Reopening California: What’s that mean for Monte Rio and more

April and Reopening. This past year has been difficult for most of us and while the New Year started January 1st, it seems April is the start of the New Year without Covid dominating our lives. The rapid development of effective vaccines and the rapid inoculation rate is a milestone worth acknowledging and celebrating. Maybe America is great. Despite what paths we took in last year’s elections or this past month’s elections, let’s hope we come out having learned something and come out stronger, and yes come out less divided. Making intelligent hard decisions is not always easy. Seeing where other people come from is even harder at times, but down the road hopefully we are moving forward on the right path. While we are seeing progress on many fronts, let’s hope that respect and civility become part of that.

I’m amazed at what I see on Facebook lately. Even people I respect, and thought were friends of each other are attacking each other. You can have different opinions without hatred. Try to see the other’s person’s side, and maybe there is middle ground. Everything isn’t black or white, red state or blue state, BLM or ALM, enabler or hater. Yes, not every election will go your way, but be respectful whether your side won or lost. The real loss is not learning from the experience or further dividing the community.

Looking at the world’s problems whether it’s ISIS beheadings in Mozambique, children being smuggled into our borders by the cartels as families try to escape their living conditions, people in other countries struggling without food, stimulus checks or vaccines, how can we not put things in perspective and be thankful for what we have? I’m feeling thankful and optimistic about our future, while we continue to work to make it better.

In related news, no longer will we have to endure things like Karens reporting Northwood Restaurant for serving elderly people indoors. It was a grave mistake for sure.

I hesitated to attend another long Zoom meeting on our new bridge. How many workshops and years does it take? I came out of the meeting pleasantly surprised and impressed. Instead of having another generic new bridge like Guerneville has, ours will have character and detail. It will fit in with our community. The lighting will be similar to the existing, there will be a design on the sidewalks, there will be a large handrail with historical information along the way, there will be bike lanes, there will be pedestrian islands that jut out over the river, and the bridge will be forest green. While lighting can be contentious, there will also be LED lights that can be different colors that will illuminate the bridge span on special occasions such as July 4th. Pretty impressive. Bridge construction should take place between 2024-2026 at which time the existing bridge will have to be removed for safety reasons.

Another big shout out to Ed Halsey Brochu for his continuing work to beautify our gateway. Small things can have the biggest impact. Thank you again!

As most of you may know by now, Kyra Wink is our new MAC representative. Kyra plans to be very active in addressing our blight, safety, drug addiction, and homeless issues particularly on Moscow Road. Our families, vacation tourists, and our businesses all deserve a safe and welcoming environment. I hope you will join me in supporting her in these efforts.

Now let’s get out there, support our small businesses and our neighbors! Happy New Year as Monte Rio welcomes our long overdue return.

Vacation Wonderland: Embracing the past, Welcoming the future.