VISIT THE MONTE RIO CENTRAL FACEBOOK PAGE

Thursday, March 23, 2023 1-6pm
Public Meeting
LOK GUERNEWOOD CORPORATE RETREAT/CONVENTION CENTER RESORT:
108 UNITS, 2 MEETING ROOMS FOR 500 PEOPLE: IT'S STILL TOO BIG!
Planning Commission Board of Zoning Adjustments
ATTENDANCE IN PERSON IS THE ONLY OPTION!
Meeting to be held in the Board of Supervisors Chambers
575 Administration Drive, Room 102A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
BZA Calendar
• Lowering the height of the project by a single story has only reduced the number of units
by 12. This is because the project developers increased the project's footprint by 5,230 square feet, against the specific request of the BZA to lower the height AND maintain the original footprint.
• The project's 2 meeting rooms are designed for a 500 person capacity. This suggests that their primary advertising will be targeted to Corporations and Convention Planners.
• The developer seeks a variance to reduce the number of the County's Zoning Code requirement of 225 spaces down to 175, a number which includes the required 25 spacing for the public to access the beach. The number of parking spaces has been further reduced (since the height of the hotel was reduced to 35ft) by 26 and still relies on valet stacked parking for larger events with an increase from 15 to 22 stacked spaces. Stacked and juggled Valet Parking would be especially unwise in the event of an emergency evacuation.
• Their Mitigated Negative Declaration does not address the updated Fire Hazard Severity Zoning of our area from Moderate to High which is now considered a significant issue.
• The developer boasts: “Guests will not have to leave the resort to use other facilities. If some guests chose to do so, the other public facilities will not be significantly impacted.”
Other Public Facilities = Off-site Restaurants/Shops
Apparently, even the developer no longer believes that their guests will significantly add to the local economy!
Deadline for written comments has been extended. For more information, concerns, links to revised project documents go HERE.

Thursday, April 6th 6-7pm
RIVER MAC Land Use Committee Meeting
Details HERE.
Sunday, April 16, 2023 12:30-1:30pm
RIVER TALK WITH JOE ROGOFF
Tune in to KGGV 95.1fm or stream at rivertheaterradio.com.

They'll take calls as possible, (707) 869-1131, but you are encouraged you to submit questions and comments to Joe at rivertalk.KGGV@gmail.com. He’ll read as many as possible on the air.
Joe Rogoff is a Guerneville representative on the Municipal Advisory Council and will share news from the county and get your perspectives every 3rd Sunday of the month.
River Talk ARCHIVES
Monte Rio is a town with approximately 1,058 residents and is 1.90 square miles in size.

It is considered to be lower middle class. In other words, a disproportionately large percentage of its households earn between $25,000 and $50,000 per year.
STOLEN: $1,000 DOLLAR REWARD!

Click HERE for enlargement.
This driftwood sculpture of a water bird (Egret/Heron/Crane) by Minh Ta was removed from the
Monte Rio triangle on Hwy 116 in early January 2022.
$1,000 reward for information leading to the return of this beloved public sculpture!
Contact Halsey Brochu via:
text: (707) 303-0003
landline: (707) 788-6042
or e-mail

July 4th
A Message from Steve Baxman
Click HERE for a message from our Fire Chief, courtesy of KRCB Radio and Rhian Miller.

July 2021
Blue Green Algae
Read about exposure modes and symptoms at the CDC website.

Saturday, July 18, 2020
REST IN PEACE ZELDA

Your brilliant and fierce wit as well as your deep love and concern for the Monte Rio community will be sorely missed...

Blood Alcohol Concentration ( BAC ) Limits
It is illegal for any person to operate a vehicle with a: BAC of 0.08% or higher, if the person is 21 years old or older. BAC of 0.01% or higher, if the person is under 21 years old. BAC of 0.01% or higher at any age, if the person is on a DUI probation.
Exact blood alcohol levels are hard to estimate, but these charts to help men and women know when they've had too much to get behind the wheel.
Here, one drink equals 1.5 ounces of 80 proof liquor (40% alcohol), 12 ounces of beer (4.5% alcohol), or 5 ounces of wine (12% alcohol).
Under current law, everything in red (.08 BAC and higher) is legally intoxicated.
These figures are approximations, and can vary based on how much food is in the drinker's stomach. The charts below are meant as a reference only.


TOURISTS BEWARE!!!
GUERNEVILLE & MONTE RIO NO LONGER CLEAN & SAFE "ENJOYABLE TOWNS"!

