City Manager's Update - January 27, 2023

The City Manager's Update is a bi-weekly, digital publication, and includes current information and news, program and project updates, upcoming events, recruitment opportunities, and more!

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To view previous issues, visit healdsburg.gov/cmupdate.

L&M VILLAGE RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY

On Thursday, January 26, the City of Healdsburg, and its partners, Reach for Home, the State of California, Burbank Housing, and Sonoma County held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the L&M Village - Northern Sonoma County's first interim housing program.  The program provides 22 units of interim housing for the most vulnerable and marginalized among us, and helps get them into permanent housing.

We were honored to be joined by special guest speakers Gustavo Velasquez, the Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development and 4^th District Supervisor James Gore. We were also joined by Kai Cooper on behalf of Senator Mike McGuire, Will Tesconi representing State Assemblymember Jim Wood, and current and past Councilmembers.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate this historic event!

To learn more about the program, please visit healdsburg.gov/lmvillage.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY + INCLUSION: COMMUNITY ENCUENTROS

The City of Healdsburg held its first in series of Community Encuentros on Thursday, January 26 on the topic of Indigenous Voices: Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements. 

Thank you to our partners and panelists, as well as all those who attended and participated in the discussion.

Future Community Encuentro topics include:

- Is the Dream Alive and Well in Healdsburg?: Contemporary and Historical Experiences of the African American Community in Healdsburg and Sonoma County

- Living Together: Housing and Planning for a Better Healdsburg

- Labor Days: Migrant and Service Community Experiences in Healdsburg

- Contemporary and Historical Experiences of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander Community in Healdsburg and Sonoma County

For the compete schedule, and to view the information in Spanish, visit healdsburg.gov/dei.

MTC APPROVES $11.8 MILLION GRANT TO TRANSFORM PORTION OF HEALDSBURG AVENUE

On Thursday, January 27, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) approved an $11.8 million grant award to complete a road diet, including the construction of protected bike lanes and pedestrian improvements to transform Healdsburg Avenue from Powell Avenue to Parkland Farms, with additional improvements adding bike lanes connecting to the northern city limits. 

The Active Transportation Program (ATP) Grant is an extremely competitive award process, and cities like Healdsburg often have a difficult time competing with larger cities for these funds.  This is quite a successful achievement!

The scope of this project was developed after a detailed community engagement process, including many public workshops, including workshops specifically for our Spanish speaking community.  

Based on community feedback, the project will reduce the through lanes on Healdsburg Avenue from five lanes to three.  The additional space will allow for protected bike lanes with landscaped buffer to protect and shade the ten foot wide bike lanes and sidewalks.  The extra wide bike lanes will also allow vehicle use in the event of an emergency requiring large scale evacuation.   This truly will be a transformative project for the City.

The City is currently in the process of selecting a consultant to finalize the designs.  It is anticipated that underground utility replacements will occur in 2025, with surface improvements beginning in 2026.  The anticipated project completion date will be in 2028. 

CLIMATE MOBILIZATION STRATEGY: SURVEY CLOSES JANUARY 31

Have you taken the Climate Mobilization Strategy survey yet?
The City of Healdsburg is developing a Climate Mobilization Strategy to provide a framework of projects to pursue for the City to achieve greenhouse gas reductions, in support of the regional goal for carbon neutrality by 2030.
Share your ideas on how Healdsburg can be as sustainable as possible!  

Click here to take the survey before Tuesday, January 31.

[Para participar en la encuesta por la Estrategia de Movilización Climática, haga clic aquí.

UTILITY POLE REPLACEMENT

On Thursday, January 26, City electric crews replaced a power pole behind the homes along Johnson and Prince Streets. While City Electric crews routinely change out power poles, this one required a large crane on Prince Street as the location has no access for City equipment.

To set the new pole and remove the old one, the crane hoisted the replacement pole over the houses on Prince Street and into the newly dug pole-hole.

This work is part of our ongoing preventative maintenance work and helps assure the City continues to provide safe and reliable power.

The City’s electric department thanks the residents of both Johnson and Prince for their coordination in allowing this work to happen.

IT'S A BRIGHT TIME FOR SOLAR!

As of the end of 2022, there are nearly 350 solar installations in Healdsburg. These residential, commercial, and large floating solar arrays have a total capacity of over 6,000 kW and offset nearly 10 million kWh annually. That’s equivalent to the electricity consumption of 835 average homes that do not have to be supplied from other higher-carbon electricity resources!

Have you been considering solar? Federal tax credits up to 30% of the installation cost are available. City of Healdsburg also offers expedited solar permitting.

Please note: We always recommend you consult with a tax professional for questions relating to your eligibility for tax incentives.