Finally, the Better Petaluma Film Festival – At long last, the third annual Film Festival is here.  This Wednesday evening, we again gather for an evening of films intended to get our creative and community juices flowing.  Grab the opportunity to learn from such influential urbanist voices as Peter Calthorpe, Daniel Herriges, Howard Blackson, and Gracen Johnson…

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Nine Days (!) to the Better Petaluma Film Festival - The Film Festival grows ever closer.  Tickets are going fast!

SMART Initiative Petitions - The Urban Chat board has endorsed the SMART Initiative, a citizens’ effort to pass a sales tax renewal that would allow SMART to continue operating for the next three decades.

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Two weeks (!) to the Better Petaluma Film Festival, CNU gathering, Social Media action, SMART petitions

It was a full weekend. Details below.  Accordingly, these opening thoughts will be brief and to the point. Some may find that an improvement…

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Three weeks (!) to the Better Petaluma Film Festival, SMART initiative petitions

Ahhh, it's a Monday holiday and yet here is this email in your inbox.  To minimize the distraction to your holiday plans, my comments below will be brief…

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Know Before You Grow Goes SMART and young, Better Petaluma Film Festival tickets now available, updated logo

Know Before You Grow Goes SMART and Young – You already know that the Know Before You Grow attendees will be introduced on Wednesday to the “SMART Initiative”.  And you already know that the SMART Initiative is an effort by a…

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Another Film Festival, regional StrongTowns gathering, welcome to new readers, library reopening, next General Plan step, SMART trips

Third Film Festival – This is your first heads-up to mark your calendar for the next Better Petaluma Film Festival.  It will again be at the Boulevard Cinemas and will again be followed by…

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Fall community building, proposed Public Safety Facility

Fall Community Building – For The last week or two, Upcoming Events in this email has included “Neighbor Day”, an initiative of Safe Streets Petaluma encouraging Labor Day activities to build stronger neighborhood connections…

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MASCOTS, buffered bike lanes

MASCOTS – This is a belated alert because of a late date change.  The draft MASCOTS report will be rolled out this week for public comment.  And the first review meeting will be in Petaluma…

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Bench building, Petaluma in Bottom-Up Shorts, Star Trek in Turkish, DownCity

Bench Building – I’ve previously noted that the San Francisco Bay Area Bench Collective is coming to Petaluma this weekend.  The anti-autocratic, semi-guerrilla team of craftsmen, over a single weekend, will construct benches…

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KBYG debrief, Copeland Landing, What is a Charrette?, A charrette example, perceived walking distances

KBYG Debrief - We may have seemed mysterious in our announcements about last week’s Know Before You Grow forum.  At least, that was our intention.  Our hope was that, by being coy, few people would arrive with preconceived…

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Wednesday Know Before You Grow, community stewardship

It’s another quiet week in Petaluma which means there is no good reason to miss the Wednesday Know Before You Grow forum.  Join the fun and be among the first to get the big update…

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Know Before You Grow on July 9, benches, StrongTowns versus Congress for the New Urbanism, selflessness

Not much is happening on the urbanist front in Petaluma this week, which is probably fine as it's a short week.  But there are certainly opportunities to become more involved after the holiday weekend…

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July 9 Know Before You Grow, Des Moines Film Festival, Argus Courier editorial

Thanks to everyone who took the train to Windsor on Friday for lunch and conversation.  We had a traveling party of six, including a Councilmember, all of whom had been engaged with Urban Chat but some of whom didn't yet know each other…

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Back from Providence, Healthy Petaluma grant, Riding the rails to Windsor, Petaluma is no longer #1 in bowling alley parking

Back from Providence - This email is tardy this week.  I only returned from the StrongTowns and Congress for the New Urbanism gatherings in Providence, Rhode Island yesterday afternoon…

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Urban Chat to Windsor, StrongTowns zxpands beyond North America, StrongTowns on grants

By the time you read this, I’ll be in Providence, Rhode Island for the StrongTowns Gathering followed by the CNU Congress.  As always, I’ll offer highlights in the next few emails…

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Urban Chat to Windsor!, SMART on the ballot

With the upcoming opening of the SMART Windsor station, I’ll go with a couple of SMART topics today…

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CCB applications, Hotel SPAR hearing, Know Before You Grow, SMART to Windsor!

We know today is a holiday, but we’re still maintaining the Monday email schedule. If you didn’t open and peruse this email until Tuesday, I understand. You didn’t miss anything… 

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Overlay Walks and drop-In, CCB applications, “Dignity”, Thanks for responses

Overlay Walks and Drop-In - To better inform the public regarding the Downtown Overlay, Petaluma Planning will conduct…

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Congress for the New Urbanism in Petaluma?, Appellation Hotel hearing, and the overlay referendum

Congress for the New Urbanism in Petaluma? – In the last few days, I finalized my decision to attend the annual conferences of StrongTowns and the Congress for the New Urbanism…

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