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Letters to the editor from Nov. 1

Published: Monday, November 5, 2012 at 1:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 31, 2012 at 1:32 p.m.

Support Wilson

EDITOR: I don’t always support bond measures, but Measure P deserves our support.

Not only does it make sense for our students, but it makes sense for us, the taxpayers.

Measure P will cost the average homeowner about $5 a month. With this small investment, we can improve our local school, Wilson School, and improve or maintain our property values.

Even if you don’t have kids in school, Measure P is a good thing. Let’s all vote Yes on Measure P.

Stacey Lakritz, Wilson School parent, resident and taxpayer

For Measure X

EDITOR: As I figure out how I’m going to vote on this year’s ballot, I’m struggling with whether I’ll vote for Prop 30, 38, or neither.

However, at the local level, I will vote for Measure X because it will fund badly needed parks and recreation facilities that everyone can enjoy at the cost of $1 a week per household with citizen oversight to ensure transparency and proper use of funds.

We may not be able to fix Washington or Sacramento, but we can make Petaluma a better and more valuable place to live, work and play.

J.T. Wick, Petaluma

On Deer Creek

EDITOR: I have lived in Petaluma and been an active member of the Petaluma Park Neighborhood Association since 1994, and have attended many city council and planning commission meetings regarding what is now known as the Deer Creek development.

I was yet again disappointed in the combative diatribe exhibited by Councilmember Mike Healy in his response in the Press Democrat to Janice Cader-Thompson’s editorial. Ms. Cader-Thompson accurately pointed out the failures of the Petaluma City Council majority of Healy, Gabe Kearney, Chris Albertson and Mike Harris to adequately mitigate the negative impacts the traffic from this project will bring to our town.

Many times, I and others asked for mitigations and amenities, but our pleas fell on the deaf ears of the council majority who ignored our concerns. Ms. Cader-Thompson did a tremendous amount of work, as did Paul Francis, in achieving additional benefits for our community and off-setting a few of the many negative impacts.

For this they should be thanked, not belittled and criticized by Healy.

Please join me in voting for polite, respectful independent councilmembers who will better represent us. I strongly recommend Jason Davies, Alicia Kae Herries and Tiffany Renée.

Gail Kahn, Petaluma

For Davies

EDITOR: I’m voting for Jason Davies for Petaluma City Council because he has demonstrated his dedication to Petaluma. He was the fourth vote getter in the last election and should rightfully have been appointed to serve, but was passed over for the interim appointment. This wasn’t fair but it didn’t make Jason give up on Petaluma.

Instead he worked even harder for Petaluma’s future by serving as chair of the Tech Committee and spent the year helping to find opportunities to expand Petaluma’s marketing strategy with his on-line know-how.

Jason has worked tirelessly to preserve and protect Shollenberger Park and stop the Dutra asphalt factory from blighting our gateway and fouling our air.

Shollenberger is an amazing asset for the marketing of Petaluma as a tourist destination and a location for green companies. Jason, as an experienced marketer, knows where to put his efforts and he has attended every Save Shollenberger fundraiser and county hearing. Jason created and lugged to a county hearing on Dutra a technically accurate noise demonstration, complete with speakers and sound meters, to demonstrate to the Board of Supervisors why the noise of the trucks and factory would ruin the park experience. He also set up a webcam to give us all a view on-line of nesting egrets and herons — all on his own time while working full-time as a marketing director and also as an involved father of two kids.

Jason is willing to donate his time and talent to Petaluma to bring us into the 21st century as a stellar and thriving community. When someone like Jason Davies offers this gift to his community, I say let’s take it and say “Thank You.”

Vote for Jason Davies.

Joan Cooper, Petaluma

Good Samaritan

EDITOR: On Friday afternoon my neighbor and I were shopping in the next town and when I got home I realized that I did not have my purse with me. I drove back to that parking lot and went into the store to check if a purse had been turned in.

It had not, so my neighbor and I looked through shrubs and trash cans and one bystander suggested that I file a police report. So I got directions from her to the police station.

In the meantime, my daughter received a call from my cell phone and a gentleman with a heavy Spanish accent was trying to explain why he had my phone. He was very patiently trying to get my purse back to me and told my daughter to meet him in the parking lot of a 7-11 in that town (Petaluma). The first thing Terri did was to come to my home when I had not answered my phone. By this time, she was frightened for my safety, not knowing that I was in a police station. By this time it was dark.

When I got back home I found lights on that I had not turned on and was carefully checking my home when I checked phone messages and heard the two messages from my daughter. I called her and found out she and my granddaughters were almost to the meeting place. I told her that I had $81 in my wallet and to give it all to the Good Samaritan as a reward. She tried and he refused, only saying to pass on the good deed.

LESSON: Never put your purse in the child seat of a shopping cart. I had reached in for car keys and placed shopping bags into the trunk of my car and left my purse in the cart.

Thank God for Good Samaritans.

Carol Coppinger, Sonoma

Save the barn and creek

EDITOR: I have been hearing the ongoing debate about building in the area of the old red barn next to the Victoria subdivision on D Street.We must save the old red barn because it is a reminder that Petaluma’s heritage is as a rural agricultural town. I was born here and have lived all but 10 years of my life here. I returned from my many wanderings to find it is still the best place to live that I have ever found.

