A6
Argus Courier
EDITORIALS
Don’t turn
down good
projects
Scrutiny is good, but too much
could drive away developments
that Petaluma wants and needs
A
ccording to Petaluma’s General
Plan, the document guiding the
city’s land use decision-making pro-
cesses, new development should be built
on “existing vacant and underutilized
sites” in order to avoid urban sprawl.
“The Central Petaluma area …
contains extensive vacant land and
underutilized parcels, particularly along
the Petaluma River,” the plan states.
One such parcel ripe for infill devel-
opment is the site of the proposed North
River Apartments on Water Street just
north of East Washington Street. Water
Street dead ends into a dirt and gravel
parking lot in an area featuring thorny
bushes that sprout up alongside the
occasional discarded mattress or graffi-
tied boxcar sitting atop rusted railroad
tracks. It is not very pretty.
A builder, attracted by the city’s vision
encouraging the construction of high
density housing on the site, submitted
plans more than three years ago for
badly needed pedestrian-friendly rental
housing and a small amount of commer-
cial space. The city’s planning commis-
sion finally approved the project earlier
this month, but only after a discussion
in which at least one commissioner
lamented that the developer was not
doing enough for the city, such as paying
into a fund for a future trolley that has
become a pipe dream.
A.G. Spanos Companies hopes to move
forward with its project, incorporating
extensive community feedback and
adding many new features that were
requested in numerous public meetings.
The project will rebuild Water Street, in-
cluding an intersection with an extension
of Oak Street from Petaluma Boulevard.
The developer will build 184 apartment
units, all within walking distance of the
SMART station and other popular down-
town spots, making a significant dent in
the city’s housing shortage.
The company will build new bike
paths, sidewalks, a couple hundred new
parking spaces, and pay $650,000 into
an affordable housing fund to construct
homes for the people who are priced
out of our community. Yet despite all of
these benefits to the city, some commis-
sioners wanted to see more commercial
space when the market demand for
small retail space is actually in decline.
Why is it that whenever a developer
proposes a visionary project to remake a
blighted area of Petaluma and add badly
needed housing, officials demand the
developer do more than is reasonable?
If developers find Petaluma’s planning
process too onerous, costly or time con-
suming, they will simply walk away, leav-
ing the city’s vision unrealized. There are,
after all, ample opportunities elsewhere.
We are not going to resolve this com-
munity’s unprecedented housing crisis
by building a handful of granny units. It
will take thoughtful, well-designed infill
projects, and city officials need to look at
developers of these proposed projects as
partners, not as cash cows to extort.
Walkable development, affordable
housing and bike paths are sensible ideals
long embraced by a large majority of Pet-
alumans and codified in the General Plan.
City officials presiding over development
proposals need to remember this, and do
what they can to achieve those goals.
YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL: 11 English
St., Petaluma 94952. ci.petaluma.ca.us,
778-4345.
David Glass, mayor, 778-4345
Chris Albertson, 778-4525
Teresa Barrett, 953-0846
Dave King, 778-4552
Mike Healy, 762-8768
Gabe Kearney, 778-4521
Kathy Miller, 778-4524
PETALUMA SCHOOL BOARD: 200
Douglas St., Petaluma 94952. petalumaci-
tyschools.org, 778-4604.
Mike Baddeley, 778-6313
Sheri Chlebowski, 925-876-5816
Frank Lynch, 981-7837
Ellen Webster, 778-4604
Phoebe Ellis, 769-8849
PETALUMA HEALTH CARE DISTRICT
BOARD: 1425 N. McDowell Blvd. Suite
103, Petaluma 94954, phcd.org, 285-2143,
Fax: 285-2277. Email: scochrane@phcd.org
Elece Hempel
Becky Monday
Josephine Thornton
Fran Adams
Joe Stern
Opinion
■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ■
Supports hospital
operator
EDITOR: It’s great to see some cover-
age finally about our local hospital and
some of the challenges the community
faces regarding access to health care in
our city. There has been mention of a
lack of hiring new doctors by St. Joseph
in several of the recent articles. This is
absolutely not true.
