ST. ELIZABETH’S CRAB FEED RETURNED WITH A SELL-OUT. After a short hiatus brought about by COVID, St Elizabeth Seton's Crab Feed was back at the Apple Hall on February 18th. The sold out attendance brought our locals and guests from Ukiah, Lakeport and the Bay Area to luscious Alaskan dungeness crab, salad, warm garlic bread, dinner wine with dessert of cheesecake to top off the dinner. A fun time was had by all with a promise to return next year.
ANDERSON VALLEY HOUSING NEEDS ASSESSMENT: In 2022, the Anderson Valley Housing Association conducted a needs assessment to understand the need for housing here in the valley.
Excerpts:
“In February of 2022 the Anderson Valley Housing Association (AVHA) Board passed a motion to assess and document the current need for housing in Anderson Valley. The Needs Assessment process took place from February through June, 2022. It was time for new, relevant data, as the last Needs Assessment conducted by The AVHA was done 13 years ago, in 2009.
. . .
The data indicates that, in general, income in Anderson Valley is low to extremely low, even when compared to Mendocino County norms (Fig. 3), which are themselves low as compared to state and national norms. The majority of respondents (69.39%) reported salaries ranging from $15,000 to $49,999 a year.
. . .
There is, however, a significant difference in income at the upper and lower ends of the income spectrum between farmworkers (Fig. 4) and non-farmworkers (Fig. 5). For example, 16% of the farmworker population earns under $15,000, as compared with 9% of the non-farmworker population, and 2.1% of farmworkers earn $50,000-$74,999, as compared with 11.6% of the non-farmworker population. Among the non-farmworker respondents, 6% earn above $100,000; there were 0% in that salary bracket among farmworkers.
https://www.andersonvalleyhousing.org/needs-assessment
VAL MUCHOWSKI: “How ’bout a round of applause for Rihanna’s iconic halftime show, featuring a very special guest. Mothers remain unstoppable. Rihanna: Riri said ‘Lift Me Up,’ literally soaring above Arizona and belting out the hits, from ‘B!tch Better Have My Money’ to ‘Diamonds.’ Plus, she made history as the first pregnant woman to star in the Super Bowl halftime show. No guest artist needed for a standing ovation.”
UH, VAL. Excuse me, but ‘Bitch, Better Have My Money’ wouldn't seem appropriately placed in the lib-pwog song book. Better watch it, old girl. Mendolib is watching!
BILL KIMBERLIN: "Safety Last" Harold Lloyd, 1923. How did they do that?
Find out March 19th at the Anderson Valley Historical Society where I will be speaking.
THE AV FIRE DEPARTMENT is hosting Ukiah Oxygen on March 10, 2023 from 10am to 1pm at the Boonville Firehouse at 14281 Highway 128. 707 895-2020. Locals can bring their extinguishers and have them serviced, Ukiah Oxygen will inspect and service them starting at $15.50. There is a limited supply of extinguishers for purchase starting at $65 to $75.
ATTENTION CSD TRUSTEES. We need benches in downtown Boonville. No place for visitors to sit while they enjoy their ice cream cones and take-out viands. Mosswood and the General Store are generous with their outdoor seat time, but otherwise it’s standing room only in Anderson Valley's lead city. “But, but, but.... won't the bums sit on them all day?” That's called “local color,” besides which we don't have any bums here. Leeches are another matter.
BUT BENCHES for Boonville have long been a consensus want for Boonville. CSD even applied a grant to fund them. And there's even a bench plan, but the plan involves Caltrans, and Caltrans decrees only concrete benches, and even though local artists have tried to come up with a design that will satisfy both the bureaucrats at Big Orange in Eureka and our basic desire to have benches that don't look like concrete blobs, which are the hemorrhoid jobs Eureka prefers, the project seems endlessly stalled.
THE CAKEBREAD wine people own the former nursery property at the Philo end of Anderson Valley Way where two fine little buildings sit empty, both of which could easily be converted to housing. So, like, why not, Cakebread?
LYNN DERRICK will not be returning to her old stand at Queenie's Roadside Cafe. Lynn's been at the grill of her wildly successful Elk restaurant for 22 years, and if anybody deserves a rest it's her.
EYES ONLY, LOCALS
Happy 87th John Burroughs!
ROBBIE LANE: So, the inaugural meeting of The Fellowship took place today in Boonville; no politics, no ethnicity or gender bias, no specific theology… Just good hearted people gathering in the name of love and companionship, possibly looking to do positive things for our brothers and sisters. We’re looking at March 18 for our next meeting. Any and all are welcome. Let me know if you are interested. Oh, and by the way, no KoolAid was or ever will be served! If this resonates with anyone of you, please call me at (707) 489-2915.
E&J TOWING, Philo, formerly Starr Automotive, hablas both English and Espanol with a "mechanic on duty," but I don't think they've quite got their Triple A franchise up and running just yet. Emergency Triple A services still come outta Elk, Ukiah and even Lake County.
THE HEADLINE in a recent PD: ‘Cloverdale residents get $1.6 million settlement in squalid housing case’ Mendo better hope that attorney doesn't start looking around this county. In Boonville alone, there's enough structural squalor to keep a team of do-good lawyers busy for years.
JUST IN: CONGRESSMAN HUFFMAN VISITED THE VALLEY ON TUESDAY
Congressman Jared Huffman and his staff were in Anderson Valley on Tuesday, February 21, 2023 to discuss ways to improve the beach access at the Greenwood Road Bridge over the Navarro River at Hendy Woods. In response to a proposal put forward by the Anderson Valley Land Trust (AVLT), Huffman met with representatives of the California Parks Department, Mendocino County, Mendocino Redwood Company, the Hendy Woods Community, and others. This location is Anderson Valley’s only public beach access on the river, and the area is also widely used by visitors to nearby Hendy Woods State Park. Currently there is no official access, paths, bathrooms, or parking. AVLT hopes to improve the area in conjunction with Mendocino County’s planned bridge project, scheduled to begin in the next few years. Eleven plus years ago when the State planned to close Hendy Woods State Park, Huffman, who was then Chair of the Assembly’s Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee, held hearings on the park crisis and met with a large group of community members at Hendy Woods.
ED NOTE: Congressman Huffman was in town Tuesday (21 February) to have a federal look at the trail leading down from the west end of the Greenwood Bridge to the Navarro River. The Congressman also stopped by the office of Superintendent/Principal Louise Simson at Anderson Valley High School for a quick tour of the school's falling down facilities, this community's most urgent priority.
John Burroughs, salute!