The Petaluma Neighborhood Association was founded out of a communal desire to educate ourselves and our neighbors about the planned Big Box developments slated for Petaluma. Projects of particular interest are the East Washington Place (Regency) Development and the Deer Creek (DSL) Development. At this time, our mission is to generate community awareness and participation in letter writing, attending city council meetings, providing educational materials, and organizing community events addressing the effects of Big Box stores on our community and local economy. We encourage the various neighborhoods of Petaluma to join us in taking a creative and active approach in voicing our concerns and participating in the preservation and development of Petaluma for today and tomorrow.
We need your help and support to keep things moving.
Please visit our Take Action Tab and sign our petition and learn about all the diffent things you can do to get involved.
Join us in attending the City Council meeting on June 16th at 7 p.m. to show our support for the Petaluma Community Impact Report. Located at City Hall, 11 English Street. Please read the posts below to learn more about why CIR’s will be great for our developing commutniy!
]]>If the projects are so great then why are there PR folks working on selling their project from the project’s inception? Why do they find it necessary to hand out cookies, granola bars and bottled water at our city council meetings? Why do they sponsor petting zoos at the fair?
Why not save their money and build a better project? Despite these bleak times we have excellent prospects growing here. The SMART train is coming- is this evident in any of the large scale developments slated for Petaluma? NO! What about our emerging “locavor” reputation. We are so fortunate to live in an area where we could sustain on what is grown and produced within mere miles of us- is this evident in any of the large scale developments slated for Petaluma? NO!
When PR folks come to city hall and tell our council what they are willing to build and what just isn’t feasible for a community of our size then we have a problem. Either our community is too small for their project if they can’t afford to build it right or their project is too shoddy for our community.
Target recently postponed their planned expansion in San Rafael. Let us recognize that the trade area for that Target would have been all the way from Novato to South San Francisco, West to the coastline and East to Albany. Quite a sizable trade area in location with no existing KMart, Walmart, or Costco stores for competition. A Petaluma Target’s trade area would be 9 miles to our North and 10 miles to our South. Now why would Target continue to pursue a location in Petaluma and postpone the more sizable potential investment in San Rafael? (http://www.busjrnl.com/article/20090330/BUSINESSJOURNAL/903269881)
Speculation that Friedman’s proposed Petauma location may be at East Washington, Deer Creek or elsewhere has started stirring (http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20090504/COMMUNITY/905049938/1362?Title=Friedman-Bros-sets-sights-on-Lowe-s-proposed-site). How sure of a thing is Lowe’s if Friedman’s is being considered? It calls into question just how willing these large chains are committed to investing in our community.
In the past, many council members stated that they were okay with a Target but drew the line at a Walmart. The FEIA’s we requested show limited details and never use actual data from the “proposed” tenants. When developers seek to turn neighbors against each other, falsify support for their projects, hold unnoticed meetings, and make every attempt to barrage our community with propaganda for their projects we start to lose faith in their integrity and commitment.
How do we know what we are getting? ]]>
All large retail development has direct impacts on our city’s ability to maintain economic stability and plan for future revenue.
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that building development also has direct and indirect impacts upon our city’s social well-being. It is in the reticulum of our neighborhood streets, thoroughfares, walkways, buildings, parks and plazas by which our community can grow and prosper together. These are the places where the individual becomes interdependently linked to his/her community. With attention and encouragement of building designs that cultivate social interaction and discourage auto-centric design, the prosperity of the individual, through symbiosis, becomes the collective prosperity of our community as a whole. There is a direct correlation between how a city is designed and built and the social health of its community.
Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that any future development is carefully scrutinized for its ability to reinforce specific concepts that will lead our community to a sustainable future for many generations to come. Fortunately, for us here in Petaluma, we have a General Plan along with a Central Petaluma Specific Plan that clearly stipulates our principles.
The recent meeting held by Regency Centers was not about a “spar” between residents of Petaluma, as Corey Young reported, but about something far more important. By skimming over the real issues surrounding the retail development at the Kenilworth site, Young missed an opportunity to delve into a truly newsworthy story.
The story really lies in the fact that this is yet another example of Regency’s manipulative tactics to polarize our community (Remember the forged letters they submitted to the Argus?). The meeting held by Regency Centers at the Sheraton was just another attempt by their khaki-clad group of non-Petalumans to impose a divisive campaign to sell their anachronistic shopping center that defies the principles of our lovely community. This is Regency’s “end game.”
Regency’s representative, Bruce Qualls from Walnut Creek, said, “It was disappointing,” speaking of the outcome of the meeting. As one who attended the meeting and who sought answers to my questions concerning this large project, I was more disappointed than anyone. Here was a perfect opportunity for Petalumans to vet the issues and to get questions, pertaining to this looming 380,000-square-foot shopping center proposal, answered.
Sadly, I realized that Regency was able to exploit a small contingency of my fellow Petalumans into supporting this dismally designed project. Among this small faction and, much to my dismay, was our very own former councilwoman Karen Nau. It’s no secret to any in our community that Nau has a history of being easily misled on various issues. Remember Bryant Moynihan’s initiative that she endorsed without even reading?
It’s true, I may disagree with Ms. Nau’s decision to support a bad project in our community, but that doesn’t translate into me not embracing her as one of my own, as a fellow Petaluman.
Indeed, I think Young profoundly missed the point in his ironically charged story, the “spar” amongst, hmmm? Ourselves? Instead, writer Young might’ve shed light on Regency’s ability to cleverly divide and conquer our community just to get their dismal proposal approved. They have succeeded in funneling the discussions down to the most useless “where do I get my cheap stuff?” context.