Photo source: Chuck Ramsey, via Nextdoor
The following quotes are from our local Nextdoor by outspoken (and fever-pitched, IMO) people who are convinced that our area is going to Hell in a Hand basket.
Very doom and gloom, but perhaps more homes will become available again as affordable rental units to full-timers who are active in community efforts to keep our area a nice place to live year-round AND a viable, but limited, tourist destination. I say "limited" because I feel we need a healthier balance of Community AND Visitors that is mindful of our over-stressed and under funded infrastructure.
We could also use a large dose of compassion.
“And one of the reasons that Guerneville, & parts of the lower Russian River have so many homeless, is because it has been tolerated here. Not anywhere else. Which is why places like Windsor, Healdsburg , Forestville, Occidental, Bodega Bay, etc... are still clean , & enjoyable towns.
This is a very small area to have over 600 homeless ppl here. And we don’t have the shelters, & all the programs like Santa Rosa & other cities have. And we shouldn’t. It would encourage even more homeless to come here, & destroy this area as being a Tourist area.”
“… And it’s Diseases. All the garbage, human waste, etc... has created a bigger problem of rats. And the rats carry diseases along with the fleas that are on them. It could turn into a disaster.
This was one of my main concerns here, the pollution being done to the river.”
“When you have drug addicts who could care less about anything except , getting high & criminals just out of prison camping in parks with playgrounds, or camping outside your door or defecating & peeing all over your front door of your business or restaurant my sympathy is nil.”
“… what about the business owners who are dealing with this everyday? The destruction of their property, the unsanitary conditions they have to deal with everyday , the transients that attack their customers? The needles, the pollution to our river, creeks, & environment? Not from families nor single ppl having hard luck, but drug users, & criminals who were described as aggressive by residents on Neeley Road. And who presented a fire risk as well as dumping oil in the river? “
“Last weekend my wife and I worked on the river clean up project, it was disgusting, i was brave enough to enter the homeless camps and clean out bags of poop (or scoop it int bags) trash, empty amazon boxes, brought tears to my eyes that the state lets this happen , the leaders in formed me it was insensitive to take there personal belongings so i left there laptop chargers, portable elelectric fans, etc.... im discusted.”
“A wonderful man who has been cleaning up after the Transients & homeless for years in LA., he’s very religious.... lost his right leg a month ago from getting contaminated by all the “ poop”. He got that flesh eating disease. This is no joke. LA has gotten all these diseases now that hasn’t been seen in over a hundred years. And this is the river which is used for ppl’s drinking water & goes to your home. That’s why we only use bottled water, even for our pets.“
“We are being run over already by Meth heads.”
“This Transient problem here on the River is causing more & more crimes such as the poor elderly former marine being abused & stolen from by the “ homeless”.”
“Seeing the filth & destruction to the environment , the crimes committed , and the drugs everywhere should upset every single resident in our community. This is NO JOKE”
“Certain towns do not allow the Transients to take over , like Forestville, & Occidental which has maintained a lovely town. Duncan Mills also seems to have kept the Transients in check. Only Monte Rio, & Guerneville have the more serious problems. “
“…the river is now destroyed by poop…”
“And we too could have disease affect this whole community from this unsanitary, filth. I would NEVER drink the water here. I don’t trust it after seeing these “ camps”. “
“We have more homeless here, per capita then San Francisco! 4 times as many! “
“I spent a week in the mid west and they just laughed at me and my state, how do you defend "hey heard your $$$ house is on shit river, how dumb are you?"
“After having our vacation home in our family for over a hundred years, my hubby & I are discussing selling it& maybe buying something in Tahoe or somewhere else.”
“We are fed up that nothing ever changes, but gets continually worse each year. When the “homeless”, or should I say the 60% or more Meth Heads completely take over , & the tourists decide to go elsewhere, the business’s here will close , & the property will be worthless, as you will have ghost towns. Or worse an area like Stockton. “
“Go read the post about the 87 year old Former Marine, who had over 5 Tweekers take over his house, abuse him & steal his money & live there. This was in GUERNEVILLE, on Neeley Road. And this was this week!
Or the posts about ppl coming up to your front door here & want to come inside to look for their phone,!
Or the lady who lives close to the Northwood Golf Course who found a man looking into the windows of her neighbor.
Or all the ppl posting almost daily about their boats being gone, their bikes being stolen, or other things being taken.
Or like we witnessed on Main Street in Guerneville one night at 8:00 pm , a couple of “ homeless” guys screaming at a young family with kids.
Or my husband who was trying to go to the Versateller machine to take money out at West America Bank but two ppl were sleeping there. “
“Oh, & not to forget my lovely experience of trying to go into the lovely Safeway here, & when I got out of my car a guy sitting under a tree was shooting up.”
“…God Forbid a disease takes over our community from all the defecation in the river, & creeks. Not to forget the Auto Oil that was poured into the river, or gasoline, or other harmful chemicals. And of course the drugs & needles.”
“Right now we have utter chaos.”
“I don’t think it’s scapegoating at all, when a whole community is run over with Tweakers, who took over a 87 year old former Marines home, & stole everything he had…”
“Our community is getting worse every year with crime, Tweekers, & hard drugs. The majority of the homeless are about 60% hard drug users & criminals. Somewhere between 30 & 40 % are ppl needing & wanting help to get back on their feet. And of course you have the mentally ill. “
“And, rape is common at these homeless camps because again they don’t have to register.”
DOG LOST IN MONTE RIO
July 2017
pdf flier to print and share here.
How to Crate Train Your Dog (and avoid unnecessary tragedy): Click here.

Thursday, March 1st, 2018
STOLEN FROM MOSCOW RD

6ft carved wood sculpture of woman. Please contact Sonoma County Sheriff with any info. The owners and the community want her back!
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