Petaluma’s coffers are so empty that the City has no money to maintain the ambulances. Yet, the City does have money to perpetuate the lawsuit against the proposed Asphalt plant because the location of said plant is on the other side of the Petaluma river from a river-dredge-spoils dumping site. BTW – the stinky swamp is beloved by local bird fanciers who’ve dubbed it the “Yosemite of Sonoma County” – a conceit that’s roughly equivalent to calling the City’s ramshackle, one-story, stucco and gravel-roofed, city hall, the Taj Mahal of Petaluma.
FINALLY, someone with the common sense to say what the REST of us are thinking about this whole mess!
This council would rather capitulate to birdie-stalkers than do what is right for the city and the citizens who reside here!
REPLACE THE PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL!!!!
Just saw this so late to the game but THANK YOU. I am glad I am not the only one somewhat disgusted with the Dickensian melodrama surrounding the Dutra Plant, as though it were creating a dystopian wasteland that would devastate Petaluma’s economy and drive out all tourists. I believe one naysayer on Patch poo-poohed Dutra on the grounds that no one would want to come to Petaluma’s downtown ever after the plant is built – “Who would want to come to a town where there’s an asphalt plant nearby?” Something to that effect. Well, the plant is miles from downtown and there’s this big thing called Highway 101 that also generate a huge amount of noise and pollution, is much closer to downtown and no one seems to complain about that. I walk Shollenberger almost daily and I’ve read a lot of anecdotal reports about hot-mix plants around the country. Yes, even the newest/best ones emit the occasional stink and some neighbors either don’t notice it at all or complain incessantly about it (well, you live next to an asphalt hot-mix plant so . . .). I think the reality of the plant is that it will, occasionally, emit a foul odor, no matter how new the technology Dutra uses, that some people will hate it even if didn’t emit a foul odor even once, and that is that. Haystack is a dump already and the old hermit who collects junk on the adjacent property can find a hundred different places to collect junk and live a life of solitude away from human contact. Collecting edge cases of side-show freaks who want to be “left alone” does not create a valid case for not advancing civilization forward. Do I *really* want an asphalt plant next to Shollenberger? No. Do I care all that much that they’re building one, anyway? Not really. Life will go on and I don’t think the plant will be quite as terrible as the naysayers believe it will be.
Jamie Waterman
FINALLY, someone with the common sense to say what the REST of us are thinking about this whole mess!
This council would rather capitulate to birdie-stalkers than do what is right for the city and the citizens who reside here!
REPLACE THE PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL!!!!
February 22nd, 2012 9:40 am
boethius
Just saw this so late to the game but THANK YOU. I am glad I am not the only one somewhat disgusted with the Dickensian melodrama surrounding the Dutra Plant, as though it were creating a dystopian wasteland that would devastate Petaluma’s economy and drive out all tourists. I believe one naysayer on Patch poo-poohed Dutra on the grounds that no one would want to come to Petaluma’s downtown ever after the plant is built – “Who would want to come to a town where there’s an asphalt plant nearby?” Something to that effect. Well, the plant is miles from downtown and there’s this big thing called Highway 101 that also generate a huge amount of noise and pollution, is much closer to downtown and no one seems to complain about that. I walk Shollenberger almost daily and I’ve read a lot of anecdotal reports about hot-mix plants around the country. Yes, even the newest/best ones emit the occasional stink and some neighbors either don’t notice it at all or complain incessantly about it (well, you live next to an asphalt hot-mix plant so . . .). I think the reality of the plant is that it will, occasionally, emit a foul odor, no matter how new the technology Dutra uses, that some people will hate it even if didn’t emit a foul odor even once, and that is that. Haystack is a dump already and the old hermit who collects junk on the adjacent property can find a hundred different places to collect junk and live a life of solitude away from human contact. Collecting edge cases of side-show freaks who want to be “left alone” does not create a valid case for not advancing civilization forward. Do I *really* want an asphalt plant next to Shollenberger? No. Do I care all that much that they’re building one, anyway? Not really. Life will go on and I don’t think the plant will be quite as terrible as the naysayers believe it will be.
March 5th, 2012 1:16 pm