Editor's Note
Wanted: Housing, safety, security
By Jason Walsh
F ull disclosure: I’m playing THAT card. After all, this is an end-of-the- year column in a local magazine. Which means one of two things: It will either be a list of New Years-y predictions/resolutions/a tally of various happenings from the past year. Or, it will reference Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and submit a call to our god-bless- us-everyone goodwill during these invariably trying times. To spare us the former and its predictable promises of more exercise, agreeing to disagree with family members (who are oh-so wrong) and to shop local instead of Amazon (all worthy resolutions, but still pretty standard column fodder), I’m going with Scrooge, Cratchit, Marley and the gang. Partly because Dickens’ 1843 novella bears more than a passing shadow over the content in this month’s issue, which is dedicated to housing, growth and insurance.
priced out of the North Bay housing market. Meanwhile, “Hot Property,” by Jessica Zimmer, homes in on the need for commercial property insurance and the growing inability for local businesses to acquire it as agencies drop coverage in high-risk California wildfire
areas. Finally, Jean Saylor Doppenberg’s story, “The Other Kind of Home Equity,” highlights the work of a local fair-housing nonprofit in its fight against housing discrimination, still pervasive in the North Bay some 55 years after the Fair Housing Act was passed to ban such unseemly practices. The vehicle-bound, the under-insured and the BIPOC renters and buyers of the North Bay just want a fair chance at
The ghost reveals to Scrooge the children Ignorance and Want, in an original illustration for the novel by John Leech.
something that, in a better world, we should all take for granted—housing, safety and security. But, in too many corners, Ignorance and Want still lie in wait. “Beware of them,” warned the ghost. “They spell the downfall of… all who deny their existence.” Those lines were written 182 years ago. Few deny their existence today, But effective solutions remain elusive as… well, a ghost. Unlike A Christmas Carol, not every story comes to a happy, tidy conclusion. Maybe next year I’ll stick with a column on New Year’s resolutions. God bless us, everyone. g
For those who’ve read the book—or, more likely seen any of the dozens of screen versions—recall the moment when Ghost of Christmas Present reveals to Scrooge the two impoverished children beneath his robe. “Their names are Ignorance and Want,” says GCP. “They are the children of all who walk the earth unseen.” For our purposes today, we’ll focus on Want, represented by a little girl in the novel—and the ongoing want, expressed in the feature stories before you, of fair and affordable housing and insurance in the North Bay. Writer Janet Perry’s piece, “NorthBay Nomadland” tells the story of three local women who have at various times resorted to living in their vehicles—parked at campsites or along precarious roadways—after being
December 2024
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