Just in the past year, a partial list
of new doctors that have come to our
community are: Neema Pourtaheri,
orthopedics; Chris Walter, orthopedics;
Naomi DeTablan, podiatry; Keri Weigle,
general surgery; Steve Kmucha, ENT;
Alexis Alexandridis, general surgery;
Aldo Gamarra, general surgery.
This list just includes the surgical spe-
cialties. We have also added at least six
new hosptialists in the past year as well.
A new infectious disease specialist was
also hired over the summer specifically
to cover PVH.
In addition, St. Joseph is very close
to hiring another general surgeon to
join Dr. Weigle’s practice. We have also
hired another ENT physician who will
start in June and another offer has been
extended to another ENT physician just
this past week.
To ensure further accuracy to hopeful-
ly more articles regarding the medical
care in Petaluma, please note that Dr.
Peter Leoni is not the chief of surgery.
In fact, Dr. Leoni holds no administra-
tive or medical staff appointments at
PVH. He is the least busy of the five
general surgeons in the community.
I have practiced in Petaluma for over
20 years and operate at PVH on a regular
basis. St. Joseph has provided me with
all of the equipment and support that I
have needed and I certainly do not share
or support the views of Dr. Leoni.
Michael A. Johnson
Physician Administrative Director, PVH
Open up gym
EDITOR: I am a senior who likes to
play some basketball. I went to the Boys
and Girls Club next to our senior center
at Lucchessi Park early one morning
and noticed that they have a large multi-
hoop basketball court.
It was empty and not in use. I asked
one of the staff members if I can shoot
some hoops and he said adults and se-
PULSE OF PETALUMA
Poll: Fix downtown trestle for pedestrian use
A
majority of respondents to an on-
line Argus-Courier poll said that
Petaluma should repair the down-
town train trestle for use as a pedestrian
promenade.
Here are some comments:
■ “Allow residents and tourists to
experience our beautiful city as it was
meant to be. Encourage less four-
wheeled traffic and more pedestrian
gathering areas.”
■ “A pedestrian promenade would
add a strong element of connecting the
heart of Petaluma to the river. Towns
don’t just spring up anywhere. All the
good towns were informed and formed
out of the lay of the land.”
■ “As it stands now, the trestle is a
haven for rats.”
■ “A walking promenade would be a
fantastic feature to enhance the beauty of
our town. ”
PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018
niors are not allowed. Some towns allow
adults and seniors access to their Boys
and Girls Clubs on weekdays between
6 a.m. and 2 p.m. when students are in
school.
Perhaps there’s a chance Petaluma
can afford the same to our seniors.
Access to an indoor court right next to
our senior center to shoot hoops or put
up a badminton net on rainy days would
provide variety in our efforts to stay
healthy and active. Currently we play
some pickleball in the outside tennis
courts when its not raining.
Other than Leghorn Park, there are
no public basketball courts on the east
side. There must be some way to allow
adults and seniors access to the Boys
and Girls Club at Lucchessi Park during
certain hours.
Alfred Johnston
Petaluma
Going vegan
EDITOR: Along with unforeseen chal-
lenges, calamities, and miscalculations,
the future holds promise. The prolifera-
tion of mankind has created a necessity
and hopefully a willingness to lessen
our impact on the environment, other
humans, and animals. When making
this effort, we need not study under the
“greased palms” of so-called experts.
The numbers are there for all to see
and the math is simple. It takes one sixth
of an acre to sustain one person on a
vegan diet while a person eating a stan-
dard American diet requires three acres.
That’s 18 times as much land.
Buying a low-flow shower nozzle is
great and you could save maybe 300 gal-
lons of water per person in a month, or
you could eat one vegan meal and save
roughly twice that amount.
