s
s
Sections
Sections
Sections
Sections
Subscribe

Petaluma is on Life Support

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. [...]

By | February 20th, 2012|0 Comments

Petaluma OutSMARTed.

Welcome to yet another bureaucracy unanswerable to the people it purports to serve. Remember this, all of you who invited this white elephant into your garden.

By | February 14th, 2012|0 Comments

Catastrophes Abound

This is a different version of this week's cartoon than what appeared in the paper. John felt that I was belittling the hysteria about Global Warming, and he was right. Since he's the boss about what appears in print, I gladly revised the design. This being my blog, however... The [...]

By | January 13th, 2012|0 Comments

Political Round-About

We've reached another year marked by the sense that we're stuck in a rut. We can blame politicians, people with different political or religious beliefs, or Wall Street, but in truth we must heed the words of that timeless sage, Pogo, who famously said, "I have met the enemy and [...]

By | December 31st, 2011|0 Comments

MIss Petaluma’s Christmas List

Yes, I know that in many parts of oh-so-Progressive Petaluma, the Christian practice of celebrating the birth of Jesus is politically incorrect, if not openly frowned upon. To which I say, Merry Christmas. As to whether a cultural construct such Santa will bring Petaluma solutions to it's perennial problems, I [...]

By | December 23rd, 2011|0 Comments

School Funding Crisis

I just resigned from the Cinnabar School board after more than 12 years as a trustee. No, not from frustration - though there was plenty of that courtesy of the narrow-minded, self-serving, boneheads in Sacramento. The reason was that Colleen and I moved to Cotati and, as a result, I no longer reside in the district - a requirement for trusteeship. I grew up in Los Angeles during the salad days of California, when the Golden State lead the country in education, productivity and imagination. Today, thanks to decades of ever-increasing state-employee entitlements, a ferocious anti-business mindset, and pie-in-the-faith in liberal fantasies, California still leads the country...in population exodus, business relocations, and crushing debt. People get so exercised about the encroachment of Hispanic influence on our culture, when the real threat to California is that it's turning into Greece.

By | December 10th, 2011|0 Comments

Street Light Carnage

John and Chris tell me downtown merchants report that delivery trucks are shaving their turns with dire consequences to the street corner lights. Yikes. I guess downtown is getting more and more crowded. I don't recall hearing about the possibility of these sorts of consequences in any discussion of the wonderfulness of "urban infill." As a young man I visited Les Halles, the storied produce / meat market once located in the heart of Paris. Not long after I was there, due the noise and impact on the local infrastructure the French - exemplars of all right thinking in the minds of many - moved the market to the outskirts of town. Perhaps they recognized the value of urban "out-fill."

By | December 2nd, 2011|0 Comments

Petaluma Cares

In the spirit of thankfulness, let's praise the kind souls who work, and sometimes even sacrifice, to meet the needs of others. Whether they do so year-round or as just they perceive the need, may God bless them as they bless those they serve.

By | November 25th, 2011|0 Comments

Predators Prey on Petaluma’s Seniors

As an official "senior," I can personally attest to at least a glancing awareness of this phenomenon. Recently, Colleen (who is not yet a senior) and I were looking for a home in Petaluma to rent and we came across this posting on Craigslist for a home in Victoria for $800/month. We thought this was way too low. But we wanted to stay in Petaluma if possible so we e-mailed the poster. However, when the poster replied, saying among other things that he would "mail us the keys" upon receipt of the first and last month's rent, he included a phone number from Nigeria. So, we contacted Timo Rivetti, the listing agent on the sign out front. Timo confirmed that it was indeed a scam. So, I guess we weren't actually scammed, but we sure felt foolish.

By | November 19th, 2011|0 Comments

Runners Are Up the Ellis Creek

There are many great people who work for the City of Petaluma and labor mightily to serve its citizens. Unfortunately, there are others who seem to view Petaluma's inhabitants, aka the people who's taxes pay their salary, as the enemy to be foiled at every opportunity. Ellis Creek Water Project's new Master of the Universe appears to fall into that latter group.

By | November 15th, 2011|0 Comments