Chipping away in Occidental

Kudos to OCSD board president Ray Lunardi and Occidental fire chief Ron Lunardi for their quick thinking and follow-through on procuring a rental loader to clear storm debris from blocked roads during that crazy deluge to start the year! They were able to put it to use many times in our district and neighboring ones. This piece of equipment meant roads were opened faster than they would have been otherwise and in a safer fashion, as there was less need for the workforce to cut and clear amid unsafe conditions. Way to go, everyone!

Chipping away

A great collaboration is underway to bring wood-chipping services to where they are needed. Our local fire departments (Occidental, Camp Meeker, Monte Rio, Gold Ridge) are teaming up with Safer West County and Cal Fire as the first-of-its-kind three-year chipper lease recipients. Each fire district receives a leased chipper at no cost, provides labor and maintenance and teams up with the fire-safe groups to implement its usage in the community.

It will work similarly to the county chipping program, where neighborhoods will work together to get chipping done on multiple properties on the same day. There are countless upsides as these chippers will be here full-time, not just a couple of times a year. More details will be forthcoming, but I hear chipper delivery could happen any day now!

Safe biking

On Feb. 5 the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition is hosting its Smart Cycling safety and skills workshop in Sebastopol. The event is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at O’Reilly Media at 1005 Gravenstein Highway North. The event is free, but registration is required and limited, so sign up now at www.bikesonoma.org. Though the event isn’t in Occidental, these classes are generally held in Santa Rosa so take advantage of it being a bit closer to our neck of the woods this time. The SCBC is a great organization doing everything possible to promote bicycling around the county; show them your support.

We have a community center again!

I am happy to report that the Occidental Community Center is finally open again for general use. Harmony School has taken over management of the building after completing agreements with the county, getting insurance squared away, etc. If you are interested in renting the center for a one-time use or ongoing event, the contact person at the school is Missy Calvi at 707-874-1205 ext 14 or mcalvi@harmonyusd.org.

The current schedule of happenings that I know of is still pretty limited as it’s only been open for a month, but there are many available time slots if you want to get something going there. On Tuesday, an adult open gym basketball is open at 5:30. Drop-ins are welcome with a $5 suggested donation. On Thursday, there is an open indoor soccer gym for kids up to 5th grade at 5:30 with the same $5 fee. West County Bootcamp has started indoors again, and classes are held Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 a.m. The boot camp has been going on for quite a while, and the participants are happy to be back inside for the first time in years! Lizzy Long runs WCB; drop-ins are welcome at a rate of $15 per class. www.westcountybootcamp.com provides more background and contact information if you need it.

The great thing about having a community center again is that the community itself dictates how it’s used. Want to start a dance group? Go for it. Art class, coffee klatch, cornhole league – make it happen.

Save the date

Save the date for the Harmony / Salmon Creek shARK Spring Fling and Auction event Saturday, Apr. 29. This is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the shARK foundation and an enjoyable event that has been sorely missed the last few years of pandemic shutdowns. For the first time, they will have the event on the school campus; I’m excited to see how that will play out. If you are a community member who can donate your time or items for the auction to help make this event a success, please reach out to info@harmonyark.org.

Have you seen Gabriel, the taco guy, in town the last couple of weeks? He has been set up on the corner of Bohemian and Coleman Valley, dishing up al pastor tacos. I stopped by yesterday, and let me tell you; they were terrific! 3 for $10. He says he’ll be there next Wednesday, Feb. 1.

A new voice

I may have lined someone up to take over my column, a happy and semi-sad occurrence. The March column will probably be a collab between us, so keep your eyes out for change on the horizon. I think that’s it for now.