Thursday, November 26, 2009

Rio Nido residents enter float in annual holiday Parade of Lights

Rock with Rio Nido in the Parade of Lights.
JOIN THE FUN ON OUR 1st RIO NIDO FLOAT!
Saturday, December 5th, 6:00-8:00pm, downtown Guerneville

All folks who live, work, or play in Rio Nido are invited to ring in the holidays & participate in our first-ever Rio Nido float at Guerneville's annual Parade of Lights. All ideas, help, etc. are welcome. If you are interested in participating, please email me & I'll get you in touch with the organizers.
  • Theme: Rockin' Rio Nido (in keeping with the parade's overall "A Rockin' Holiday" theme)
  • What: 2 cars festooned with holiday decorations -- including Rio Nido's signature Winking Moon face -- accompanied by the world-famous Rio Nido Kazoo Ensemble's rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock". (um, that's us)
  • Bring: Kazoos (available at the 5&10) & good cheer. We welcome edibles, libations, & dogs dressed in cute little outfits.
  • Wear: Santa hats, reindeer antlers, &/or WARM festive holiday attire (it does get cold).
Next meeting:
Sunday November 29th 1:00pm, Post Office parking lot
  • If you want to participate, please join us to exchange ideas, hash out details, rehearse, &/or coordinate logistics. If the weather's bad, we'll move to an indoor location & notify you by email. We look forward to seeing you there.
  • Oh, yeah ... the entry fee: We'll also be collecting contributions towards the $35 entry fee , but we know times are tough & won't be keeping tabs on anyone. Please help if you can & don't worry if you can't.
Car Decorating:
Saturday December 5th, 10:00am, location to be announced
  • We'll need to start decorating the cars on the morning of the parade. If you're interested in decorating the cars for the evening's festivities, we'd love to have your ideas, input, & help. Please email me & I'll tell you where we're meeting as soon as we figure it out.
Meet up for the Parade:
Saturday December 5th, 5:00pm, Post Office parking lot
  • We'll all get together & then head over en masse to the parade. We need to get there a bit early because of the logistics, signing in, etc. The floats all line up on 3rd street & everyone promenades & admires each others' floats. We then inch along until we turn the corner onto Main Street. When the float passes before the judges, we pause & strut our stuff. Um ... whatever stuff we've got.
If you want to help, have ideas, &/or want to participate, please email me. All ideas, fun holiday decor, funky hood ornaments, etc. are welcome! Also, we're still looking for someone to dress like Santa & pass out packages of crystal meth ... oops, I mean CANDY ... to the kids along the parade route.

Friday, November 6, 2009

New Rio Nido Lodge owner hosts community meeting

Attention, Rio Nido residents! Dennis Judd, the new owner of the Rio Nido Lodge, will be at the Rio Lodge on Saturday Nov 7 at 11:30 am (that's tomorrow -- or by the time some of you read this, TODAY!). He welcomes everyone to attend, hear his plans for the property, & welcomes any ideas & feedback we may wish to express.

I sincerely hope -- for Mr. Judd's sake -- that Rio Nido Residents find his plans to be agreeable. Not such a tall order, given that we're open to pretty much anything as long as it isn't a multi-unit low-income housing complex. Oh wait ... didn't Mr. Judd recently get approved by RRROC for receiving a $400K loan to develop a low-income housing complex on River Road? Uh-oh.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

RRROC approves $400K loan for affordable housing complex in Rio Nido

The man who recently purchased the Rio Nido Inn for $250K recently received approval for a $400K loan from RRROC to develop a previously purchased Rio Nido property as an affordable rental housing complex. According to Frank Robertson's October 28 article in the Sonoma West Times & News, RRROC's approval of this loan to Sebastopol developer Dennis Judd "raised some eyebrows."

Although the Board of Supervisors hasn't written any checks yet, the County rarely -- if ever -- denies funding for an RRROC-recommended project.

Folks here in Rio Nido have already started grumbling about the "Ruska Rika Dacha rental housing compound" on River Road and Mr. Judd's intentions for the Rio Nido Inn. But I'm still on the fence. After all, if the job market doesn't improve soon, some of us might need to live there. (Psst, Tom Lynch ... can you please send me an application?)

SO ... gee, now that we know the identity of the developer formerly known as "Mr. X", I wonder what Mr. Judd wants to do with the Rio Nido Inn?

I'm still crossing my fingers & hoping we can persuade Mr. Judd, RRROC, & other People With Money to restore the Inn & turn it into some fabulous, historic high-end hotel. They could even buy the enormous & adjacent parking lot fronting River Road (also for sale), restore the old fountain, & landscape a lush garden like the one at the Coronado Hotel in San Diego.

Didn't I once hear something about Mike Reilly and others floating around the possibility of a luxury resort at the entrance to Rio Nido? This would have the advantage of providing jobs within walking distance to all those folks living down the street.