s
s
Sections
Sections
Sections
Sections
Subscribe

OWS: Petaluma Franchise

The union of chronic protesters (Local #94952) - AKA Occupy Wall Street / Petaluma franchise - were assembled last Saturday at Penry Park. The Argus stated that there were 150 in attendance. From what I saw, that would have meant counting everyone at least twice. The most charming sight was a about 6 people marching in a tight circle carrying protest signs - a sight that was clearly visible to nobody but the six.

By | November 4th, 2011|0 Comments

Score Another for the Anti-Growth Gang.

After seven years of wooing Petaluma, Lowes threw in the towel. I guess the additional and unnecessary EIR's required by the city in the hopes of forestalling the blackmail, I mean frivolous litigation, threatened by the anti-growth gang finally wore Lowes down. So, who do you think is publicly chortling that Lowe's departure gives us "time to rethink the project?" The same bunch who will obstruct the next iteration of the project, and the one after that. And in the process, these self-righteous bullies continue to cost the city sorely needed tax revenues, and the citizens jobs.

By | October 29th, 2011|0 Comments

Lucchesi Park Is Trashed

The "jewel" of Petaluma's parks has been covered in bird poop for quite some time. Of late, however, our empoverished town has been forced to cut back in maintenance with the result that Lucchesi Park is beginning to resemble a landfill...with the added nonsense of inappropriate public demonstrations of passion around the edges. I think it's time to cry "fowl!"

By | October 14th, 2011|0 Comments

Four Point OMG

Kids are a joy, they're frustrating, they're awesome, and they're aggravating. All that said, I believe that raising a child to the point where he or she can leave home and lead an independent life is the most important work that most of us, including me, will ever do. If you're a parent and you disagree, then God help your kids.

By | October 7th, 2011|0 Comments

The Smell of Jobs

No. Not Steve Jobs. I meant employment, hopefully the steady kind. Petaluma's a vital, agricultural town so, from time to time, we are going to smell the perfume of compost, fertilizer, dirt, grain, animals, diesel engines and many other aromas that attend farm-based commerce. It all smells like life, to my nose.

By | September 30th, 2011|0 Comments

Mixed Up About Mixed Use.

Don’t you just love “Progressives?” Well, in Petaluma they actually do love Progressives, but I digress. Perhaps the most salient feature of a Progressive is his or her desire to tell everyone else how to live, without them actually having to do whatever they recommend. Occasionally, when they do walk the talk, they are shocked, SHOCKED I TELL YOU, to discover that their theoretical mandates for social (ecological, political, economic) behavior come with real-world consequences. Witness the complaints by some progressives living in Petaluma’s much touted mixed-use neighborhoods about the noise created by...the mixed-use. One problem that Progressives have with prescribing behavior for others is that most progressives (as self-anointed intellectuals, philosophers, artists. spiritualists, healers, poets and freelance Internet marketing consultants) have only a glancing awareness with what it’s like to live in the real world of feeding a large family on a small paycheck, keeping a business in the black, building a structure, running a farm, or working two jobs while going to school to get a degree in something more practical than Post-Modern Feminist Environmental Philosophy. Or, for that matter, running an ice cream company.

By | September 24th, 2011|0 Comments

Proposed Ban on Plastic Bags

Stop the presses. Petaluma leaps into the forefront of eco-piety. Great idea if you're a single person picking up the evening's dinner, but if you're a working mom who goes to the store once a week to feed three kids you'd better bring a whole bunch of cloth bags. BTW -the bags will have to be washed, mended and replaced when worn out. Good thing those working mom's have so much extra time and money to tend to someting that used to be free.

By | September 15th, 2011|0 Comments

Building Anything in Petaluma is Torture

I've observed a feature common to local citizens oversight groups: a significant portion of the membership is there not to add value, offer creative input, or support the stated purpose of the group. These participants join the group just so they can veto whatever irks them or their cronies. I suggest renaming the Planning Comission to the Planning Omission.

By | September 1st, 2011|0 Comments

Circus Maximus

Traffic circles... How European! How progressive! Unfortunately, the tireless tinkerers of America's on-going experiment in practical democracy won't stop with merely tweaking the flow of traffic. They want to import socialized medicine. Oh, pardon me, ObamaCare. They also want to implement other miscreant European concepts like the cradle-to-grave Welfare state that has resulted in unemployment among European youth that is over 40% in some countries. This - coupled with coddling law-breakers - led directly the recent unrest in England, France, Greece, Spain, etc. Let see... Oh yes, our progressive graybeards want to castrate the military. Not that we need be concerned that Muslim-sponsored terrorism is on the rise, or that China - the country that makes the world's toys - now wants to make all of its weapons, too. It must be fun to be a progressive and spend the day staring at your navel.

By | August 25th, 2011|0 Comments

Freight Expectations

I grew up within earshot of train tracks and especially remember hearing the trains whistles at night. As kids, we used to walk on the tracks and watch the trains go by. My first trip away from home - alone - was on a train. And like probably every boy of my generation, I had a Lionel train with 3 cars and a caboose and about 7 feet of track. I spent hours pouring over the lush Lionel catalogues and imagine the tiny plastic loading docks, warehouses, water towers, bridges that make my train set the coolest ever.

By | July 28th, 2011|0 Comments