Monte Rio Musings by Chuck Ramsey - May 2017
High season is beginning!Or should I say busy tourist season? Speaking of the new green economy, I am working on a Public Banking group to try and get a Public bank established by Santa Rosa. As a Charter City, they have the ability to open and operate a bank that will serve the unmet banking needs of our North Coast’s growing green economy. If you are in the industry and are interested in joining this effort please contact me.
Now continuing with high season: Monte Rio Chamber of Commerce kicks it off with their17th Annual Golf Tournament to be held Friday May 12th at 1pm. This event is a fundraiser supporting Monte Rio Independence Weekend Fireworks. Tournament fee is $75 which includes dinner. If you don’t play golf, you can also support by joining us for dinner for $25. Tee Sponsorship Signs promoting your business are also available for $100. This is always a great fun event, whether you are a real golfer or not. MonteRio.org.
Next up on the schedule is the Russian River Memorial Weekend BBQ. Details are still being worked out at press deadline, but this year the event should be held on Saturday May 27th at Monte Rio Community Center. There will be BBQ, beverages, and live music. The event will be sponsored jointly by Russian River Alliance, Monte Rio Chamber of Commerce, and Monte Rio Recreation and Park District. For updated information as the event gets closer, visit any sponsor’s website or Facebook pages.
In other community news, we are making progress on taking back our towns and addressing homeless solutions. As you probably know the Town Hall Meeting on March 29th at the Guerneville School gym was filled to capacity and they had to limit people entering at one point. Comments went on for about 3 hours with everything from not in our neighborhood, not in our town, to why not, and then there were centrist positions as well. The Alliances are taking a centrist position to the effect of supporting additional shelter and services only if the existing status quo is not allowed to continue. We advocate for effective licensed addiction treatment services, increased effective law enforcement, and accountability going forward for any service providers. We are very pleased that the surveys collected at the meeting showed strong support for change and for our vision. Any workable solutions have to include the interests of our residents, our tourists, our businesses, our homeless, and our substance addicted population. You may have noticed an improvement on the streets the last few weeks due to our efforts. By the time this edition is in print, another Town Meeting would have been held on April 24th. At this meeting the community will have had the ability to weigh in on several potential sites and hopefully we are moving forward towards solutions that work for all. Due to the persevering efforts of our volunteers, the overwhelming support we are receiving from residents as well as businesses, and the support from our governmental partners, I am sure we are on the right path, and that our can-do highly engaged community will come out of this stronger than ever. I would also like to thank Supervisor Lynda Hopkins for her efforts. Although she is new on the job, she is smart, she gets it, and she is working hard for our community.
Look for an addition to our downtown business district coming soon. A framing and poster shop will be opening adjacent to Bartletts.Monte Rio Recreation and Park District is still hiring for beach runners. Upcoming local events will also includeStumptown Brewery’s Russian River Beer Revival and BBQ Cookoff, which this year moves to Monte Rio! Event is SatAugust 19th, but tickets go on saleJune 2nd at 1pm and sell out fast. 30 breweries and 30 BBQ teams, and you can even walk home afterwards! Stumptown.com/revival.
Vacation Wonderland. We just keep getting better.
