Page 35 - Sonoma County gazette September 2018

Post SDAT Sustainable Design Assessment Team reflections:
Charlie Brown theme contest ends September 30th
BRIGETTE MANSELL, MAYOR: Healdsburg Citizens do not disappoint! On two separate nights, hundreds of our neighbors poured into our public school high school gym, to provide ideas, share their dreams, and pose
their questions for the SDAT process. As a proud mayor and citizen, we participated, fully, providing our visiting team with rich, specific in-put and
There are two new guys in Windsor. Their names are Mobile Charlie and Chuck and they are cute pop-up cutouts of Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown is coming to the Windsor Town Green to join RainJoe Snoopy! The Windsor Parks and Recreation Foundation (People4Parks) and Town of Windsor are inviting the community to help design a theme for a new 5-foot Charlie Brown statue to be professionally painted and installed on the Town Green.
a diversity of thinking in our stakeholder meetings. Because of this visit from the Sustainable Design Assessment Team from the AIA, American Institute of Architects, the city of Healdsburg has begun the process of restructuring our planning process and reflecting on what makes more sense, more sustainability, for our eco-system.
The mobile boys will be found all over Windsor. Right now one is in the Starbucks on Old Redwood and the other can be found at the Sunday Windsor Certified Farmers Market. Future locations include the Windsor Library, the Santa Rosa Airport Club and Cravin’s Candy Emporium. If you would like to have Charlie or Chuck for a few days at your business location please contact me at Lorene@mac.com.
This is our precious place we know we love to share, and, at the same time, recognize our role as stewards. Stay tuned to our news as the AIA will be sending us a written report in the next two months, and, as an elected, I remain committed to the grass roots momentum and this gift of an outside lens. Eyes wide open, we remain engaged, curious, civil, and willing to adjust for our town’s best future.
The full size Charlie Brown statue is currently residing in a crate for safekeeping. After the theme selection is made we will search for an artist for painting and unveiling later this year. You will find theme contest applications on Charlie and Chuck’s neck or at people4parkswindsor.org/ and the submission date will be until September 30th
TIM MEINKEN: Over 800 people gathered over two nights to witness something that has not happened in a generation—the ENTIRE community showing up to affect the outcome of our small City over the next 20+ years! It was exhilarating and meaningful for so many who were there. Young, old, long-time residents and newcomers, our Latino neighbors, and everyone in between. The recommendations from the AIA were also bold; connect our neighborhoods and our River, focus on the arts and there contribution to livability, create a master plan that turns upside-down how we develop our community, and so much more.
Where on earth has RainJoe Snoopy been lately?
RainJoe Snoopy statue has lived on the corner of Market Street and McClelland Drive since 2008 and recently people have noticed he has been missing. Fear not, RainJoe will return later this year. He is safe; he is just having a “spa day” and a bit of a make over.
While the AIA may have been taken aback by the size of the crowd on Monday night, they did a great job of gathering our input, even putting up
an online survey overnight in both English & Spanish! The work they did in coming up with recommendations on Wednesday night was nothing less than brilliant! The test is now for us to carry on this effort, immediately and when the final report is issued in a couple of months. I know we are up to the task.
Because RainJoe has been working hard 24/7 for the last
10 years it was decided that he needed a bit of a facelift and touch up. He was donated by the Windsor Certified Farmers’ Market and Windsor residents and is a very much loved part of our Town Green.
ARIEL KELLEY: The SDAT events gave me great hope for our community to be proactive and engaged in the future of Healdsburg. When the Healdsburg High School gymnasium was overflowing with over 500 attendees at Monday’s input session, I was blown away with the sense of presence and passion in
Keep an eye out for them coming soon.
the room. Moreover, the childcare room had over 30 young kids playing and doing craft projects. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment after seeing all of those kids and looking forward to gathering with our community again as we advance the recommendations we received from the AIA.
To celebrate the end
of summer the Windsor Garden Club had a luau in their Community Gardens. What a lovely find these gardens are. They are located just across from the Town of Windsor offices in a secluded and quiet area that is filled with peaceful benches, tables and chairs.
JULIAN COHEN: Since the SDAT team came to Healdsburg there is a resulting momentum towards a community engagement that encapsulates a myriad of perspectives towards a co-imagined future. The process is one of building openness, trust and discovery. Like a river nourishing a watershed, the momentum needs to nourish in multiple ways as it develops relationships which become the deep roots of a sustainable Healdsburg. It is the quality of the momentum that is lasting.
If you are not familiar
with the Windsor
Community Gardens: there
are 72 raised bed boxes that
are used for residents to
grow herbs and vegetables. Several boxes are reserved for the Windsor Unified School District’s North County Consortium students and the Windsor Service Alliance Food Pantry. This community garden is healthy and abundant with a array of peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, birds and children’s laughter. Please come check it out.
MERRILYN JOYCE: Healdsburg’s December 2017 application to the AIA for an SDAT grant stated: “Our community is seeking direction on how to find balance. With our success at becoming a renowned food, wine, and lifestyle destination come concerns that our friendly and connected social fabric is tenuous. We want to preserve our small-town character which appeals to visitors and locals alike...”
Before saying goodbye on August 15th, SDAT team members shared their observations, “Healdsburg has incredible local talent and resources but what really stands out as unique is that you are a compassionate community; you really care about each other.”
This home grown, grass roots organization welcomes all people who love
to garden. The Windsor Garden Club has meetings every third Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm (except for June and December) and cost is only $25 a year to join: windsorgardenclub.org/ • windsorgardenclub.org/community-garden
Will we successfully weave the more equitable, inclusive and diverse community we desire? With compassion on our side I can imagine by strengthening our connections and nurturing the ability to work through future challenges together that we will. That’s a big step toward sustainability.
So this is what’s up in Windsor.
See you next month ~ Lorene & Gayle
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View the SDAT Team’s power point presentation: SDAT Healdsburg, August 15th on YouTube & Presentation slides at www.healdsburg-sdat.org
Our beloved RainJoe Snoopy will be returned and joined by the new Charlie Brown statue on the Windsor Town Green.
Summer celebration by the Windsor Garden Club