If you were to look at our other areas
of impact, there is potential, but it’s
minimal compared to what we eat three
times a day.
Housing is one area where we could
incorporate energy saving ideas, but
they can only be minimized so much.
Housing itself is always a need and
many aspects are considered non-nego-
tiable.
Transportation is another area that
can be minimized to some extent, but
people are very reluctant to give up the
freedom of personal travel. Even if they
See Letters, A7
■ “Cheapest thing would be to repair
it. It’s one of the biggest eye sores in
bucolic Petaluma. Not really our best
tourist attraction.”
■ “Don’t demolish it. The trestle is
part of Petaluma history. Repairing it as
a pedestrian promenade is the most cost
effective solution, and will preserve that
important part of the culture of Petalu-
ma.”
■ “First repair it so it’s walkable and
bikeable, but keep the option open for a
trolley line if/when grant funds become
available.”
■ “I believe that Petaluma has
more pressing problems than the train
trestle. How about spending some time
and money to fix our terrible pot hole
streets.”
OTHER VIEWS
Next prez
could be
Californian
Several high profile
politicians from the state
are posturing for 2020
By THOMAS ELIAS
F
rom the time this year’s
California political cam-
paigns began taking shape
last fall, they’ve had the poten-
tial to produce the state’s most
viable presidential candidate in
almost half a century.
It may be about time. Califor-
nia has not provided the nation
with a President — nor even a
credible primary election candi-
date — since Ronald Reagan left
office in 1989.
In that time, the strongest
run by a Californian for Ameri-
ca’s top political job came from
ex-Gov. Pete Wilson, who lasted
through only a few primaries
and caucuses. His abortive 1996
run was hampered both by a
throat problem that dimmed
his voice and his strong 1994
backing of the anti-illegal im-
migrant Proposition 187, which
destroyed any chance he might
have had for getting Latino
support. Gov. Jerry Brown also
staged a long run, in 1992, but
never had a serious chance
against Bill Clinton.
Since then, this state’s top
officials, the likes of Gray Davis
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Brown and Dianne Fein-
stein and Barbara Boxer have
been no threat to national pol-
iticians in either major party.
Yes, Schwarzenegger might
have been a credible candidate
and would have loved to run,
but his Austrian birth rendered
him ineligible.
So California has not only
lacked influence at the top levels
of American politics for decades
because of its usually-belated
primary elections, but also has
had no skin in the game.
Lately, though, there’s been
talk about the state’s current
junior senator, Democrat Ka-
mala Harris. Her anti-Donald
Trump tone in several nation-
ally televised Senate hearings
has won some support among
ultra-liberals nationally, but no
poll has shown she has either
strong or widespread appeal.
Plus, the one time she faced a
significantly financed election
opponent, in her 2010 election
as state attorney general, she
barely eked out a victory even
in this solidly Democratic state.
So it’s a safe bet Harris won’t
be California’s next major pres-
idential player. But there are
some possibilities among this
year’s crop of candidates, not
to mention Democratic Los An-
geles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who
makes noises about a possible
2020 national run even though
he’s not running for anything
just now.
The most likely future pres-
idential contenders among the
current hopefuls for governor
and the Senate are Lt. Gov.
Gavin Newsom, former Los
Angeles Mayor Antonio Villara-
See Candidates, A7
LAST WEEK’S POLL:
PETALUMA TRESTLE
What should be done with the downtown
trestle? Here are the results:
Ped. use 267 76.7%
Trolley use 39 11.2%
Demolish it 32 9.2%
Do nothing 10 2.8%
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION
■ What should the Petaluma Health Care
District do with Petaluma Valley Hospital? To
participate in this week’s online poll, go to
petaluma360.com.
■ To see results of previous online polls and
read comments, visit pulse-of-petaluma.
blogs.petaluma360.com.
Pulse of Petaluma poll results reflect senti-
ments of persons participating in the online
poll the previous week.