Astronomical
What’s retro about 160 bucks a night for the Astro Motel (“Hip Advisor,” April 10)? I guess they have to keep pace with the Spinster Sisters’ prices.
Occidental
Housing for All
Sonoma County was already facing an issue with affordable housing before the October wildfires. Now there needs to be more permanent housing created to ensure families at risk of homelessness. Affordable housing is defined as paying 30 percent or less of the gross monthly household income. Due to the fires, there was a 5 percent loss of housing units, roughly 4,000 homes and around 100 structures in Santa Rosa. Now Sonoma County will need the 4,000 housing units that were taken by the fire, on top of the 17,144 more for affordable rental homes, to meet the needs of the lowest income renters. The average median for a house rose to $639,000 in 2017. Only 26 percent of county households could afford it back in 2016. After the fires, the house median has rose to $689,000.
According to the Sonoma County League of Women Voters, roughly half of young people living in Sonoma County between 18 and 39 have considered leaving the Bay Area due to the lack of affordable housing. There needs to be more assistance programs for the general population to have access to affordable housing.
Petaluma
Yes for Water
Napa County’s water future will be decided on June 5. A yes vote on Measure C, the Napa County Watershed and Oak Woodland Protection Initiative, will protect that future. Measure C is a well-written initiative, based on the best current science, and puts in place reasonable measures to protect Napa County’s water supply. It is good for agricultural, good for the wine industry, good for all of us in the county. Measure C stops unsustainable expansion of vineyards in our hillside watershed.
Napa County’s vineyard/wine/tourism economy makes the valley a desirable place to live and visit. But this interdependent economy cannot be sustained if we predicate our thinking on an unlimited water future. Expanding vineyards into our hillside watershed means less water reaches our reservoirs and recharges our groundwater. Groundwater and reservoir levels drop, leaving less water for existing uses. Given the current climate predictions of less rainfall and more dangerous and frequent droughts, we need to guard what we have to maintain the valley as it is. I am voting yes on Measure C to ensure a stable, secure, and clean water future for Napa County.
Napa
Dept. of Corrections
Due to a reporting error, the ownership and management teams of the Astro Motel were misstated (“Hip Advisor,” April 10). Liza Hinman is the chef and co-owner of the Spinster Sisters restaurant and part of the team behind the Astro, not Lizzie Simon. And Camille Cannon is no longer general manager of the Astro. Lisa Robbins is general manager of the motel now. The Bohemian regrets the errors.
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