The Healdsburg Tribune 8-4-2022

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Booming transient occupancy taxes will enable Healdsburg to pay for renovations to two parks as well as fund future capital improvements if two-thirds of voters approve a proposed amendment. Revenues have nearly doubled since pre-pandemic levels, with $11 million projected in the current fiscal year.

SPENDING THE TOT WINDFALL REQUIRES A 2/3 VOTER APPROVAL TOURIST DOLLARS FUND PARK RENOVATIONS, FUTURE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS By Christian Kallen

Photo by Dan Pulcrano

GOSH BARN IT Barndiva won Wine Spectator’s ‘Best of Award of Excellence’ for the sixth year in a row, and was joined by newcomers, putting Healdsburg as the county’s preeminent wine aficionado’s destination.

H’Burg Now Top Wine Town WINE LISTS DOMINATE IN 2022 WINE SPECTATOR RESTAURANT AWARDS By Christian Kallen

Three quarters of Sonoma County’s best wine lists can be found in Healdsburg, according to the industry’s leading magazine. Six Healdsburg restaurants were recognized for their wine lists, garnering 2022 Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards. Their names are familiar, and perhaps not surprising: Dry Creek Kitchen (on the list since it opened in 2002), Valette and Barndiva (both in 2016), joined by SingleThread (2021), the Matheson and Little Saint. Of the six, three of them received a higher recognition for Best of Award of Excellence, and one— SingleThread Farms—was a coveted Grand Award

Winner, a tier of appreciation with fewer than 100 restaurants nationwide out of thousands of applicants. Healdsburg’s Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau CEO, Tallia Hart, was elated by the recent awards. “We absolutely love it and think Healdsburg is getting the recognition it deserves in the culinary space,” Hart said. The list was published online in late June and in the July issue of Wine Spectator (WS). The magazine is based in Napa, and it’s perhaps inevitable that Napa County won more awards than Sonoma County, 17 compared to eight. The other local winners are Salt & Stone in Kenwood and Farmhouse Inn in Forestville. Napa boasts 17 winners, with both St. Helena and Yountville matching Healdsburg’s total of six each. If you don’t see the corner diner on the list or the pizzeria you so thoroughly enjoy, there is a

Courtesy of SCWA

The upcoming November general election gives residents a chance to vote not only for three City Council seats—applications will be accepted at least until 5pm on Friday, Aug. 12—but on two measures approved by council on June 21. The first is a measure to implement an X% tax on cannabis businesses, when and if they ever become allowed in the city. As that implements a tax that goes to the general fund, it only requires a majority to pass into law—placing it on the books even before Healdsburg hammers out a commercial cannabis policy. The second is a bit more complicated: a revision of Healdsburg’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) applied to overnight visitors, which currently stands at 14%. This charge is added to hotel lodging costs (and motels, B&Bs, resorts and suites, occupied for less than 30 days) and is entirely paid by visitors to town, not by city residents or others doing business in Healdsburg. Healdsburg first implemented a TOT back in 1965, at a rate of 4%. That has been amended incrementally by the city council no fewer than seven times, usually by another 2% each time until the current rate of 14% was achieved, by a ballot measure in 2016. Those various increases have provided the city with an allocation of the TOT “revenue streams” at 10% for community services, 2% for affordable housing (the 2016 measure) and 2% directed to the general fund. The TOT has become a go-to method for jurisdictions that attract tourists to ➝ TOT, 4

AWARD Valette was also one of six Healdsburg restaurants recognized for their wine lists, garnering 2022 Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards. certain selectivity to the list. To wit, the restaurant has to list a lot of wine selections, ranging from 90 selections (Award of Excellence) and 350 (Best of Awards) to no fewer than 1,500 selections for the Grand Award. Turns out, that’s not a deterrent. There were more than 32,000 restaurants in the wine world that won an award, “bolstering their lists and cellars now that dining out has resumed” in the

aftermath of the COVID pandemic, according to WS. The lists are international, including restaurants in Verona, Florence, Mexico City, Macau, Copenhagen, the Bahamas, Rome, Hong Kong and elsewhere, though most are in the U.S. Healdsburg had quite a heady representation for a former fruit-farming town tucked along the Russian River. The fact that the eldest of the six restaurants dates back 20 years

CITY INVITES COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO COMMENT ON L&M VILLAGE HOUSING

Photo by Christian Kallen

HOME The City will buy and renovate the L&M Motel into 22 units of housing

for local homeless people.

The City of Healdsburg, Sonoma County Supervisorial District 4 and Reach for Home will hold a community meeting about the L&M Village project on Wednesday, Aug. 10 at 5:30pm. The meeting’s purpose is to provide an update on the project at 70 Healdsburg Ave., which will

is significant. When Charlie Palmer opened the Dry Creek Kitchen in the thennew Healdsburg Hotel, in 2002, the word “sommelier” was all but unspoken in town, and a “wine list” probably meant part of the weekly shopping trip to Molsberry’s. Each restaurant has to apply for the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards, submitting a current menu and a cover letter, photos and a $550 entry fee. Does an application alone mean an award is forthcoming? Not necessarily, said Tara Golthi of the Rosen Group, representing Wine Spectator. “Once an application is complete, it is submitted to one of the judges on our panel for review. Not all applicants receive awards.” The first requirement is simply the listing of how many wine selections they have available for purchase—how many different types, labels, vintages ➝ Wine Town, 4

serve as an interim housing facility. The city received $7 million from the state’s Project Homekey in January to buy and renovate the L&M Motel into 22 units of housing for local homeless people. City staff and Reach for Home will be providing a 30-minute update on the project, the clients it will be serving, the operation of the facility, and information on construction activities that will commence soon. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session in which the public can provide comments. This meeting will be conducted via Zoom, which can be accessed at this link: wklys.co/83335161052


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The Healdsburg Tribune 8-4-2022 by Weeklys - Issuu