I walked to Helen Putnam Park with a friend on a recent breezy day. The meadows above the creek are lush with tall grass and the wind blowing over the grass makes it look alive, moving in a rhythmic, undulating swaying. What a treasure it would be if we would add it all to Helen Putnam Park. It would be a shame to fill that area with homes, roads, traffic, loss of the creek plus the drain on our water supply. Builders of subdivisions build for profit, of course, and they build wherever they find land for their benefit. Then they are gone, having destroyed our beautiful open spaces.

Please, City Council members, think first of the beauty that is in Petaluma, not the tax monies that building brings, and preserve these pockets of pristine beauty for us all. You will be more honored for what you save than for the amount of homes you allow on such beautiful land. We need as much open space as we can preserve now.

Petalumans, if you agree with me on this please add your voice to mine to help preserve this open space that is so beautiful. And if you haven’t seen it, drive up into Victoria subdivision to the park entrance and walk just a short way, look to your left where you will see it for yourself. If you are lucky that day you might see deer or wild turkeys. There are other creatures as well and in season wild flowers and trees that are beautiful in full leaf and in winter they are a unique pattern of bare branches. It would be a wonderful addition to Helen Putnam Park along with a nature museum in the red barn.

Lucille Battison, Petaluma

Wimpy policy

EDITOR: The county’s deal with the Graton Rancheria (tribe) reminds me of Wimpy, who would say to Popeye, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” The fatal flaw in any agreement for payments from Graton Rancheria is that they don’t have to pay if they don’t make enough money, and there is no independent auditing mechanism to check the figures.

As was made clear in the hearings in Sacramento in May, Graton doesn’t have to allow anyone on its property to audit the books, state officials included.

And “wimpy” certainly describes the county’s casino policy. Had the county fought vigorously and asked for Senator Diane Feinstein’s help at any point along the way, as Contra Costa County did in its battle against the San Pablo casino, it could have stopped the casino dead.

Fortunately, Stop the Casino 101 Coalition has stepped in to intervene when the county would not. Our lawsuit against the gambling compact passed its first milestone with a hearing on Oct. 12, and we’re moving forward.

No compact means no casino-style gambling. When we win this lawsuit, Station Casinos and Graton Rancheria will be left with the biggest, most expensive bingo parlor in U.S. history.

Marilee Montgomery, Santa Rosa

Museum says thanks

EDITOR: The Petaluma Wildlife and Natural Science Museum is a student -operated museum on the Petaluma High campus. We are a non-profit organization that gets all its funding from donations. On Saturday, Sept. 22 The Petaluma Wildlife and Natural Science Museum had its annual pasta feed and open house.

I would like to thank everyone who came and supported us. There are a few people I would like to name: Our great cooks Ed Santero, Nancy Jones, Eric Santero, and Kevin Jones, who all volunteered their time to support the program. All the businesses big and small who donated items for our silent auction.

A special thanks to Clover-Stornetta, and Morris Distributing, who helped make our event a success, and to the students who worked so hard to make sure that everyone had a good time. Lastly, all the families and friends who came and supported us.

Thank you. We could not do this without you and we hope to see you again next year. If you would like to visit the museum and see what a wonderful program this is, the museum is open Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lori Glenn, Petaluma

Obama persists

EDITOR: The Oct. 3 Presidential Debate is not about a performance; though in our society we think in terms of “star” value. Who could deny this when you watch American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, football, baseball and so forth? We Americans love our heroes. But by watching the debate closely, we can learn a lot about these candidates.

Please turn off the sound: Watch Gov. Romney who appeared very animated flapping his arms and springing like a Muppet being pulled by strings above him.

Please turn off the sound: President Obama was without “affect”: He was thoughtful and composed, with unselfconscious resolve.

Please turn on the sound: President Obama’s answers to Mr. Lehrer’s questions included specific details on issues like healthcare, the job market and military spending. He was always articulate. His was unmistakably the sure step of a leader, an informed president carrying forward with the job at hand; one that he inherited from eight years of mismanagement, during 2002 to 2008. What happens when the manager at the office makes decisions that aren’t structured by informed reality? The walls fall down: Wall Street crashes and jobs and industry decline, for example.

Please turn on the sound: Gov. Romney came across as a well-intentioned optimist, as he can afford to be. The president, meanwhile, spoke of his grandmother, exemplifying her perservering character, which persisted throughout. That very stalwart persistence is what carries one forward on a successful path, a responsible path. Such a path is one that all Americans can model from. It isn’t about being a “star,” no; it’s about persisting as Americans have done since 1776. During that time, Americans made the commitment to help themselves and others, a philosophy which inspired John F. Kennedy, who famously said: “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”

In the same spirit, President Barack Obama persists as we Americans do.

As a child, my grandmother used to say, “Beware of fair weather friends; they run when it rains.” In this, she said volumes. Vote for Obama. He persists — come rain or shine.

C.B. Gleason, Petaluma

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