The summer is off to a rambunctious start with locals ready to rant, rally and rave. A particular part of country life I quite enjoy—the can-do attitude for everything from legalizing vacation rentals and cannabis clubs to promoting the pipe project on behalf of the greater good.
Comings and goings
Calistoga townies rally for the 84-year old publicly owned Tucker Farm Center, which is once again weathering a stormy financial squall. Considering Tucker’s steal-of-a-deal hall rental rates (a mere $500, $250 for nonprofits), it’s no wonder. The board remains staunchly committed to maintaining the space as an “affordable” gathering spot for townsfolk. Maybe it’s time for citizens to rise to Board President Ron Vuylsteke’s challenge and rent the space for an upcoming meeting or shindig or, better yet, raise a wad of dough to help keep this gem of a joint afloat.
The economy continues to shed more blood when it comes to other town fixtures. One such causality is the expected closure of Napa’s JV Wine and Spirits, a shop that stayed afloat for more than 30 years.
While Napa County is as landlocked as it gets, it didn’t stop the America’s Cup from coming to town. The 2011 partnership between Napa Valley Vintners, the Destination Council and the America’s Cup Event Authority is about to set sail. The November deal anointed Napa Valley the official wine region for all Cup-related events across the United States. With San Francisco as host for both the “series” events in 2012 and the Cup in 2013, we have another reason to raise a glass to keeping Napa Valley on the worldwide map. This will mark the first time the America’s Cup has been hosted by the United States since 2005.
Getting busy
Miffed about vacation rentals that continue to fly under the radar, the St. Helena City Council broke down in a four-to-one vote of approval for new regulations that would legalize short-term rentals. The rant around vacation rentals surfaced last year when legal B&Bs beefed about the abundance of illegal operations that were skirting applicable taxes. The city ordinance, if officially adopted, will require vacation rentals to pay the 12 percent transient occupancy tax but will relieve property owners from the 2 percent assessment for the Tourism Improvement District. Only those operations offering four or more rooms are subject to the assessment.
Other council business stirring up its fair share of smoke is the delayed decision around the medical marijuana ordinance, enacted in 2010. The moratorium is extended until October 2013. It’s hard to tell if this is more toke and mirrors or a prudent stall tactic while the California Supreme Court rules on several pending marijuana-related cases. Looks like nobody will be able to debate the case over a legalized doobie anytime soon.
Fledgling restaurant, Napa Valley Biscuits, continues to bake with abandon to clamoring crowds vying for buttery delights, morning, noon and night. Get there early or your fix will remain forever unfed as the biscuits sell out fast.
Just in case we needed another attempt at quick bites, the new Habit Burger, located across from Bel Aire Plaza, is open and hopping. Proving that, despite being dubbed one of the culinary capitals of the world, we’re not impervious to California’s glammed-up version of fast food.
The Napa Pipe caldron continues to bubble
Hometown strife rages on around the Napa Pipe project, the biggest development proposal in county history, which suggests the building of 2,050 (with counter proposals that reduce this number substantially) residential units combined with retail and commercial space. A 154-acre site that sits on the east banks of the Napa River is at the crux of this boiling caldron. Critics squawk at potential traffic impacts, building heights and water diversion, while supporters applaud the effort as a means for affordable housing. Affordable housing in Napa—will such a thing ever exist in this lifetime?
Over the last couple of decades, work has led me from one overpriced city to the next. The last time I lived in an area that even smacked of affordability was in Colorado Springs, where rents at the time were half of what I’d come to pay in New York, Los Angeles and now Napa Valley. Because I love the area, I’ve tried to numb myself to the outrageousness of our region from rental and real estate prices to the cost of a glass of wine. I comfort myself with “you can’t put a price on serenity” sentiments until a wayward visitor slaps me out of my pie-in-the-sky cloud, reminding me of the absurdity of our cost of living. They gape at menu prices and scoff when I share the rental cost of my pint-sized Calistoga bungalow. Before they can comment further, I counter with, “at least my money goes further here.” As if this makes up for the exorbitant pricing.
My inner verdict is not yet settled on the Napa Pipe project, but what I do know is we lack adequate affordable housing. Currently, the options are few for those who work in restaurants, wineries, galleries and countless other industries. This is compounded by the fact that our pay scale is not in sync with the cost of living, which is better-suited for the multi-millionaires who move here to actualize their own brand of pipe dreams. I’ll ponder this question as we wait for the next ruling in the chronicle according to Napa Pipe. If the ticker tape of delays are any indicator, I’d place big money down that by the time this article goes to print, we won’t be any closer to a decision than we are today in April, as I write this. Regardless of which side of the fence you stand on when it comes to the pipe project, let’s hope I’m wrong, so we can put an end to the rumblings.
