Live entertainment, pandemic-style

EDITOR: Not sure why your paper is missing the most exciting event in Boyes Hot Springs: The removal of the old bridge at Boyes Boulevard, spanning Sonoma Creek.

The workers here are braving a very hot week, working 12-hour days removing road deck, girders and concrete abutments. Wednesday’s work involved a 75-ton capacity crane, reaching 100 feet in the air as it lifted these large steel girders out of their decades in place…

Today has the concrete support walls, long used as a canvas for local graffiti artists, coming down.

It’s a historic change for our neighborhood. And while you’re viewing this historic event, order some yummy take-out from Creekside Cafe! You’ll have a ringside, outdoor seat at a table, being witness to the best live entertainment to be had during this, our other “historic event” — the Covid 19 Pandemic.

Joanie Bourg

Boyes Hot Springs

Pizza chain brings extra-large parking problem

EDITOR: Thanks for the Index-Tribune coverage regarding the proposed Domino’s Pizza parlor at the intersection of Highway 12 and Boyes Boulevard in the Springs area (“Holy Pepperoni: Domino’s Eyes Church Mouse Site in Sonoma,” May 15). Truly, it is individual decisions like these that create a place’s future, isn’t it?

The first thing that concerns me — although I did not see mention of it — is the fact that the proposed site is shared with the Boyes Hot Springs Post Office. Even today, with no tenant at the proposed business space for the pizza parlor, I have had trouble finding a parking space when I need to visit the post office. I can imagine the minimal parking may cause the same frustration for other post office patrons — like those with P.O. boxes, too. If it is already a bit dicey to pull in with ease for postal errands, imagine what it will be like with a 19-table pizza parlor at that location — all the pizza workers and patrons relying on the few parking spaces available under the best of conditions. In addition, commute times when traffic is normally dense (which I hope it will be again as soon as the pandemic is over) are hectic at this hub of Highway 12 and Boyes Boulevard, which makes pulling in and out of the tiny parking lot there another frustration at commute times.

Second, I didn’t see a mention of how this type of usage by a large corporate entity will change not only the tone of the awakening Springs business areas, but the look. Right now, there is a warm and friendly small-is-beautiful charm all about in the Springs burgeoning with potential, and I’d like to see that approach continue and grow in our neighborhood. However, corporate franchise design and signs are brand identifiable for sure but that’s all. And what is mechanistic and gauche to benefit a corporation’s brand is not necessarily what is pleasant to look at and live with in one’s hometown, crowding out a place’s innate charm and uniqueness.

M. Tetarchik

Sonoma

Sonoma not racist 24/7

EDITOR: My family and I have lived in the City of Sonoma for over 40 years, and have had zero racist experiences – plus have not heard any from others living or visiting Sonoma Valley. Maurice Parker’s 10 years of all racist experiences is hard to fathom (“Sonoma Is Not Hallelujah,” July 3).

How many incidents included in his letter were checked or verified – before publishing his “open letter” – to open a dialogue? For example, how does the police report compare regarding the events leading up to the shooting of Maurice, after he called 911 to report prowlers? Afterward, was there an IT newspaper article and/or any verbal circulated accounts in the city or Valley?

We can understand a few racist experiences/comments, over a 10 year period as a resident of Sonoma (city or Valley), but Maurice’s letter is filled 100 percent. Perhaps, many can actually be explained without any racism intent by anyone, including Maurice.

John and Nancy Rolston

Sonoma

Editor’s note: Thanks for weighing in John and Nancy. Just want to make clear that Mr. Parker wasn’t actually shot by police after calling 911 to report prowlers — he wrote that he is concerned about that being the result if he were to call 911 to report a crime in progress. While we don’t fact-check every letter writer’s chronicle of their experiences, rest assured, that’s something our letters-to-the-editor department would have cross-referenced. — J.W.

Oakmont needs to rise to the occasion

We have coronavirus, Black Lives Matter, fires and we have Oakmont. My wife and I lived there for two years. During our time there it was in turmoil, with controversies that now seem completely inconsequential. When the entire Oakmont News staff quit I took over as the chair of the Communications Committee. The toxic reactions to all the problems was on a level I could never have imagined. I happily moved to Sonoma.