by Steve.Rustad
Don’t be surprised if, the next time you dial 911, a lawyer answers. Among others responsible for the City’s escallating legal bills, you can thank Bryant Moynihan and his wanton water rate rollback initiative.
by Steve.Rustad
I’m told that Councilwoman Renée brought her knitting to the meeting because she anticipated a rancorous discussion and needed the calming influence that knitting provides her. Moreover, that she is able to listen while knitting. In other words, she was multi-tasking. Personally, I think the task of managing a City confronting the enormous challenges that Petaluma faces deserves her undivided attention.
by Steve.Rustad
I really can’t join the chorus of lament about 2009. My family’s well, I live in a beautiful town in the best country in the world…that is when viewed by any standard other than the progressive backwards telescope. Still, like any ordeal, 2009 isn’t a year I hope to repeat any time soon.
by Steve.Rustad
It was only a matter of time – in this case over five years – but the Dutra asphalt plant inquisition was bound to attact the attention of folks whose profession involves running around looking for issues to wade into. You know, our elected ambulance chasers. Only their case, the accident generally happens after they get involved. Whether or not the plant gets built, the air will always be thick with irony. The citizens of a town with perpetually crumbling roads reject a business on the grounds that it makes the very product their roads clearly lack. Supporters of a beloved tidal slough, that functions as a river only because the government regularly dredges it to support the ever-dwindling river commerce, reject additional river commerce.
by Steve.Rustad
Thanks to a couple of local businesses, this year’s Veterans Day Parade was rescued from the knee-jerk disregard that so many local progressives have for all things military. In my opinion, these self-proclaimed “enlighted” folk seem to miss the point that celebrating veterans is not the same as condoning war. Veterans are men and women who sacrified years of their lives, and often a lot more, to serve their country, which means you and me. Full disclosure: I’m a vet, and, no, I’m not looking for any special gratitude. I enlisted 45 years ago looking for adventure, for an opportunity to see the world, and – if asked – to stand up for America. I got to do all of that, which for me is thanks enough for my service.
by Steve.Rustad
Could it be? After all the sturm und drang Petaluma will get its Target store after all. And the person responsible – the queen of no growth. Perhaps our fair city’s withered tax base with the consequent cut backs in city services finally made an impression on Her Majesty. Or, perhaps she was reviewing her resume’ in preparation for a run at County Supervisor and realized that Petaluma’s fiscal collapse is on her watch. Who cares? I’m looking forward to not having to drive to Rohnert Park.
by Steve.Rustad
No matter if it’s Caracas, Havana, Washington or Petaluma, once an activist group uses the democratic process to sieze power, they abandon all semblance of the democratic process in their zeal to ram their policies down everyone’s throats. These gimlet-eyed Utopians are bound and determined to do what’s best for all of us no matter who it harms. Seems that our compassionate, sensitive, and oh-so-very-concerned Progressive friends are no different. Best to remember that Lenin, Trotsky, Castro and Hugo Chavez were ushered into power as “progressives.”
by Steve.Rustad
It’s that time of year where traffic on 101 south directly adjacent to the annual Pumpkin Patch slows to a crawl so that drivers view the hubbub around the hay bale hill, and the corn maze which I understand is now haunted by more than just the ghosts of folks with a poor sense of direction.