dimension because I saw her as a normal kid and that it was her prodigious talent that actually contributed to her downfall. This sometimes depressing but well executed film does end on a high note when the great octogenarian, Tony Bennett, places Amy in the pantheon that includes
Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin.
32 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 1/16
Tennis Wick, director of Sonoma County Permit and Resource Management Department told Roseland Review, in the New Year residents of the Roseland County Island WILL NOT be doing their building permits and zoning change requests through the city of Santa Rosa. When asked about this he pointed out the city is not ready for the change yet. It may not be until the actual annexation takes place in late 2017, if ever.
If you have questions about the Roseland annexation proposal, and the development of the Roseland Village Plaza, try to come to a lunch time meeting of the local group Los Cien on Jan. 29, 2016 at 11:30 am to 1 pm. They have recently become quite influential power brokers in Roseland and they will actually be holding there next big meeting in Roseland at the new branch of the Sonoma County Library at the area where the Boys and Girls Club opened in the same building as the library branch. This is in the Dollar Tree Store building on the west side of the 7 acre Roseland Village Shopping Center on Sebastopol Rd. Remember West Ave. dead ends into the Shopping Center right there at the street light, so you cannot miss the site.
One of the readers of Roseland Review asked about the “possibility of a Santa Rosa Police Sub Station in the Roseland Community Center before the annexation is complete.” This seems like it would be an excellent question
to ask at the meeting of Los Cien. Keep in mind there is currently a two-year agreement for the Dollar Tree Store to stay there in Roseland Village while the development of the “Roseland Plaza” envisioned for the site is completed. But that could take much longer than two years to get going. The Police could move into the Dollar Tree site with the County keeping the Library and Boys and Girls Club rolling along no matter how long the redevelopment of the Roseland Village Plaza will take in the future.
Santa Rosa is holding some of their Roseland Annexation and Roseland Specific Plan community meetings in January and February. First there will be a Thursday, January 21, 2016 event at 6 pm to 8 pm. It is a Steering Committee Meeting of the city Roseland team at Roseland Village Neighborhood Center at 777 Sebastopol Road. This is the same place where all the other good
things are now happening. Omar Gallardo of Land Paths recently told the Review, “Roseland is Sexy now!” The proof is in the pudding as the meetings are coming over into the new Community Center in a big way. Along with
the Steering Committee there is another meeting on Thursday, February
18, 2016 from 6 pm to 8 pm. This is the big Community meeting with food
and childcare while folks talk of the issues. Specifically to “share ideas on potential policy topics (action items) of the Specific Plan.” Plus, to “get a preview of the draft land use and circulation plan” that was prepared based on community input. All this will also let you “learn about and provide input on the potential annexation.” Good Fun!
On a more serious note, the homeless encampment established at Roseland Village in November may have been located to another area of Sonoma County by then. But there have only been vague assurances the closing date is Feb. 1, 2016.
Roseland residents will need to contact Supervisor Carrillo’s office and Chuck Regalia’s office to get the most recent information. Ask for updates there on when is “until a suitable long-term solution can be found.” The phone for Supv. Carrillo is (707) 565-2241 with email efren.carrillo@sonoma- county.org. Mr. Regalia is at cregalia@srcity.org and phone (707) 543-3010.