Monte Rio Musings by Chuck Ramsey - July 2018
July, the best month in Monte Rio, kicks off with our fireworks on Sunday 7/1. The fireworks are sponsored by Monte Rio Chamber, Monte Rio Rec & Park, and Monte Rio Fire Foundation. Big Rocky Games for kids are Saturday and Sunday. The Firehouse BBQ is also Saturday afternoon and Guerneville is also having fireworks Saturday. Both hamlets will have daylong events prior to the fireworks at dusk.
Russian River Alliance is holding a Give Back Tuesday on 7/3 at the Rainbow Cattle Co. The Alliance is an umbrella group comprised of community groups that span from Guerneville to Cazadero. One of their current initiatives is the Workforce Housing Fund that has helped our local workers facing rising housing costs. The program has provided assistance to 8 families so far this year. The program prevents homelessness and keeps our local workforce employed and contributing to our communities. Russianriveralliance.org
On 7/4 at 4:30 in Suburban Monte Rio, aka Villa Grande, they will be holding their fun annual Independence celebration, celebrating their independence from England and, as they claim, from Monte Rio. Hopefully they will continue the tradition of setting off the canon on the beach. This year however, we can only hope one of their Patriots doesn’t stand in front of the canon when the fuse is lit! Especially one of my friends!
Later this month the 107th “Monte Rio Variety Show” begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, 7/26, at the Monte Rio Amphitheater, with a BBQ beginning at 4:30 p.m. All proceeds from the show and barbeque go to benefit St. Catherine’s Church, the Monte Rio School Foundation, and the Monte Rio Fire Services Foundation. For tickets and more info: monterioshow.org
Monte Rio Rec & Park Community Center has several classes and ongoing monthly events including yoga, Supper Club, Game Night, Aikido, and Sound Emersion Healing. To find out more check out their Event Calendar at mrrpd.org
Wondering what’s up with the septic upgrades? This process is still moving forward but the timelines are being extended. Thanks to community input and ourSupervisor Lynda Hopkins, theBoard of Supervisors has requested Permit Sonoma (formerly PRMD) staff to do further research and bring forward more findings in areas such as financing that will be available, contractors, soil engineering, alternative systems (such as self-contained HOOT systems that do not require leach fields), and address what else can be done for non-conforming parcels (inadequate soils, insufficient space for leach lines, etc.) It would also be good to use this opportunity to come up with a feasible plan for redeveloping our downtown business district. Although the prior glory days are gone, we can certainly do more to revitalize our downtown businesses, such as the Pink Elephant. I recently met with David Wood, Lower Russian River Ombudsman, from Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District. They have opened an office near the amphitheater and tennis courts. David is holding limited office hours but can be reached at 707-806-4723 or david@goldridgercd.org . His role is to provide unbiased, non-regulatory, confidential assistance to individuals with concerns about their septic systems. Once regulations and timelines are more ironed out, he will be holding public meetings at the Community Center. Hopefully in the end, there will be a streamlined, efficient program that addresses our needs.
On the clean energy front, our Air District is working with Sonoma Clean Powerto have incentives again for EV purchases. The “Go Green” incentives will be somewhat different this year as luxury vehicles will no longer be part of the campaign and additional rebates for low income residents purchasing luxury EVs will not be offered (yes, you read that right!). Burn Clean rebates will also be available again. The highest rebate is for replacing an existing non-EPA certified wood stove with an energy efficient heat pump system. Last year, only one district resident, applied for and received this rebate, and they were from Healdsburg. We must do better this year! Thanks to Korbel for their good neighbor company policy where they chipped 60 acres of aged and diseased vines instead of open burning them. On a very positive front, the Guerneville Park & Ride lot will soon have 5 dual EV charging stations installed (for a total of 10 chargers) thanks to our Air District working with a PG&E grant program. Monte Rio still does not have any public charging stations and the PG&E program has a minimum of 10 chargers which is more than we probably need. Lynda Hopkins is working on assisting us to obtain EV chargers in Monte Rio. West County has a huge visitor serving area and we are underserved with EV charging stations.
Nextdoor Downtown Monte Rio currently has 259 neighbors and the combined 15 local neighborhoods means you can now share information with over 1,800 neighbors. Nextdoor is your best source for immediate information that affects you such as garage sales, events, crime and safety information, etc. It also gives you the ability to control your interactions and who you receive information from. Nextdoor is different from say Facebook groups as it has policies and “community self-governance” should we say, that effectively cuts down on postings that are either uncivil or disrespectful to other neighbors or are not considerate of other neighbor’s time. Nextdoor does allow you to take messages private if you want to engage at length with someone one on one. Nextdoor requires verification of your residence to sign up. If you have had issues signing up, please contact me at my email address above.
Speaking of bringing people together, let me know if you have had success with Ancestry.com (or another competitor) DNA matching. It’s amazing how much information is now available instantly. As I was adopted at birth, I did not know my ancestry nationality or my birth relatives. Now I am getting new information daily. It’s exciting and so far has been a very positive experience. While I was hesitant to accept a FB friend request from a new first cousin, as they would now know more about me than they could ever know from my DNA, their later response was “You’ll fit right into the family, Chuck!”. It’s all good.
