Thursday, Sept 8th, 2022 5:30-8pm
Friends of Monte Rio Game Night Monte Rio Community Center
20488 Highway 116, Monte Rio
Visit the Friends of Monte Rio website for further information.
Sunday, October 30th, 2022 Dia de Muertos Monte Rio Community Center
20488 Highway 116, Monte Rio
Visit the Friends of Monte Rio website for further information.
To be Continued
VACATION RENTAL ORDINANCE
Photo shows example of supposed on-site parking (actually fronting neighboring lot) at a permitted vacation rental in Monte Rio on a narrow unmaintained county road on a steep, heavily wooded, hillside.
Here's hoping that terrain and road conditions are prioritized and that Septic Capacity will be determined by TOTAL number of allowed visitors possibly swimming in the river and using spas and hottubs with showers in between, NOT by number of bedrooms!
Click HERE to view meeting documents. To be Continued? LOK GUERNEWOOD PARK HOTEL: IT'S JUST TOO BIG!
2/24/22 UPDATE: PROJECT SENT BACK TO THE DEVELOPER
With height knocked down from 53' to 35' According to, and excerpted from, the project's Mitigate Negative Declaration
dated Aug 27, 2021, pgs 84,85: 20. WILDFIRE If located in or near state responsibility areas or lands classified as very high fire severity zones, would the project: 1) Substantially impair an adopted emergency response plan or emergency evacuation plan;
Comment: According to the Safety Element of the General Plan, the project site is not located in a high wildland fire hazard area.
There is no separate emergency evacuation plan for the County. Furthermore, the project would not cause an interference with emergency evacuations.
Significance Level: Less Than Significant Impact.
Click on image, below, to open a pdf file map enlargement showing numbers of homes in Guernewood Heights alone that WOULD be impacted in the event of an Emergency Evacuation: This project totally ignores the impact to emergency evacuations for area residents in our high fire risk area.
Legal actions are starting to be taken against County Agencies across California for allowing developments/commercial projects in high fire risk/poor access areas:
So you can make Informed Comments please be sure to
read some of the known Public Concerns, News Articles and Documentation provided by the Hotel Developer and Sonoma County: HERE.
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. 24-hour fuel station with 3 pumps
PROPOSED FOR MONTE RIO
Use Permit and Administrative Design Review to add a 24-hour fuel station with three dispensers to an existing mini-mart operation along a Scenic Corridor on a 0.32- acre parcel. The fuel station would include a 16-foot tall canopy and underground storage tank.
SONOMA COUNTY REPORT IT The easiest 'try first' resource for reporting problems in your community: roadside trash, potholes, Sheriff's employee misconduct, homeless outreach, and more!
Some issues get addressed swiftly, some issues are said to be resolved but aren't. Still worth trying. Click here.
MAC E-NEWS Subscription List!
The Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council has an e-news list for meeting announcements, etc. This is the closest thing you will have to access community issues being taken to our local (District 5) supervisor.
Click HERE to sign up for notices (on the right hand menu)! KYRA WINK
Monte Rio's Lower Russian River Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) Representative
Kyra Wink
Occupation: Retired Community service experience: Friends of Villa Grande (Board Vice President, Member, Secretary), Kaiser Permanente (Volunteer), American Lung Association (Board Member)
Platform: I have experience in program development and the writing of protocols. I am a great organizer, communicator, facilitator and planner. I really enjoy working with diverse populations, teasing out commonalities for possible consensus building and problem solving.
Goal(s): To develop and establish the foundation and protocols for the future of MAC operations and to help develop a synergistic relationship between the community and the supervisors and other governmental agencies.
Click HERE to e-mail Kyra. HERE'S to a KINDER, more GENTLE, and far less STUPID
NEW YEAR
2021!
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.”
AT&T TELCOM TOWER INFORMATION Monte Rio / Northwood / Guerneville
Click HERE for 6.1MB pdf, courtesy of Rue Furch. SEPTIC HELP
Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District
How to Crate Train Your Dog (and avoid unnecessary tragedy): Click here. PRESERVE THE RUSSIAN RIVER CORRIDOR IN DISTRICT 5!
The Board of Supervisors is still encouraging vacation rentals with inflated day & night occupancy allowances to block emergency vehicle access on dodgy narrow roads in Monte Rio and to overload septics.
If a resident wants to apply for a vacation rental exclusion zone for their road based on topography and/or public safety, the application fee is $8,400.
Occupancy for vacation rentals is being based on number of bedrooms, not capacity of the septic system/cesspool. Permit applicants are allowed to hire their own contractor to verify unit compatibility. The nearest example to my home: A two-bedroom home is permitted for 6 overnight guests and an additional 6 daytime guests (who shower after swimming in the river and soaking in the ubiquitous hot tub). That's 12 people using a 750gal. septic. The PRMD's own Well & Septic Department advises no more than 2 occupants for a 750gal. septic. Daily load on a tank this size should be no more than 300 gal.
Support sensible changes to the Vacation Rental Ordinance and PRMD enforcement!
(These concerns (and more), were brought to Efren Carrillo's attention
prior to the Board of Supervisor's April 2016 vote on changes to the Vacation Rental Ordinance. Our concerns were not addressed.)
More information about the issues with the Vacation Rental
Ordinance HERE.
Order your 'Welcome to Monte Rio' apparel at the link to the right.
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! The Next Generation of:
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH SEND IN THE CLOWNS!
(Mouse over image to participate)
TOXIC BLUE-GREEN ALGAE ALERTS
FOR MONTE RIO & PATERSON POINT:
Click here for weekly reports.
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.
MONTE RIO CENTRAL is the Free Online Community Calendar, Directory and Resource Finder!
(The best physical bulletin boards are in the window of Bartlett's Market on Main St @ Moscow Rd. and at the Monte Rio Post Office)
Submissions can be made via the contact link in the menu.
Show your support for a Sonoma County PRMD policy change to base vacation rental day &night occupancy allowances on SEPTIC DAILY LOAD CAPACITY, NOT number of bedrooms.
100% of profits will go to the Russian Riverkeeper to support their continued efforts of protecting the Russian River Watershed!
(Shared Housing And Resource Exchange) offers a free Home Sharing Program for anyone living in Sonoma County.
Our program creates affordable housing, using existing housing, helps our seniors remain home safely to age in place, and helps to prevent homelessness.
SHARE facilitates secure home shares for home owners or renters with those in need of housing, who are currently stressed financially, experiencing life transitions, looking for companionship, and/or needing basic assistance to remain home safely and THRIVE!
DUTCH BILL CREEK
William "Dutch Bill" Howard (born 1823) was a Danish seaman who jumped ship at San Francisco Bay in 1849 and started a new life as a homesteader near the source of this creek.
In the 1870s, the North Pacific Coast Railroad was built through the valley. In return for donating right-of-way to the railroad, Howard received a lifetime railway pass and got a station named after him.
