Cognitive dissonance - the ability to hold two conflicting ideas or opinions should be Petaluma's town motto. Her citizens want all the benefits of a thriving community - good roads, civic edifices, verdant parks, top notch police and fire protection - while simultaneously recoiling at anything that smacks of that [...]
The New Year kicked off with rain - but no serious flooding so far. Hooray! Hopefully 2008 will continue to smile on Miss Petaluma as she scours the singles ads for a new "beau" (City Manager), struggles to keep her rowdy pack of nieces and nephews (the City County) from [...]
Miss Petaluma, a refined and proper albeit socially and environmentally progressive lady, had quite a year. The characters and subsequent notoriety that she attracted belie her airs of gentility and probity. Perhaps in 2008 she'll let her hair down, put her bustle away for good and join the 21st Century. [...]
Once again Gentile Petaluma has attracted the attentions of an urbane suitor from the big city. This time it's AT&T who rode into town in a fleet of white vans emblazoned with the blue skeleton-globe logo to sweep Miss Petaluma off her dainty high-button shoes. Her current swain, Comcast, was [...]
Too much lead in imported toys, too little backbone in Federal, State and local politicians, too much greed in the Mortgage Lending industry, too light oversight among the regulators. Now America's flooded with foreign tourists taking advantage of the cheap dollar and foreclosures are at record levels. Still casualties are [...]
Like "super" models and my hair, local roads keep getting thinner. Since the boulevard bulimia began, the commute time from my home at the north end of town to the movie theater - which was once a reliable 7 minutes - has increased to from 15-20 minutes during the week. [...]
Every year some folks seem to work awfully hard to take Christ out of Christmas. With all the hoopla about the Holidays being a season of Peace and Love, it seems absurd to me to attempt to celebrate them without honoring the One for whom they came into being, Jesus, [...]
I sympathize with the City Council in their search for new Adult Supervision...I mean a Parent...that is to say, a new City manager. We all remember what it was like when we had an individual who was less...shall we say..."effective" than Mike has been in that role. And no one [...]
As long as we're selling rights to name our City's streets let's consider including other community features... The City Council Chambers could become the "Petaluma Wind Ensemble." The newly narrowed Petaluma Boulevard could become "The Road Less Traveled." The stretch of the Oak Hill neighborhood along Howard Street could be [...]
Our Pilgrim forefathers and foremothers little suspected what awaited them them when the happened upon the North American coastline. 287 some Thanksgivings later, Americans give thanks in many ways that they had the faith and fortitude to persevere...and that they didn't have roundtrip tickets.