When really the fundamental questions all of us should be asking ourselves here in Petaluma is: Should Regency’s project be built to their self-serving standards? Or, should this project be built to align with our own unique community standards?
At this stage, we must stop quibbling among ourselves and hold this project/developer to a higher standard. I think all Petalumans will agree that the Kenilworth site holds a unique opportunity for us to bring neighborhoods together, enhance our community use area, and beautify the East Washington gateway corridor. Let’s take care to plan and develop this to a standard that is uniquely Petaluma. Let’s take care of ourselves.
(Paul Francis is a Petaluma resident and co-founder of the Petaluma Neighborhood Association.)
]]>Dutra’s Haystack Project will have a Town Hall meeting hosted by Assemblymember Jared Huffman. The format will include 3 panels to discuss the Haystack Landing project featuring a brief presentation from the Dutra Group, followed by a panel of experts from regulatory agencies and a panel of people with various perspectives on the plant. This meeting is open to the public, so there’s have an opportunity to answer questions from residents that have not already been addressed.
MEETING DETAILS:
Time: 9:00am - 11:30am (Suggested arrival time is 8:15am)
When: Saturday, May 30, 2009
Where: Petaluma Veterans Memorial Building
1094 Petaluma Blvd. South,
Petaluma, CA 94952
The final vote on the Haystack Landing project at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meeting is coming up. After years of going through the approval process, this will be where the final outcome of our proposal is decided.
MEETING DETAILS:
Time: 2:00pm (Suggested arrival time is 1:15pm)
When: June 9, 2009
Where: Sonoma County Administration Building
575 Administration Dr., Room 102A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
It is very important that supporters attend these meetings to display the large amount of community support for this project. Now is the time to send a powerful message.
]]>I’m sure by now you’ve heard about the building of Dutra’s Asphalt plant
across the Petaluma River from Shollenberger Park but incase you haven’t
or if you’d like more information here are some excellent resources:
*View Save Schollenberger Parks Blog
*Become friends with Save Schollenberger Park on Facebook
*Video Excerpts of 1/26 Petaluma City Council Meeting
*View the entire Council Meeting
What YOU can Do:
****Attend (and speak) at the public hearing: Tuesday, Feb 3rd, 2:10pm
Board of Supervisors, 575 Administration Drive, Santa Rosa (Supervisors’
Chambers)
****Call Supervisor Mike Kerns at: (707)565-2241
****Email the SONOMA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS,
The subject line of your email must read to be included in the record:
“Public Comment on FEIR Dutra Co Petaluma Asphalt Plant at Haystack Landing”
I would encourage you to include pictures of your family’s use or
experience at the Park. Let’s send a message about the many people that
share this treasure.
Valerie Brown
vbrown@sonoma-county.org
Mike Kerns
mkerns@sonoma-county.org
Shirlee Zane
szane@sonoma-county.org
Paul L. Kelley
pkelley@sonoma-county.org
Efren Carrillo
ecarrillo@sonoma-county.org
*Attend Friends of Shollenberger Reception, This Sat. Jan. 31st, from 4 to
6pm, at
322 Western Ave (next door to the Tea House Cafe) for art, music (by
Gabby La-La),
discussion and your chance to SIGN THE PETITION! Bring your own
Shollenberger- themed art and a potluck dish!
We must act fast and we MUST have as many people attend the Board of Supervisors 2/3 meeting as possible! This park represents a huge investment on behalf of our community and it should not be thrown away. It is an amenity to our community that is unparalleled and irreplaceable.
Lets work together to protect our community!
Join us in celbrating 150 years of fine follicled tom-foolery!
After party @ Maguire’s Pub @ 5:30pm
Brought to you by the Petaluma Farmer’s Market & the Petaluma Neighborhood Association
Sponsors include:
Laguanitas
Maguire’s Pub
Norm’s Barber Shop
Electric Oni Tattoo
Al and Vaungh’s Barber Shop
A Barber Shop with Style
Mike’s Barber Shop
Rouge Salon
A Man’s World Smoke Shop
Together we can get the CIR/ FEIA resolution passed, please come and show your support. We need to let our city council know we want fiscal responsibility NOW!
]]>A grant given to the Tree Advisory Committee and Parks and Recs has allowed the City to provide this great opportunity to plant 300 trees
throughout our neighborhoods and in our parks. The PNA has formed a volunteer group to plant trees in the Old East Side neighborhood in the coming weeks.
For more info email us:
Paul stopbigboxinpetaluma@yahoo.com
or go to: http://cityofpetaluma.net/parksnrec/community-trees.html ]]>
Monday, July 7th, 2008 7:00 PM
Support the Proposed Fiscal and Community Impact Report for Retail Development in Petaluma
Save the date: Monday, July 7th, 2008 7:00 PM
Petaluma City Council Chambers
11 English St., Petaluma
The Living Wage Coalition, Petaluma Neighborhood Association, Petaluma Community Coalition, Petaluma Independent Business Association (PIBA) and Petaluma Tomorrow have introduced a Fiscal and Community Impact Report (FCIR) requirement for new large retail developments to the City of Petaluma. The City Council will consider our FCIR resolution and discuss a staff report at this meeting. The FCIR is an innovative policy tool that can help policy-makers and staff makes informed decisions on proposed large commercial retail. The FCIR complements the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) by factoring in the potential impacts of proposed large retail projects on small businesses, public health and social services, and job quality, .
Our legislation is similar to a recent state law passed in Maine, the Informed Growth Act. An FCIR will encourage more sustainable and equitable development in the City of Petaluma, and can serve as a model for other cities in the county.
Please come to the City Council meeting to demonstrate your support for Community Impact Reports!
To distribute flyers to friends and neighbors please click FCIR to download PDF!
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